{"id":7734,"date":"2012-11-10T14:39:12","date_gmt":"2012-11-10T21:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/?p=7734"},"modified":"2012-11-10T15:02:12","modified_gmt":"2012-11-10T22:02:12","slug":"the-man-who-saved-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/the-man-who-saved-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"The Man Who Saved the World"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Jewish faith holds that he who saves one man saves the entire world. But\u00a0Vasilli Arkhipov was one man who, by saving the entire world, saved each and every one of us.<\/p>\n

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Vasilli Alexandrovich Arkhipov 1926-1998<\/p><\/div>\n

50 years ago today, at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, second-in-command Vasilli Arkhipov of the Soviet submarine B-59 refused to agree with his Captain’s order to launch nuclear torpedos against US warships and setting off what might well have been a terminal superpower nuclear war.<\/p>\n

The US had been dropping depth charges near the submarine in an attempt to force it to surface, unaware\u00a0\u00a0it was carrying nuclear arms. The Soviet officers, who had lost radio contact with Moscow, concluded that World War 3 had begun, and 2 of the officers agreed to ‘blast the warships out of the water’. Arkhipov refused to agree – unanimous consent of 3 officers was required – and thanks to him, we are here to talk about it.<\/p>\n