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The Cuban Missile Crisis
In October 1962, American spy planes discovered that the Soviet Union was building launch sites for nuclear missiles in Cuba, 150 kilometres from Florida. The most dangerous moment became known only decades later: aboard the Soviet submarine B-59, under depth charges and out of radio contact, second-in-command Vasili Arkhipov refused to give the consent required to fire a nuclear torpedo. The crisis produced the direct line between Washington and Moscow and the test ban treaty of 1963. It is also the standard case in the study of how decisions are made under time pressure and incomplete information.
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