Annihilation.
Such fatalism and finality we associate with that word.
Yet in the early 1960s, that is exactly what the planet faced as the two world powers of that time postured behind their immense nuclear arsenals. Never before or since had the world been so close to self-destruction.
In the midst of those tense times, perhaps as a subliminal human survival instinct, the two powers somehow continued to participate in a popular athletic rivalry: the USA vs USSR Track and Field dual meet series.
Obviously, Earth survived.
Historians would eventually credit diplomacy, through glasnost and perestroika, with the ending of that Cold War. But at the moment when fingers in high places crept closest to that mythical red button, the 1962 USA/USSR dual track meet may have just provided the distraction which caused both sides to blink.
Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev had already spewed his famous "We will bury you!" tirade. The failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba had President John F. Kennedy reeling on the defensiv...
Read Complete Article at Bleacher Report - Sports & Society
Article is property of BleacherReport.com