The Man Who Kept The Cold War Cool [audio 7 minutes 49 seconds]

Most people think of the Cold War as a long, glacial period, but in the beginning it was dangerously unstable. Author Neil Sheehan says there might well have been nuclear war — had it not been for one man.

Sheehan tells All Things Considered host Guy Raz that a quiet Air Force general, Bernard Schriever, kept the U.S. and Soviet Union balanced against each other by virtually creating the concept of mutual assured destruction