Soviet Air Defenses Have Done Their Job

The relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union had just completely broken down. The Soviets did their best to prove they were an evil empire by shooting down a fleet-loaded civilian airliner, killing 269 people. Just weeks after the shoot down of the Korean airliner, the Soviet air defenses got a erroneous report of an American missile launch against them. And from there, a lot of bad decisions could have cascaded into World War III.