Prevented World War III

ByDr. Terrence Webster-Doyle

Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov (Russian: Станислав Евграфович Петров; 7  September 1939 – 19 May 2017) was a lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Defense Forces who became known as “the man who single-handedly saved the world from nuclear war” for his role in the 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident.

On 26 September 1983, Petrov was the duty officer at the command center for the Oko nuclear early-warning system when the system reported that a missile had been launched from the United States, followed by up to five more multiple USAF Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missiles from bases in the United States. Petrov judged the reports to be a false alarm, and his decision to disobey orders, against Soviet military protocol, is credited with having prevented an erroneous retaliatory nuclear attack on the United States and its NATO allies that could have resulted in large-scale nuclear war.

Investigation later confirmed that the Soviet satellite warning system had indeed malfunctioned.

Dr. Terrence Webster-Doyle

Dr. Terrence Webster-Doyle (1940-2023) was an author who had a Ph.D. in Health and Human Services, a Master's Degree in Humanistic Psychology/Counseling, and and a life-time secondary and community college teaching credential. Dr. Webster-Doyle taught at Sonoma State University and Santa Rosa Community College in California in Psychology, Philosophy, Education for Peace and Youth At Risk Counseling.

He was a respected educator in the field of Bully/Victim Cycle from the "playground to the battlefield" having written over 100 internationally acclaimed, award winning literary works for young people and adults that focus on understanding what prevents peace – prejudicial conditioned thinking emanating from the primitive biological brain.