PBS Offers Special Programs on the 50th Anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis on October 23, 2012

CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS — THREE MEN GO TO WAR and SECRETS OF THE DEAD “The Man Who Saved the World” Tell the Dramatic, Inside Story of the Crisis

ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fifty years after the events that brought the world to the brink of nuclear disaster, PBS will offer two new special programs about the Cuban Missile Crisis on Tuesday, October 23, 2012. CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS — THREE MEN GO TO WAR (Watch an exclusive clip) (8:00 p.m. ET) 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 — while SECRETS OF THE DEAD “The Man Who Saved the World” (9:00 p.m. ET) reveals just how close to nuclear destruction the world really was during those dark October days and how a Russian submariner’s refusal to fire a nuclear missile saved us all.

“Some viewers will remember the days when schoolchildren practiced duck and cover drills because the threat of nuclear attack was imminent”

On October 22, 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 disaster. The fate of the planet ultimately lay in the hands of three powerful men: Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev, Cuban leader Fidel Castro and U.S. President John F. Kennedy.

“Some viewers will remember the days when schoolchildren practiced duck and cover drills because the threat of nuclear attack was imminent,” said John Wilson, Senior Vice President and Chief TV Programming Executive. “Others have no idea that the world came so close to World War III and mutually assured destruction. As new details about this crisis have been declassified, the 50^th anniversary is a great opportunity to explore why these events happened and how war was ultimately averted.”

For more information and descriptions of the full schedule, please visit: http://www.pbs.org/about/news/archive/2012/cuban-missile-crisis/

For images and additional up-to-date information on this and other PBS programs, visit PBS PressRoom at pbs.org/pressroom.

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