Pick of the Day: The Man Who Saved the World (DVD)

The Man Who Saved the World (Secrets of the Dead Series). DVD. 60 min. Prod. by Bedlam Prods. Dist. by PBS Dist. 2012. ISBN 978-1-60883-788-5. $24.99.
Gr 10 Up–Re-enactments and testimony from eyewitnesses and experts explain that the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crises was far more dangerous than ever imagined. When two superpowers challenged one another, the world came close to nuclear destruction. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Adlai Stevenson, confronted the Soviets with the discovery by U.S. intelligence of ballistic missiles in Cuba. At the same time, the Soviets were concerned about U.S. missiles in Turkey. Four Soviet submarines were dispatched with “special weapons” possessing the power of the nuclear bomb that had destroyed Hiroshima. Eighty-five percent of the U.S. Atlantic fleet, including 40 U.S. destroyers, four aircraft carriers, and over 350 aircraft were determined to prevent the Soviets from establishing a base for offensive warfare in Cuba. Tensions had escalated to the breaking point when Soviet submarine B-59 prepared to fire its “secret weapon.” However, the launch required more than the two halves of the key possessed by the submarine captain and its political officer. The commander of the fleet, Vasili Arkhipov, had the third piece required to fire the nuclear torpedo and refused to do so because he had already witnessed the horrible death caused by nuclear exposure. Had the torpedo been launched, the U.S. would have sent their readied aircraft to the Soviet Union to drop nuclear bombs, and our world would never have been the same. documentary demonstrates how one man changed the course of history. Students and teachers of U.S. history and currents affairs will be thoroughly engaged by this film that will stimulate discussion about current concerns of nuclear arsenals throughout the world.–Ann Weber, Bellarmine College Prep., San Jose, CA