Features

September 25 is Stanislov Petrov Day. Who's He? Simply, the Man Who Saved the World

Gar Smith
Friday September 25, 2015 - 11:54:00 AM

It's time (long past time, actually( for a planet-wide shout-out to Stanislav Petrov.

September 26 should be recognized globally as Petrov Day.

If it hadn't been for Stanislav Petrov, you and I -- and billions of other people -- would not be alive today.

Petrov was the Russian officer whose finger was on the nuclear button on September 26, 1983, the fateful day that Russian radar mistakenly reported an incoming flight of US ballistic missiles. 

Petrov was in command. He had less than 30 minutes to make a decision and respond. 

Surrounded by panicking soldiers urging him to act and launch a "retaliatory strike," Petrov balked. He ignored his training and disobeyed orders. 

He thought the radar signals might be bogus. 

He took his finger off the nuclear trigger. 

And the world did not end. 

Thirty-two years later, Petrov remains virtually unknown when, by rights, his name should be as familiar as Lincoln, Jesus, Gandhi or Malala. 

Petrov's time may finally have come, thanks to a new movie that's just begun showing in limited release—in New York and Los Angeles. Some of the folks involved in "The Man Who Saved The World," the film honoring Petrov, are well-known names—Matt Damon, Robert De Niro and Kevin Costner. 

When you look at the trailer (below), there's a funny/chilling moment in a scene showing Petrov (long retired) sitting down on a sofa to relax in front of his TV. He opens up a beer bottle and ... spills it on the floor. (I think the filmmaker's message here was: "Accidents happen.") 

As Daniel Ellsberg has observed: "The more one learns about the hidden history of the nuclear era, the more miraculous it seems that the doomsday machines which we and the Russians have built and maintained have not yet triggered each other. At the same time, the clearer it becomes that we could and that we must dismantle them." 

 

So this Saturday, let's all pause and raise a toast to Stan Petrov. He saved us all from being toast.