The Most Dangerous Two Weeks In Human History

Explore the inside story of the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, when the world teetered on the brink of nuclear holocaust. In the first major feature documentary on the subject, Cuban Missile Crisis – Three Men Go To War brings to life the three central characters — Kennedy, Castro and Khrushchev — and explores how the world’s most powerful men fell into an abyss of their own making and outlines the courage and luck it took to climb out again.

Cuban Missile Crisis – Three Men Go To War premieres Tuesday, October 23 at 8:00 p.m. on WCVE PBS/WHTJ PBS

Two years in the making, Cuban Missile Crisis – Three Men Go To War reveals how three human beings grappled with the most dangerous two weeks in human history, when countless events outside their control threatened to ignite a nuclear holocaust that could have ended human civilization.

On October 22nd, 1962, President John F. Kennedy informed the world that the Soviet Union was building secret missile bases on the island of Cuba, 90 miles off the shores of Florida. The events of the next tension-filled 13 days, known as the Cuban Missile Crisis, struck fear across the globe as the world teetered on the edge of nuclear war. The fate of the planet ultimately lay in the hands of three powerful men: Khrushchev, Castro and Kennedy.

A complete picture of the events of those 13 days has only recently emerged after countless declassified documents were released from Soviet, American and Cuban archives. Extraordinary revelations have come to light about Castro’s role and how, at the height of the crisis, he suggested the Soviets consider striking first, fearing that Cuba was doomed no matter what unfolded. Also emerging are remarkable details on a series of rogue incidents outside of Kennedy or Khrushchev’s control, each of which came within a hair’s breadth of triggering all-out conflict.

A second program on the Cuban Missile Crisis, Secrets of the Dead: “The Man Who Saved the World,” premieres immediately following, on Tuesday, October 23 at 9:00 p.m. on WCVE PBS/WHTJ PBS, which reveals the dramatic and shocking story of the events that took place beneath the waves when a lone Russian submariner refused to fire a nuclear missile.