RThe Cuban Missile Crisis of 60 years ago has been recognized as the most tense period in the Cold War, perhaps in world history, as the two superpowers stared each other down for several days and nuclear war was potentially one unintended consequence or misinterpreted event away. Today it is heavily portrayed in popular culture, but often told to hype the drama. Discredited mythology often wins over credible historical accounting. What were the real risks, the mechanisms which might have triggered, perhaps literally, a nuclear war? What were the opposing forces, what would such a war have looked like, what would have been the outcome, and what would the fallout, perhaps literally, be today? Presented by Capt. Mark McDonagh, USN/ret., physicist and former nuclear submarine officer with 12 years’ experience at the Naval War College, on the National Security Decision Making Game staff.