Stanislav Petrov Prevents Armageddon (1983)

We continue our conversation about the transcontinental railroad with a look at the impact of a connected America -- and what it means to be promised a new technology that will reshape everything.Join our America250 newsletter community! Subscribe for free to get the latest news ...  Show more

For the twentieth installment of “50 Weeks That Shaped America” we look at the moment that East and West were connected by railroad. Throughout the 1850s and 60s, railroad barons and the U.S. government worked to take over land push rail infrastructure across the plains, through ...  Show more

In 1983, during a tense period of the Cold War, Soviet nuclear officials received a computer warning suggesting that the United States had fired five nuclear missiles towards Moscow. Fortunately, the officer on duty, Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov, realised the warning was a ...  Show more

In 1983, Stanislav Petrov, a lieutenant colonel in the Soviet Union’s Air Defense Forces, trusted his gut and averted a global nuclear catastrophe. 

Conventional wisdom has long held the position that between 1945 and 1949, not only did the United States enjoy a monopoly on atomic weapons, but that it was prepared to use them if necessary against an increasingly hostile Soviet Union.  This was not exactly the case, our guest ...  Show more

During the height of the Cold War, both the US and the USSR constantly ran drills in anticipation of a possible nuclear conflict. While the Gregg family of Mars Bluff, South Carolina knew the Cold War was in full swing, they had no idea that they would become the first American f ...  Show more