The Man Who Saved the World

October 8, 2013 PBS Wisconsin Leave a Comment

Watch Secrets of the Dead “The Man Who Saved the World” at 9 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 9 on Wisconsin Public Television.

It’s amazing to think that under the right circumstances, one person can make a decision that would change the world forever. Sure we all get to make varying degrees of decisions every day, but those usually only affect ourselves and the people around us. I can’t imagine there are many people out there who would willingly accept the responsibility for saying yes or no to World War III.

I would hope that most people would choose not to start a war, but the situation might be a tad bit different when you’re taking orders and essentially already fighting. Luckily in this case; despite the chaos and direct orders, the right decision was made and nuclear war was averted. Can you imagine what life would be like today if nukes had been exchanged during the Cold War? Chances are a good number of us wouldn’t even be here to learn about the important decision being made just off the coast of Florida on a Saturday in October over 50 years ago.

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