The Man Who Saved the World

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If you watch the news enough, it's easy to feel like the world is coming to an end.

But in the wake of World War II, this feeling was all too real.

The United States and the Soviet Union emerged from that conflict as rival superpowers with growing nuclear capabilities.

While there was tension between the two nations, neither wanted to declare a war they weren't confident they'd be able to win.

So instead, they fought proxy battles, engaged in espionage, and tried to keep each other in check without outright invading one another.

This period of indirect hostility became known as the Cold War.

And during it, the threat of annihilation hung over the whole world.

Tensions were high, as both the U.S.

and the USSR had nuclear arsenals large enough to wipe out all of humanity.

Fortunately, those tensions never sparked an all-out atomic war.

But in 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, things came awfully close.

When the fate of the entire world hung in the balance, one man talked another out of pressing the launch button and starting a nuclear holocaust.

And you probably never heard of him.

On today's episode, The Man Who Saved the World.

This is a twist of history.

It's the morning of October 16th, 1962.

United States President John F.

Kennedy is in the White House, reading the morning paper at his desk when his National national security advisor, Mick George Bundy, interrupts.

Kennedy greets him with a smile, but when he sees the worried expression on Bundy's face, the president sits up a little straighter.

Bundy hands over a plain manila envelope and explains that it contains highly urgent information from a recent spy mission that Kennedy had authorized in Cuba.

That mission has determined that an enemy of the United States is building a nuclear arsenal just 90 miles from the shores of Florida.

Brow furrowed, Kennedy pulls some aerial photographs out of the folder.

They're fuzzy and out of focus, but they appear to show some kind of sprawling compound under construction.

Not quite sure what he's looking at, Kennedy dives into the full report, which explains how Cuban officials are secretly building 12 nuclear silos across Cuba.

Once these silos are finished, they'll be capable of launching nuclear missiles with ranges up to a thousand miles, deep into the U.S.

mainland.

Kennedy pauses to consider this, but Bundy encourages the president to keep reading.

There's more.

Kennedy flips to the next page of the report.

Here, it explains that the Cuban government doesn't have the resources to build its own atomic weaponry or operate it without training from the outside.

For these reasons, it's clear to U.S.

intelligence that the USSR, Cuba's closest ally, and the United States' biggest adversary, has built and provided the missiles and is now positioning them in the U.S.'s backyard.

When he gets to the end of the report, Kennedy lets the page fall from his hand and drift onto his desk.

This is a significant escalation between the world's two superpowers.

The situation is dire, and Kennedy's response could determine the fate not only of the United States, but of the world.

Kennedy summons Bundy and five other trusted advisors to the White House's cabinet room.

This group, which will meet throughout the Cuban Missile Crisis and come to be known as the Executive Committee of the National Security Council, or EXCOM, includes high-ranking officials such as Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, and Bobby Kennedy, who is both the president's brother and the attorney general.

Once EXCOM is assembled and President Kennedy is certain they have privacy, he shows them the photos and summarizes the report.

When he's finished, the president opens it up to the group.

What course of action do they recommend?

The room falls silent for a moment.

Then Secretary of State Dean Rusk speaks up first.

He believes that the U.S.

should attempt a diplomatic approach.

The Cuban arsenal is still under construction and unusable, and the Americans could wipe the island nation off the map with a push of a button.

Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro has to realize he's in a precarious position, Rusk says.

He may be open to negotiations with the U.S.

Kennedy listens with patience, but when he glances at his other advisors, he can tell that they don't agree with Rusk.

Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara speaks up to voice a counter-argument.

McNamara believes that Kennedy shouldn't tip his hand with diplomatic overtures.

Instead, he should strike first.

and destroy the Cuban threat before they have a chance to finish building the silos.

President Kennedy's mind is churning as the members of XCOM continue to chime in, one after the other.

Everyone has an opinion on what the response should be, and each take is different.

A decision must be made.

That much is clear to Kennedy.

But what will that decision be?

Days later, after endless debates, intelligence reviews, and heated arguments, XCOM puts together a plan that meets the president's approval.

Now it's just a matter of getting the American people on board.

Six days after his initial briefing, on the evening of Monday, October 22nd, 1962, President Kennedy examines his reflection in a handheld mirror, inspecting his face for any blemishes or uneven makeup.

