It’s September 26th. This day in 1983, a lieutenant colonel in the Soviet Air Defense Forces determined that an alert about an incoming nuclear attack was, in fact, a computer glitch, likely preventing a series of retaliations by the USSR and the USA.
Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss how Petrov made his decision, what could have gone wrong, and why the policy of “mutually assured destruction” invited such perilous scenarios.
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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia
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Family Jewels Pt 1: Meddling Abroad (1975) w/ Rick Perlstein
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The She She She Camps (1934)
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Henrietta Wood Sues For Reparations (1878)
The Moton Walkout and the "Lost Generation" (1951)
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The Mystery of 420's Origins (1986?) w/ Ellen Scanlon
Japanese Balloon Bombs Over U.S. Skies (1945)
Eugene Debs: Lock Him Up (1919)
Eleanor Roosevelt's Tuskegee Plane Ride (1941)
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Nixon's Weird-Ass White House Uniforms (1970) w/ Avery Trufelman
The Roots of Intersectionality (1979)
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