In 1961, the Soviet Union detonated Tsar Bomba—a 50-megaton hydrogen bomb that remains the most powerful explosion in human history. The blast was 3,800 times stronger than Hiroshima, shattered ...

The Cold War was already a live wire in January 1966. Washington and Moscow kept bombers in the air and fingers near the trigger. Deterrence was not abstract. It flew daily patrols, carrying weapons ...