Stanislav Petrov:​ An Unlikely Hero of the Cold War
  • Home Page
    • Option 1
    • Option 2
    • Thesis
  • The Cold War
    • Mutually Assured Destruction
    • Ronald Reagan and the 'Evil Empire'
    • Korean Airlines Flight 007
  • The False Alarm Incident
  • Significance
  • Research
    • Endnotes
    • Annotated Bibliography
    • Process Paper


Korean Airlines Flight 007


Relations between the United States and Soviet Union further deteriorated with the downing of Korean Airlines 007, merely a month before the False Alarm incident.

“Fellow Americans, I'm coming before you tonight about the Korean Airline Massacre--the attack by the Soviet Union against 269 innocent men, women, and children aboard an unarmed Korean passenger plane. This crime against humanity must never be forgotten—here or throughout the world.”
​-Ronald Reagan [4]

Tragedy in the Skies


​Just twenty-five days before the False Alarm incident, a South Korean plane on its way from Anchorage to Seoul was shot down by the Soviets after it strayed into Soviet airspace, killing everyone, including a US congressman, on board. [30]
图片
Flight Path of KAL Flight 007 (click image to enlarge) [31]

​Afterwards, the Soviet Union denied responsibility for this incident and claimed that the plane was on a spy mission for the United States. [33]
"I wondered what kind of plane it was, but I had no time to think. I had a job to do. I started to signal to [the pilot] in international code. I informed him that he had violated our airspace. He did not respond." 
-Soviet Pilot Colonel Gennadi Osipovitch: CNN Interview [32]

Soviet KGB Deputy Chairman Kryuchkov & German Minister Discussion of KAL Flight 007 [34]:
​Click images to enlarge.
图片
On the Plane Incident (Page 4)
图片
(Page 4)
图片
(Page 5)
PDF: Soviet Discussion of KAL Flight 007
File Size: 106 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

"Then, on the instructions of ground control, two missiles were fired. The shootdown occurred over the territory of Sakhalin."
-Comrade Kryuchkov: Wilson Center Digital Archive [35]

Reagan's Stance


​ Ronald Reagan denounced the Soviet Union on national televison for "turn[ing] against the world and the moral precepts which guide human relations among people everywhere.” [5] 
Ronald Reagan's speech in response to Flight 007 [28]

​"Let me state, as plainly as I can: There was absolutely no justification, either legal or moral, for what the Soviets did."
-Ronald Reagan [6]
"The Russians saw a U.S. government preparing for a first strike, headed by a President [Ronald Reagan] capable of ordering a first strike."
-Bruce Blair: Bright Star Sound (U.S. & Russian nuclear security expert) ​[36]

Previous: Ronald Reagan and the 'Evil Empire'
Next: The False Alarm Incident

STANISLAV petrov: AN UNLIKELY HERO OF THE COLD WAR
YI CHEN (LUKE) CHANG & Danny Yu
senior division
​

WEBSITE WORD COUNT 
1199
PROCESS PAPER WORD COUNT
497
MEDIA LENGTH
​3:58
  • Home Page
    • Option 1
    • Option 2
    • Thesis
  • The Cold War
    • Mutually Assured Destruction
    • Ronald Reagan and the 'Evil Empire'
    • Korean Airlines Flight 007
  • The False Alarm Incident
  • Significance
  • Research
    • Endnotes
    • Annotated Bibliography
    • Process Paper