The Cold War - The Nature of Risk | 4

America sent a man to the moon in 1969, and with Neil Armstrong’s first steps, the United States projected to the world an image of American power, wealth and achievement. But it was hardly just for bragging rights. The space race started under Kennedy to compete with the Soviets ...  Show more

In the early 1970s, while trying to wind down the war in Vietnam, President Richard Nixon made overtures to Moscow and Beijing that would usher in a new era of the Cold War: Detente. But the thaw in relations didn’t last long - the Iran Hostage Crisis and Soviet invasion of Afgha ...  Show more

Back in the 1950s, facing the threat of nuclear annihilation, federal officials sat down and pondered what American life would actually look like after an atomic attack. They faced a slew of practical questions like: Who would count the dead and where would they build the refu ...

After the U.S. military dropped the first atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the world roared with questions: what long-term health risks could atomic weapons carry? How did the Soviet Union build their own bomb so quickly? And did the Manhattan Project's scientists have hel ...  Show more

Nuclear weapons are one of the most dangerous things humanity ever invented. So while we might reasonably assume people would keep a close eye on these potentially world-ending bombs and missiles...we would be wrong. In this week's two-part series, Ben, Noel and Max explore the h ...  Show more

At the height of the Cold War, a group of concerned scientists promoted their findings on the horrific aftereffects of nuclear war and were accused of fearmongering. But were they right after all? Learn all about the debate and its context in this classic episode.See omnystudio.c ...  Show more