Everyone Alive Should Know This Man…
We wouldn’t be here without him.
Before reading this amazing story, you can watch the final part of our “God, Violence, and The Bible: Misusing Divine Power”.
What happened when one man refused to respond with violence? Millions of lives were saved. Read the original Tweet thread here with pictures or below is the excerpt written by Dr. David Grimes, author of The Irrational Ape...
60 years ago today on the 27th October 1962, human life on Earth came the closest it has ever come to a terrible ending. Everyone alive today owes their life to this handsome devil, and most of us don't even know his name.
In October 1962, the Cuban Missile crisis erupted with USSR responding to American missiles in Italy and Turkey by spiriting missiles to Cuba. This stand-off is often considered the most dangerous moment of the Cold War: that is not correct...for while Khrushchev & Kennedy were engaged in frantic talks to avert disaster, the real drama was playing out deep beneath the Atlantic Ocean, unbeknownst to either leader.
Away from Moscow and Washington, a deadly game of cat & mouse had begun with terrible ramifications. Soviet submarine B- 59 had been detected by the US Navy, diving too deep to communicate with the outside world. Pursued by a US aircraft carrier & 11 destroyers, the B- 59 crew had been unable to contact Moscow for days. No one aboard knew if war had begun nor how to proceed. Attempting to force B-59 to surface, the Americans dropped depth charges, unsurprisingly interpreted as raw aggression. Senior officers on board, Capt. Valentin Savitsky, political officer Ivan Maslennikov, & flotilla commander Vasili Arkhipov – gathered to formulate a response.
What the Americans could not know is that the beleaguered B-59 had a nuclear arsenal; a T5 nuclear torpedo. Cut-off from Moscow, B- 59 had autonomy to respond to threats and, if required, authority to deploy the nuke. Unaware of this, the Americans continued their pursuit. The atmosphere on B-59 was oppressive. Air con had failed and the cramped enclosure was like an inescapable sauna, with temperatures above 50ºC. Carbon dioxide had risen to dangerously high levels, & oxygen & water were low – not situations conducive to rational decision-making. Depth charges constantly rocked B- 59, "like sitting in a metal barrel with someone hitting it with a sledgehammer".
The rattled Savitsky accepted that war had already begun. "We are going to hit them hard. We shall die ourselves, sink them all, but not stain the navy’s honour". Maslennikov agreed. Normal protocols dictated that a decision to launch required approval of the captain and political officer only. But Arkhipov’s position as flotilla commander gave him equal rank with Savitsky. For B-59 to use its nuclear weapon, all 3 would have to consent.
With Savitsky and Maslennikov resolved to fight, the decision to strike now rested entirely upon Arkhipov’s broad shoulders. Upon his word, the Randolph would have been completely vaporised by the nuclear payload, an act that would have certainly triggered a Third World War. Neither the Kremlin nor the White House knew that this momentous decision was being made. In the words of historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr, "this was not only the most dangerous moment of the Cold War. It was the most dangerous moment in human history."
The commander was, however, no stranger to pressure. Only the year before, he served on the K- 19 submarine, when its nuclear reactor coolant system failed. To stave off a nuclear meltdown, Arkhipov & the crew had improvised a secondary coolant system & narrowly averted disaster. This K-19 incident was infamous throughout the Soviet navy, & Arkhipov’s courage was widely known and deeply respected. Now, aboard the sweltering B- 59, all eyes fell upon him. Facing his fellow officers, he resolutely vetoed their request to engage.
A passionate argument ensued, yet his contention remained that launching the T- 5 meant total nuclear war was inevitable. To do so without complete information was the height of madness, he argued; instead, he urged that they surface and re- establish communication with Moscow. Finally, Arkhipov won his colleagues over. By that stage the White House had become aware of the North Atlantic chase, ordering B-59 be allowed return to the USSR unmolested. It was only much later, before either Moscow or Washington realized how close to destruction we had come.
This day 60 years ago, the reasoning of Arkhipov prevented Armageddon. Decades later, the director of the National Security Archive, Thomas Blanton, put it succinctly: "a guy called Vasili Arkhipov saved the world".