He knows he's about to make one of the most important speeches of his life.

And while Kennedy has built a career around his confidence and optimism, attributes that have carried him all the way to the White House, today he's struggling to maintain that facade.

He knows there is no room for a misstep.

Just before 7 p.m., Kennedy steps into the Oval Office, where a podium has been set up with microphones.

News broadcasters are already assembled in front of him, recording his every move and word.

Kennedy adjusts the papers laid out before him.

He and his advisors have spent hours agonizing over the words on these pages, and now, He gets exactly one chance to deliver them to the 50 million Americans expected to watch on TV or listen on the radio.

As Kennedy is acutely aware, he needs to strike the exact right tone.

Because this speech isn't just for the American people to hear, it's also for the nation's allies and enemies.

He doesn't want to seem too aggressive or angry, but he also can't come across as weak or ineffectual.

The words he delivers this evening and the way he delivers them could change the course of history itself.

Kennedy takes a breath and lifts his eyes to the lens of the NBC news camera positioned directly in front of him.

He keeps his voice steady and calm as he tells the world that Cuba is building missile silos well within striking distance of the United States.

Kennedy puts it plainly, The purpose of these bases can be none other than to provide a nuclear strike capability against the Western Hemisphere.

He also says, It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union.

Kennedy pauses for a moment.

The Oval Office is dead silent as the news lands.

The Cold War has just gotten much closer to home.

Kennedy can picture millions of American families at home watching this speech, pulling their loved ones closer.

He plunges onward, reassuring the American people that he has a plan, a way to keep everyone safe without backing down in the face of the threat.

That's why he's ordering the military to Cuba, not for an invasion, but to control their trade.

He explains that any ships coming in and out of the country are to be searched, and the American military will confiscate any weapons or anything that can be used to manufacture weapons.

Any craft spotted in the waters near Cuba must identify itself.

Otherwise, the U.S.

will blast it out of the ocean.

But what Kennedy doesn't mention in his speech is that there's a problem with his plan, and it's a big one.

Imposing a barricade on another sovereign nation is an act of war, which means Kennedy can't actually call his barricade a barricade.

Instead, in his address, He declares that Cuba is under a quarantine, which is little more than a semantic trick.

In practice, the so-called quarantine is almost identical to a barricade, but Kennedy hopes that this way, the move might be seen as less aggressive.

Continuing, he explains the U.S.

is still allowing the import and export of essential goods to and from Cuba, things like food and medical supplies.

This distinguishes his quarantine from a traditional barricade.

and Kennedy hopes it will strike just the right chord with the Soviets.

But he doesn't know that the USSR's response is already in progress.

Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev has already ordered a flotilla of four submarines to head to the coast of Cuba, just in case things escalate.

Each of them is armed with a single nuclear-tip torpedo, and those submarines are waiting to hear what their next move should be.

It's 2 a.m.

in Moscow when Kennedy delivers the speech, but Premier Khrushchev isn't asleep.

He sits at his desk in the Kremlin, the fortress he calls home, reading a printout of Kennedy's speech that's being transcribed in real time.

As he skims the text, he grows furious over President Kennedy's quarantine order, in part because he can easily see through the deception.

He knows this is actually a barricade.

But Khrushchev is also angry because he doesn't believe it was an act of aggression for the Soviets to build silos in Cuba.

After all, there are American nuclear sites in Turkey and Italy, nations that border the USSR.

In Khrushchev's mind, if the Americans want to stockpile arsenals in his backyard, it's only fair for him to even the playing field.

Khrushchev has no intention of starting a war himself.

The Cuban missiles are purely defensive, but he has no intention of backing down either.

He thinks of the four Soviet submarines that are already headed for Cuba.

Now it's Khrushchev's turn to make a decision.

Should he call his submarines off?

No, he decides.

The Soviet Union has every right to defend itself and its allies.

Kennedy's so-called quarantine is clearly an act of war, and he will instruct his submarines to act accordingly.

Khrushchev picks up the phone and passes the word along to his top generals.

If the Soviets' nuclear-armed submarines are attacked, they have the green light to respond with nuclear force.

