# data[].attributes.body
US president John F. Kennedy had successfully stopped the Cuban Missile Crisis and had saved the world from mutually assured destruction. This should have made him a very popular man in the United States and would guarantee his election but it did not. He was in Dallas, Texas, rallying support for his reelection as well as trying to bring feuding Democrats together when he went to Dallas on the 22nd of November, 1963 (24). He was riding in an open top car when he and Texas governor John Connally were shot at around 12:30 pm. Two bullets the president in the neck and head and the governor was hit in the chest. At around 1:00 pm, President John F. Kennedy was declared dead. The local police had arrested Lee Harvey Oswald, who had been at the Texas School Book Depository, for the shooting, as well as the murder of a policeman. Oswald was killed by Jack Ruby when Oswald was being transferred (25).

There were many people that had issued statements after the fact. Pope Paul VI said "John Kennedy was the first Catholic president of the United States, and as his election brought a special sense of joy to Catholics, his death brought a special sadness.” Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower had said “In the face of such a terrible thing, I’m sure the entire citizenry of the nation will join as one man in expressing not only their grief but their indignation at this act, and we’ll stand faithfully behind the government.” (26). Even Fidel Castro was quoted as saying "This is bad news.", when he heard of the shooting (27).

This was important not just because this was the assassination of a global leader, but also because of the time in which it was done. Oswald was immediately identified as being a Marxist, so it could be inferred that this was a Soviet or Cuban backed assassination (28). An assassination of the President of the United States would also raise the alarm and awareness for military, who could probably expect some sort of strike after the commander-in-chief was killed. Fortunately, the swearing in of President Lyndon B. Johnson had gone well, without any major complication, and there were no erratic movements from either side of the world that might have received a response.

On September 26, 1983, a lieutenant-colonel Stanislav Petrov was in his bunker near Moscow, watching the early warning systems for threat of a nuclear attack against the Soviet Union. There was a glitch in the system, and it had shown something along the lines of a couple of nuclear missiles launched against the USSR (29). He was supposed to have informed his superiors but decided to wait, because he had doubts. He was reprimanded days later, not because he did not inform his superiors, but because he did not log things correctly in the logbook (30).

This was another time in which there could have been a Third World War, but this one could have been an accident. If Petrov had told his superiors, then there probably would have been an accidental first-strike by the Russians in what they would believe to be a counter-attack. It could have just taken one person and one decision to start a war that would take countless lives.

# data[].attributes.body
The Korean War was one of the first conflicts in the Cold War and it became the basis of which US foreign policy against Communist expansionism (10). After World War II, it was decided that the Soviets and the Americans would split the Korean Peninsula, which had previously belonged to Japan, across the 38th parallel. The Soviets got the North, and the US the South. This was only supposed to be a temporary solution, but the Soviets supported a Communist regime under Kim Il Sung and the US lightly supported Syngman Rhee (11).

On June 25, 1950, North Korean soldiers invaded the South (12). Many saw this as a communist grab for power in Asia, and intervention was considered a necessity. In the NSC-68 from April of 1950, one of the two main goals of the US at that time was stated as "the policy of 'containing' the Soviet system." (13). While the North Koreans had trapped the South's army in an area around Pusan, the US decided to intervene. With a brilliant execution of commander Douglas MacArthur, UN troops landed at Inchon near Seoul, and managed to cut off supplies to the North Koreans. This led to a drastic change in the war (14). The UN forces managed to move up to the Yalu River at the border of China and North Korea. China launched a very successful attack against the UN troops at the border and warned the US to stay away from the River, unless it wanted an all-out war (15,16). Truman desperately wanted to avoid this, as he believed that an all-out war against Communist China would lead to Soviet aggression in Europe, which would inevitably lead to use of atomic weapons. To further exacerbate problems, MacArthur had always a supported a full war with the communists, stating "There is no substitute for victory" against communism (17).

MacArthur was soon replaced by General Matthew Ridgeway for his insubordination, and Ridgeway managed to reach a stalemate with the Chinese and North Koreans at the 38th parallel, and peace talks started. The goal of China and the US was to maintain the borders from before the war, but the talks took a further two years (18).

This was the first major conflict of the Cold War, which almost brought a third World War in half a century. While it was the goal of the US to protect South Korea, UN commander MacArthur had desperately wanted to expand the war into China (19). As China was one of the Soviet Union's most powerful allies, such an attack on the Soviets might seem too aggressive and demand a violent response. With the US occupied by a war with China in the East, it would receive little resistance in the West besides the European members of NATO, it would be possible that there could be a nuclear exchange in the ensuing conflict.

# data[].attributes.body
During the Cold War, there were many nations that fell under the sway of communism. Cuba was perhaps one of the more important ones, as it was very close to the US. It wasn't until the Soviet Union, under Nikita Khrushchev, sent nuclear missiles to the small island ninety miles off of the Florida coast in 1962, that Cuba seemed a large threat to the US especially after the US's disastrous affront to Cuba at the Bay of Pigs (20).

It was U-2 planes that captured the photographs that were delivered to President Kennedy on October 16, 1962, and those photos were of nuclear missiles. Kennedy decided to call the Executive Committee of the NSC, or ExComm. Because Khrushchev had repeatedly promised in the past that the USSR would not send nuclear weapons to Cuba, and Kennedy had publicly warned the Soviet Union not to send offensive weapons to Cuba, something had to be done (21). The US came up with several options to deal with the missiles, such as bombing the sites only, launching a full scale invasion of Cuba, or blockading Cuba. The last one was chosen by Kennedy, October 22, 1962 marked the revelation from Kennedy to the public that there were nuclear missiles on Cuba. He also explained his plans for a blockade during the announcement. On October 27, the Crisis was resolved when the Khrushchev agreed publicly to a deal where the nuclear missiles would be removed from the island in exchange for the promise that the US would not invade Cuba. However, another secret deal had actually been struck; in addition to the publicly stated terms, the US would remove its nuclear arms from Turkey, which was worrying to the Soviets due to its proximity (22). In the events that followed, there was the establishment of the "hot line" between the two nation's capitals, but the nuclear arms race still continued (23).

This was the closest to World War III the world had come. It was almost a situation where neither power could back down without losing prestige, which could have only led to escalation of the war. Even advisors of Kennedy had wanted to attack Cuba, but Kennedy decided for a less aggressive response. He was able to secretly reach an agreement with Khrushchev that would have concessions given by the United States, but managed to keep the US looking strong in the public's eyes.