Showing Berlin 1961: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth by Frederick Kempe

HardCover Pub Date: 2011. Pages: 608 in Publisher: Penguin Group. (USA) In June 1961. Nikita Khrushchev called Berlin the most dangerous place on earth of He knew what he was talking about.Much has been written about the Cuban Missile Crisis a year later. but the Berlin Crisis of 1961 was more decisive in shaping the Cold War-and more perilous. It was in that hot summer that the Berlin Wall was constructed. which would divide the world for another twenty-eight years. Then two months later. and for the first time in history. American and Soviet fighting men and tanks stood arrayed against each other. only yards apart. One mistake. one nervous soldier. one overzealous commander-and the tripwire would be sprung for a war that could go nuclear in a heartbeat.On one side was a young. untested US president still reeling from the Bay of Pigs disaster and a humiliating summit meetin...