On October 23rd, the morning after Kennedy's speech, Soviet Flotilla Commander Vasily Arkopov is shaken awake.

Blinking in the consciousness, it takes him a moment to orient himself.

He's in his bunk on the submarine B-59,

and the person rousing him from his nap is Valentin Savitsky, B-59's captain.

Groaning, Arkupov rolls out and plants his feet on the floor.

Technically, Arkupov outranks Captain Savitsky, but he's aboard Savitsky's submarine, and this is his figurative kingdom.

The captain is always in charge of his own vessel, so whenever he's on the sub, Arkapov is officially Savitsky's second-in-command.

Between the two men, the chain of command is fuzzy, as each technically outranks the other.

So even though Arkupov is groggy and wants a few more minutes of shut-eye, he gives Captain Savitsky a warm salute and steps aside, relinquishing his bunk to Savitsky.

No space goes to waste on a cramped submarine like the B-59, and this means cots, like everything else, are shared.

As the two highest-ranking officers on board, Commander Arkapov and Captain Savitsky trade shifts.

Each man works while the other sleeps.

to ensure there's always an officer awake leading the men.

As he heads for the control room, Commander Arkopov ducks his head to avoid the tail of a narrow aerodynamic torpedo being stored on a long rack right next to the narrow walkway.

There are 22 of them aboard this submarine, and one of them is armed with a nuclear warhead.

Atomic weapon aside, this is the typical setup for a Foxtrot-class Soviet submarine.

which is powered partly by diesel fuel and partly by electric.

The B-59 is just shy of 300 feet long, but it's fully crewed with 78 men.

Foxtrot subs like the B-59 are intended for Arctic exploration, so they're designed to hold heat inside.

But Arkapov and his crew aren't in the Arctic Ocean today.

They're in the balmy Caribbean Sea just off the shores of Cuba.

And the sub's air conditioner isn't working properly, which means the temperatures are stifling.

Arkapov is sweating, and he can hear members of his crew bickering at their stations.

It's to be expected, he supposes.

Anyone would be be irritable in such uncomfortable conditions.

But at this stage of his career, Commander Arkhapov isn't bothered much by these sorts of things.

He spent a lot of time aboard submarines, and he's dealt with much worse than hot temperatures.

Just one year earlier in 1961, Arkopov was stationed on a different submarine.

It wasn't armed with atomic weapons, but it was powered by a nuclear engine.

He and his crew were doing a training exercise, so in theory, none of them were supposed to be in any danger that day.

But suddenly, the system that kept the nuclear reactor's temperature stable began leaking coolant.

Before Arkapov and the crew could react, it breached containment, exposing Arkhapov and the rest of the crew to dangerous levels of atomic radiation.

The engine failed, and the incident also knocked out the submarine's radios, leaving the crew with no way to call for help.

No one was coming to save them, which meant they absolutely had to get the submarine's engine working again.

So, seven brave engineers put their lives on the line and entered the highly contaminated engine room.

Using the limited equipment available to them on board, these engineers somehow managed to get the engine running again.

But during the course of their work, they came in direct contact with the coolant.

Over the next month, Every single one of those engineers died of radiation poisoning.

They wasted away, too weak to even leave their beds, while they vomited any food or water they tried to consume.

Some of them suffered from fevers and delirium, while others simply writhed beneath their sweat-soaked sheets, battling headaches, dizziness, and blackouts.

When death came, it was a relief for each of them.

The rest of the crew weren't immune to the after-effects either.

Even though they all received a much lower dose of radiation than the engineers, It was still enough for a dozen or so of Arkhapov's crew members to develop cancer and other illnesses over the next year.

Since the incident, Arkapov has been extra cautious.

After seeing some of his closest friends and colleagues die horribly on his watch, he's a graver man, and he approaches his duties with even more reserve and thoughtfulness than before.

As he arrives at the control room, Commander Arkhapov recognizes that it's time for the B-59 to head for the surface.

The sub must occasionally breach because its batteries can't be charged while underwater.

It gets its power from a diesel engine that needs fresh, clean oxygen to work.

They also need to go to the surface for communication reasons.

The submarine's radios don't work while it's deep underwater, which means it can't receive new orders or updates from Moscow.

