The Unsung Heroes of Music: Part 1
Not everyone who managed to change the world is famous\u2026it is possible to do something absolutely, monumentally world-shaking and not receive any recognition for it\u2026\n\nI\u2019ll give you a name: Vasyli Arkipov\u2026it\u2019s possible that this guy is the only reason any of us are still alive\u2026seriously\u2026\n\nOctober 27, 1962\u2026it\u2019s the height of the Cuban missile crisis\u2026the soviets had nukes in Cuba aimed at the u.s. and more were on the way\u2026John Kennedy responded by setting up a blockade around the island\u2026\n\nThe USS Randolph was one of the ships in charge of enforcing the blockade\u2026they spotted a Soviet sub that was sent to protect the flotilla of Russian ships approaching the island with more missiles on board\u2026this one particular sub\u2014a Foxtrot class b-59\u2014was armed with nuclear missiles\u2026Arkhipov was the second in command\u2026\n\nThe Randolph began dropping depth charges in an effort to get the sub to surface\u2026b-59 suffered damage\u2026the crew couldn\u2019t breathe\u2026they wanted to fight back\u2026the sub commander tried to raise soviet command for permission to fire\u2014but he couldn\u2019t reach them\u2026\n\nBecause they\u2019d been cruising submerged for days, they hadn\u2019t heard anything from Soviet high command\u2026but they had been monitoring American civil broadcasts which offered non-stop coverage of the crisis\u2026and now they were under attack\u2026maybe the war had finally begun\u2026if that was the case, shouldn\u2019t they launch their missiles?...\n\nCaptain Valent\xedn Savitsky was in favour of an attack\u2026so was political officer Ivan Maslennikov\u2026but in order to launch the nukes, Stavisky and Maslennikov also needed agreement from Arkhipov\u2026\u201cwhat do you say, Vasyli?...do we engage the Americans with our special weapon?\u201d\u2026\n\nVasyli took a breath and replied \u201cnyet\u2026we do not fire\u2026we have no proof that we are at war\u2026what if we\u2019re wrong?...if we launch, we risk starting an all-our nuclear war and\xa0 wipe out all life on the planet\u201d\u2026\n\nThe commander wasn\u2019t happy with that, but rules were rules and he ordered that the crew stand down\u2026no nuke would be fired that day\u2026and when the sub did surface, it was confirmed that hostilities had not broken out\u2026this is why Vasyli Arkipov is widely regarded as the man who single-handedly prevented a global nuclear war on October 27, 1962\u2026yet how many people know his name?...\n\nNow let\u2019s take a big pivot into music\u2026what kind of unsung heroes might we find there?...\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices