Remembering That Scary October Day When The Red Phone Didn’t Ring
September 29, 2023
October is the time for scary stuff, toy skeletons and ghost costumes. It’s all good fun. But for me, October always recalls a day when it was no fun at all. In fact, it was one of the most chilling events of my life.
I was on the personal staff of Alaska’s governor, William Egan. We were in Anchorage on state business when the governor was summoned, urgently, to meet with the commanding general of all U.S. military forces in Alaska. I accompanied the governor as we were ushered into the private quarters of Lt. Gen. George Mundy. In full ready-for-combat military dress he greeted us, and then took a seat within easy reach of a red telephone.
Governor, he said, I believe you should go on Alaska media as soon as possible and encourage Alaskans to make sure their gas tanks are full, that they have ample supplies of food and water, and that they should consider where they would go and what they would do if evacuations were ordered.
A stunning request. An unforgettable moment. It came during what history books have labeled “the Cuban missile crisis.”
The crisis arose when U.S. intelligence discovered that the Soviets had installed nuclear missiles in Cuba, just 90 miles off the coast of Florida. President Kennedy was weighing conflicting advice on how to respond. Kennedy had ordered a naval blockade of Cuba. Some wanted to go further, with an attack on Cuba to destroy the missile bases.
That was Cuba. We were in Alaska. General Mundy clearly implied that we were on the verge of nuclear war with the Soviet Union, and that Alaska’s missile silos and air bases would be targets.
Propelled by the urgency of the general’s message, Governor Egan and I went to the governor’s Anchorage office where I quickly wrote a speech and within hours he delivered it live on TV and radio.
Fortunately, General Mundy’s red telephone didn’t ring. President Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Kruschev found a way to back off the nuclear war ledge. But it was a close call. Years later, the world would discover how close.
Unbeknownst to U.S. intelligence, Russian subs patrolling the waters near Cuba’s coast were armed with nuclear torpedoes. During the peak of the crisis, a U.S. Navy task force located one of the subs and began dropping signaling depth charges, explosives intended to force the sub to surface for identification. Because the sub commanders were attempting to hide, their vessel was too deep to monitor radio traffic. Those on board thought the explosives meant that war had begun. The sub’s captain prepared to launch nuclear torpedoes. By chance, the Russian flotilla commander was aboard, and overruled the decision. He ordered the sub to surface, despite the unanimous opposition of the sub’s senior officers. It was an act of leadership and courage that likely prevented the start of a nuclear war.
Over the years, there have been many close calls and false alarms that came close to triggering a nuclear holocaust. Temporary lost communications, solar flares, power outages, computer errors, faulty sensor reads, misinterpretation of military exercises. It’s a long and fateful list. And that’s just the U.S. experience. We don’t know of all the close calls that likely happened in other nuclear-armed nations: India, Pakistan, Russia, China, the UK, France, Israel. No military can maintain a 100% perfect record. It’s a miracle that accident, mistake, benign intent or faulty engineering hasn’t caused a nuclear military disaster in the years since Hiroshima.
The rest of the world realizes the continuing threat. In fact, at this writing 121 nations have signed onto a UN-sponsored treaty to ban nuclear weapons and to join a universal world effort to enforce that ban. Unfortunately, no nuclear-equipped nation has agreed to it. That’s remarkably short-sighted given the growing risks to all nations, large and small. North Korea. Iran. Rogue groups such as Isis in the nuclear weapons market.
We don’t read much about nuclear weapons these days. We should. Having been an eye-witness at the precipice of nuclear war many years ago is an experience you never forget. I haven’t. I often think of that red telephone at the general’s elbow, and how another such crisis might not be averted by a courageous government or military leader.
Or announced by a ringing red telephone.
Comments? Criticism? Contact Joe Rothstein at jrothstein@rothstein.net or at his web site, www.joerothstein.net.
I was on the personal staff of Alaska’s governor, William Egan. We were in Anchorage on state business when the governor was summoned, urgently, to meet with the commanding general of all U.S. military forces in Alaska. I accompanied the governor as we were ushered into the private quarters of Lt. Gen. George Mundy. In full ready-for-combat military dress he greeted us, and then took a seat within easy reach of a red telephone.
Governor, he said, I believe you should go on Alaska media as soon as possible and encourage Alaskans to make sure their gas tanks are full, that they have ample supplies of food and water, and that they should consider where they would go and what they would do if evacuations were ordered.
A stunning request. An unforgettable moment. It came during what history books have labeled “the Cuban missile crisis.”
The crisis arose when U.S. intelligence discovered that the Soviets had installed nuclear missiles in Cuba, just 90 miles off the coast of Florida. President Kennedy was weighing conflicting advice on how to respond. Kennedy had ordered a naval blockade of Cuba. Some wanted to go further, with an attack on Cuba to destroy the missile bases.
That was Cuba. We were in Alaska. General Mundy clearly implied that we were on the verge of nuclear war with the Soviet Union, and that Alaska’s missile silos and air bases would be targets.
Propelled by the urgency of the general’s message, Governor Egan and I went to the governor’s Anchorage office where I quickly wrote a speech and within hours he delivered it live on TV and radio.
Fortunately, General Mundy’s red telephone didn’t ring. President Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Kruschev found a way to back off the nuclear war ledge. But it was a close call. Years later, the world would discover how close.
Unbeknownst to U.S. intelligence, Russian subs patrolling the waters near Cuba’s coast were armed with nuclear torpedoes. During the peak of the crisis, a U.S. Navy task force located one of the subs and began dropping signaling depth charges, explosives intended to force the sub to surface for identification. Because the sub commanders were attempting to hide, their vessel was too deep to monitor radio traffic. Those on board thought the explosives meant that war had begun. The sub’s captain prepared to launch nuclear torpedoes. By chance, the Russian flotilla commander was aboard, and overruled the decision. He ordered the sub to surface, despite the unanimous opposition of the sub’s senior officers. It was an act of leadership and courage that likely prevented the start of a nuclear war.
Over the years, there have been many close calls and false alarms that came close to triggering a nuclear holocaust. Temporary lost communications, solar flares, power outages, computer errors, faulty sensor reads, misinterpretation of military exercises. It’s a long and fateful list. And that’s just the U.S. experience. We don’t know of all the close calls that likely happened in other nuclear-armed nations: India, Pakistan, Russia, China, the UK, France, Israel. No military can maintain a 100% perfect record. It’s a miracle that accident, mistake, benign intent or faulty engineering hasn’t caused a nuclear military disaster in the years since Hiroshima.
The rest of the world realizes the continuing threat. In fact, at this writing 121 nations have signed onto a UN-sponsored treaty to ban nuclear weapons and to join a universal world effort to enforce that ban. Unfortunately, no nuclear-equipped nation has agreed to it. That’s remarkably short-sighted given the growing risks to all nations, large and small. North Korea. Iran. Rogue groups such as Isis in the nuclear weapons market.
We don’t read much about nuclear weapons these days. We should. Having been an eye-witness at the precipice of nuclear war many years ago is an experience you never forget. I haven’t. I often think of that red telephone at the general’s elbow, and how another such crisis might not be averted by a courageous government or military leader.
Or announced by a ringing red telephone.
Comments? Criticism? Contact Joe Rothstein at jrothstein@rothstein.net or at his web site, www.joerothstein.net.
Joe Rothstein is a political strategist and media producer who worked in more than 200 campaigns for political office and political causes. He also has served as editor of the Anchorage Daily News and as an adjunct professor at George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management. He has a master's degree in journalism from UCLA. Mr. Rothstein is the author of award-winning political thrillers, The Latina President and the Conspiracy to Destroy Her, The Salvation Project, and The Moment of Menace. For more information, please visit his website at https://www.joerothstein.net/.