Down here, Commander Arkopov and his submarine are completely isolated from the rest of the world.

As they near the surface, Commander Arkopov goes to the periscope and takes a look to gauge the situation above.

He's relieved to find the horizon clear and quiet.

The Americans, it would seem, are unaware of the flotilla's presence in the Caribbean.

Commander Arkapov orders his men to raise the antennae mast.

Almost immediately, the submarine's radio crackles to life.

Arkapov steps over to his command post.

The B-59 is receiving a message from Moscow.

a notice that the parameters of their mission have changed.

Up until this point, Arkapov's orders have been to support support and protect the Soviet Union's cargo ships in the Caribbean as they secretly deliver weapons to Cuba.

So far, the mission has been uneventful.

But now, as Commander Arkhapov listens to the radio transmissions from Moscow, he learns that overnight, while the B-59 was underwater and cut off from communications, everything changed.

Moscow Naval Command explains that the U.S.

has found out about the secret military bases and they've imposed a quarantine on Cuba.

Tensions are high, and it's more important than ever that Arkopov's flotilla stay undetected.

If an American ship spots the B-59, which is clearly a Russian warship, they will conclude that the sub is breaking quarantine and destroy it.

Commander Arkopov glances around the control room.

Every single member of the crew is silent, eavesdropping on the new orders.

They're all sweating, and it's not just because of the heat anymore.

That's when Naval Command adds one last thing.

If the B-59 should come under attack while underwater and is unable to radio Moscow, the submarine's officers are authorized to return fire.

The B-59 has the right to defend itself with its nuclear-tip torpedo if necessary.

Commander Arkopov sets his jaw and radios back that he understands.

Indeed, he does understand.

All too well.

These new orders have placed an unthinkable responsibility on his shoulders.

He can't help but glance over at a very particular button on the wall nearby.

It's literally within his reach, and the decision to push it will fall to him, at least in part.

Because as Naval Command explains, there's one caveat.

In order to launch the nuke, all three senior officers aboard the B-59, Commander Arkapov, Captain Savitsky, as well as their next-in-command, Officer Ivan Mazlenikov, must unanimously agree to do so.

Which means that three men, trapped inside a blistering hot submarine, cut off from all communication with the outside world, will be all that stands in the way of a nuclear war.

Four days later, on October 27th, Commander Arkopov is at his command post again, wiping a dribble of sweat off his chin.

The B-59 has been submerged and out of radio contact since their last breach.

Arkopov and his men are even more more hot and uncomfortable than before.

By now, the inside of the sub is close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Some of his men have fainted while on duty, and Arkopov is trying hard not to pass out himself.

Morale is also low because of the food.

All of the fresh fruits and vegetables they packed for the trip have been eaten, and now they have to rely on canned rations.

Every second inside the submarine is torturous, and tempers are short.

A tense silence has overtaken the control room, punctuated only by the occasional sonar ping from the control panel.

Then suddenly, a strange noise rumbles through the sub.

Whatever it is, it seems to be coming from just off the starboard side of the boat.

Then, another boom, this time from the port side.

The submarine shudders from the force of what Commander Arkopov now realizes is an explosion.

If there are explosions, that means the bombs are going off around the submarine.

There's only one conclusion Commander Arkapov can reach.

They're under attack.

Snapping out of his overheated haze, Commander Arkhapov braces himself for battle.

And perhaps, the most important decision of his life.

After all, his orders about this very situation were clear.

As yet another explosion rocks the sub, Arkhapov knows his crew's lives are on the line.

It may be time to launch the nuclear missile.

Explosions are going off all around the Russian nuclear submarine B-59.

Commander Vasily Arkapov thinks carefully about his next move.

His sub has been out of radio contact for days, but he concludes the tensions between the USSR and the USA must have boiled over, and the countries are now at war.

This has to be why his vessel is being attacked now.

Within moments, Arkapov's two fellow officers, Captain Savitsky and Officer Maslenikov, arrive in the control room.

Right away, Captain Savitsky orders for the nuclear missile to be loaded, and the crewmen rush to comply.

Then nuclear-tip torpedo is about as powerful as the bomb used by the United States on Hiroshima, Japan, in August of 1945, which led to the end of World War II.

