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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JFK Almost Assassinated (1960) [Revisited]
Joe Hill's Last Will (1915)
Pence Gets Booed At "Hamilton" (2016)
Henry Ford Contests An Election (1918)
The Exploding Whale (1970)
"The Demon of Andersonville" Executed for War Crimes (1865)
An Explosion Rocks The Capitol (1983)
Elected While In A Coma (1980)
The Unmarked Grave (2019) w/ Joe Richman
The Americans Fighting In Spain (1938) w/ Adam Hochschild
The Donora Killer Smog (1948)
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"The Jazz Singer" and Hollywood Empire (1927) w/ Walt Hickey
Trump Shows Up In New Hampshire (1987) w/ Robert Fleegler
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