The Brink

In Episode 3 we arrive at the razor’s edge of global catastrophe. With Soviet missiles in Cuba discovered, President John F. Kennedy and his advisors must navigate a series of impossible choices. This episode plunges listeners into the intense hours of October 22–24, 1962, when the world waited, breath held, to see if diplomacy could outpace destruction.

We explore the dramatic televised address that shocked the American public, the naval quarantine that tested Soviet resolve, and the backchannel messages that revealed just how close the U.S. and USSR came to launching nuclear war. Meanwhile, Fidel Castro watched nervously from Havana, furious at his role as a pawn in a superpower chess match.

"The Brink" is a visceral, minute-by-minute journey through the most dangerous standoff in human history—a confrontation where every pause, every word, and every move could trigger annihilation.

Prepare yourself. This is the moment the Cold War turned hot—almost.