Which means that when this one explodes, it'll obliterate everything within a one-mile radius, including the B-59 itself.

And while the explosion won't reach American shores, Radioactive wind will, and it'll poison those who live in its path.

Of course, such a move will trigger reprisals from Washington, D.C., likely resulting in a full-scale atomic war.

But orders are orders.

The Russian sub has already been given the go-ahead.

Captain Savitsky, Commander Arkopov, and Officer Maslenikov discuss their options.

There are no private rooms on the sub, so they have a conference right in front of the rest of the crew.

As he looks around, Arkapov can see the worry on the men's faces.

Then, an especially loud blast sends the sub rocking.

The crew members grip their consoles and armrests as everything shakes around them.

Meanwhile, the three officers, who are all standing, stagger as they struggle to maintain their balance.

Commander Arkapov grabs the back of a chair to steady himself.

Arkapov realizes that the explosions are escalating.

Each seems to be closer to the submarine than the last.

As his eyes rise from the floor to Captain Savitsky's face, he can see the fear and anger in the captain's eyes.

Captain Savitsky shouts that it's only a matter of time before one of those explosives hits them or one of the other subs in the flotilla.

He reminds Arkopov it's important that they take as many of the enemy out as they can before their own deaths.

Turning to the others, he says, quote, We're gonna blast them now.

We will die, but we will sink them all.

We will not become the shame of the fleet.

A hush falls over the room.

They understand that firing the nuclear-tip torpedo could very well lead to a staggering number of deaths, including their own.

Captain Savitsky turns to his fellow officers now.

He urges Commander Arkapov and Officer Maslenikov to immediately approve the nuclear launch.

Arkapov considers his choice.

It's true that if there's more than one ship above the water, a nuclear explosion would take them all out, while the traditional torpedo might only hit one or two before the B-59 is destroyed.

But Arkapov and the others don't even know how many ships are above them, and it seems excessive to strike so decisively if they don't know such a powerful weapon is even necessary.

Before Arkapov can say anything, Officer Maslenikov speaks up to say that he agrees with Captain Savitsky.

He thinks it's better to die with honor than like cowards, especially when the survival of the whole Soviet Union is at stake.

Now there's only one thing holding them back from launching.

Or rather, one person.

Commander Arkopov.

He still hasn't given his authorization, and when he looks around again at the frightened crew members staring back at him, he hesitates.

On one level he knows if Captain Savitsky is right, they're as good as dead anyway.

It may not matter whether they let the Americans blast them out of the water, or if they die in the shockwave of their own nuclear-tip torpedo.

Dead is dead.

And yet, he can't help but think of all the crew members he's lost already.

He imagines the innocent civilians of Cuba, the other Caribbean islands, all of the southeastern United States meeting the same fate.

As he thinks of his wife back in Russia, Arkopov imagines the United States' retaliation.

How waves of fire would tear through their home, killing her, their neighbors, and everyone they know.

How a countless number of his countrymen would be vaporized in an instant if an atomic war broke out.

Or worse yet, they might survive for a while.

Arkapov has already watched too many friends and comrades suffer and die due to radiation exposure.

Nuclear-powered destruction isn't hypothetical to him.

It's all too real, and it's horrific.

When he thinks about subjecting himself, his crew, and uncounted other people to that fate, even his enemies from the United States, he can't bring himself to do it.

He can't authorize a nuclear strike.

Captain Savitsky barks that the missile is loaded and ready to go.

He yells that the bombs around the sub are still exploding.

They must act.

Commander Arkopov pulls a handkerchief out of his pocket.

He dabs sweat off his forehead, then licks his lips.

His mouth is bone dry.

He glances around the control room to find every pair of eyes trained on him.

Everyone is waiting to hear what he'll have to say and whether he'll give the order to fire.

Instead, Arkopov focuses on the facts and his own observation.

Taking a deep breath, he calmly and clearly tells Savitsky that he's noticed two things.

First, the noisy blasts have been rattling the submarine for several minutes now.

but none of them have actually hit yet.

Even if the Americans are struggling to pinpoint the B-59's location, you'd expect at least one of them to have struck by this time.

If the sub is still intact, that can only mean one thing.

The Americans are intentionally aiming to miss.

