America’s Nuclear Weapons Policies Are Nuts
Can our luck hold forever?
On April 15, 1969, a US Navy EC-121 surveillance plane — call sign Deep Sea 129 — flew through the Sea of Japan to listen in on communications between the North Koreans and their allies. This was a regular occurrence — Operation Beggar Shadow had carried out over 200 missions in international waters just off the coast of the communist nation.
It was expected to be a pretty routine event, but for reasons unknown, the North Korean military chose this day to respond aggressively. Two MiG fighter jets intercepted the EC-121 and shot it down. All thirty-one American crew members died.
This event was horrible for the family and friends of those involved, of course, but, in the annals of the Cold War, it was a fairly minor moment of tension and tragedy, on par with the capture of the USS Pueblo by North Korea in 1968 or the downing of Francis Gary Powers’ U-2 spy plane in 1960.
But this incident almost became a world-historical event rather than a footnote. In the decades since 1969, stories have leaked out that Richard Nixon almost started a nuclear war over the downing of Deep Sea 129. A veteran CIA analyst reported that Nixon, furious and intoxicated, ordered a tactical nuclear strike on North Korea.
