The Man Who Saved the World
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Leopold Stotch | Saturday, April 2, 2005 |
The Man Who Saved the World Finally Recognized
Stanislav Petrov was a Soviet army officer monitoring the satellite system for signs of a U.S. attack, the year was 1983, and his instructions, if he detected missiles targeting the Soviet Union, were to push the button and launch a counter-offensive.
He didnât. Minutes later, no missiles came; months later, the frightening data across his monitor was determined to have been a system glitch. Today, the Association of World Citizens is calling him âthe forgotten hero of our time,â a title befitting the man whose responsibility had been to start World War III.
Take a minute and read the whole thing; I can’t even fathom the stress this guy was under.
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Very cool story. Thanks for posting it.
There's be more to the story than this- but I'm not sure what it is. In November of 1983 the US conducted a nuclear exercise Able Archer. (Scary name from a Soviet PThis was part of the story known as the "war scare". It influenced Reagan and Gorbechev towards negotiating strategic arms reduction. For my version of the story click here . For a CIA write up go here
The incident followed the KAL 007 shootdown which occurred on 1 Sept 1983. Tensions were already high and were to become higher as the year went on. No one knows how close were were at the time.
There's a tribute Web site with details about the false nuclear attack warning involving Stanislav Petrov:
http://www.brightstarsound.com
Articles, photos, links, an audio/video interview with Stanislav Petrov, etc. -- all well worth seeing. (Among other things, see the "Stanislav Petrov - World Hero" article and the "Weekendavisen" article.)
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