But why?

The second thing that Arkhapov notes is that there's a pattern to the explosions.

One will go off to the port side of the sub,

then one to starboard.

Then to port?

Then to starboard again.

In Arkhapov's mind, this can't be a coincidence.

He tells Captain Savitsky he thinks it's a sign.

A sign that the Americans want to communicate.

If the Soviets respond to the overture with a nuclear launch, it'll be a needless escalation.

It would mean that the USSR would be responsible for starting an unnecessary atomic war.

One with the potential to wipe out all human life multiple times over.

And it would be for nothing.

The longer Arkapov talks, the more he notices the red flush in Captain Savitsky's cheeks begin to fade.

Although Savitsky hasn't spoken yet, Commander Arkapov can tell from his expression that his words have gotten through to him.

Sure enough, after a moment of consideration, Captain Savitsky turns to give his men new orders.

They will not be launching any missiles.

They're surfacing to face the Americans in person.

As the B-59 rises, Captain Savitsky peers over the shoulder of one of his men, watching the pressure gauges and depth monitors tick to the left.

Soon he knows they're high enough for the attacking Americans to see the ascending sub with their bare eyes, but he notices that the explosions have stopped.

Savitsky spares a glance at Commander Arkopov, who stands beside him, arms behind his back, expression neutral.

Like always, the commander is calm.

Captain Savitsky knows Arkopov would never gloat.

But then again, it's too early for that.

They're not in the clear yet.

After the submarine crests the waves, Savitsky opens the hatch himself.

As he lifts the metal lid, he feels a whoosh as the submarine's heat boils outward and upward.

A moment later, the cool ocean breeze circulates through the ship.

It only provides Captain Savitsky with a momentary relief, because then, he pokes his head out through the hatch.

He sees that the B-59 is surrounded by 11 destroyers and an American aircraft carrier.

Savitsky knows that he needs to speak to someone in the fleet, explain his presence, and avoid any further escalation.

But he doubts any of those sailors on those ships speak Russian.

nor does he trust his own rusty English skills in such a delicate situation.

Instead, he climbs back down down the ladder and orders one of his men, a bilingual radio operator who speaks English, to contact the aircraft carrier.

As they begin to communicate, Savitsky is finally able to understand what happened.

The truth is, as Commander Arkhapov suggested, these ships have not been attacking the submarine.

They were releasing depth charges, which are small explosives about the size of a grenade.

When they explode, they're very loud and they can rattle a sub, but they aren't strong enough to punch through a hull.

With one exception, they also launched a single depth bomb, which is large enough to destroy a submarine like the B-59.

This was the unusually intense blast that marked the start of Savitsky's debate with Commander Arkopov and Officer Maslenikov.

But the Americans only launched this weapon to try and get the sub's attention.

They were aiming to miss.

All of the blasts were part of the U.S.

military's attempt to communicate with the sub.

And when the smaller grenades failed to do the trick, they took the calculated risk of using a larger, louder, and more powerful weapon, hoping that would be enough to open the lines of communication.

They notified Moscow of what they were doing through official diplomatic channels.

They wanted to avoid the exact scenario that played out below the ocean, of the sub-crew mistaking the charges for an attack and wanting to retaliate.

The problem was that although Soviet officials knew what was going on, they had no way to contact the submarine while it was submerged with radios down.

Meaning a nuclear war almost broke out due to a communication breakdown.

Now, Captain Savitsky listens to the Americans' explanation that there's a quarantine in place and the sub can't remain in Cuban waters.

If they insist on staying, the Americans will have no choice but to look for contraband on board.

Captain Savitsky catches Arkopov's eye.

But now, the two men are on the same page.

Under no circumstances can the Americans Americans find out there's a nuclear weapon aboard B-59.

Savitsky tells the radio operator to assure the Americans that they'll be complying with their orders and leaving.

They haven't confirmed with Moscow whether they're allowed to abandon their mission, but this seems like the best way to avoid any further hostilities.

Before they leave, Arkopov mans the radio himself to relay the orders to the other three subs in the flotilla.

They're going home.

Trusting that his commander slash second in command command has the situation under control, Savitsky returns to the open hatch.

With a brief sigh of regret that they'll lose the comfortable breeze, he pulls it closed.

And then, all four subs turn around and head back toward Russian waters.

They've abandoned their mission, but at least they've avoided starting a nuclear war.

At least Captain Savitsky hopes so.

At this point, The next steps are in the hands of people who are much more powerful than Arkopov or himself, President Kennedy and Soviet Premier Khrushchev.

It's the same day when John F.

Kennedy and his brother Bobby are in the Oval Office, reviewing the stacks of reports that are piling up on the President's desk.

Just minutes ago, they learned that servicemen stationed in the Caribbean had detected a submerged Soviet sub.

Since then, The President and his brother have been anxiously waiting to see how the situation would play out.

Finally, an aide came into the the room with the news that Kennedy hadn't even dared to hope for.

The vessel had peacefully surfaced, and the crew agreed to return to Russia without any further hostilities.

Kennedy has no idea just how close the world got to nuclear disaster.

Nobody on the American side of the conflict even suspects the submarine was armed with an atomic weapon.

As relief washes over him, the president clenches one fist while he brings his other hand to his eyes.

All he wants is to take a moment to pray and thank God that they've averted catastrophe.

McKennedy can only permit himself a second to let emotion wash over him, because tensions are still high and war could break out at any second.

This brush with disaster is enough for Kennedy to realize that the time for diplomacy is now.

He might not get another chance.

When Soviet Premier Khrushchev gets the call in Russia, He's just as ready to talk.

Unlike Kennedy, he's all too aware of the debate that was raging on the B-59.

He knows the world came within a hair's breadth of nuclear obliteration.

He doesn't want to repeat the same mistake twice, so he says he's prepared to work toward peace too.

By the next day, October 28th, Kennedy and Khrushchev came to a tentative agreement.

It wasn't official yet, and there were a lot of matters that were still up for negotiation, but for the time being, it was clear that the U.S.

and the USSR were not going to war.

With that announcement, the world breathed a sigh of relief.

It took until November for Kennedy and Khrushchev to nail down all of the details.

Ultimately, Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles and their silos from Cuba.

In exchange, Kennedy promised never to attack Cuba, regardless of the circumstances.

He also agreed to shut down the American silos in Italy and Turkey.

Nuclear war was averted.

and afterward, Kennedy and Khrushchev got the credit for negotiating their way to peace.

Soviet military leaders saw Commander Arkhapov as a coward and an embarrassment for abandoning his mission.

But they also knew he'd helped prevent an atomic war.

They couldn't decide whether to punish him or celebrate him, so they ultimately did neither.

The story of his mission was kept quiet, and he continued to hold his position as flotilla commander.

However, it took another 20 years before he received another promotion.

For decades, Arkhapov's story was largely unknown.

He passed away in obscurity in 1998, at the age of 72.

His cause of death was kidney cancer, a cancer that his doctors believe he only developed due to his exposure to radiation during his earlier doomed submarine mission with the coolant leak.

After Arkapov's death, the story of his brave stand finally became public knowledge.

He was hailed as a hero across the globe, even in his home country of Russia.

And he came to be known as the man who kept a cool head on his shoulders when one wrong step could have tipped the world into a nuclear holocaust.

From Balin Studios, this is a twist of history.

A quick note about our stories.

They're all heavily researched, but some details and scenes are dramatized.

A Twist of History is hosted by me, Joel Blackwell, executive produced by Mr.

Bollin and Zach Levitt.

Our head of writing is Evan Allen.

Produced by Perry Kroll.

This episode was written by Angela Jorgensen.

Story editing by Luke Baratz and Aaron Land.

Edited by Aleister Sherman.

An audio mixing by Colin Lester Fleming.

Post-production supervision by Jeremy Bone and Cole LaCasio.

Research and fact-checking by Abigail Shumway, Camille Callahan, Evan Beamer, Alex Paul, Patricia Nicole Florentino, Calvin Riley-Holgate, Matt Matt Gilligan, Matt Teemstra, production coordination by Delena Corley and Samantha Collins, artwork by Jessica Kloxton-Kiner and Robin Vane.

Thanks for listening to A Twist of History.

You can listen to more of me over at the Let's Read podcast and Let's Read YouTube channel.

See you next time.