Hotlines: From Cold War Crisis Lines to Suicide Prevention Lines and More

The Cuban Missile Crisis in 1963 was of international importance, threatening the world with the potential suicide of at least three nations: the United States, the Soviet Union, and Cuba. The threat was the potential annihilation of the warring nations using nuclear weapons. The crisis was averted using a newly established telephone system between President John F. Kennedy of the United States and Premier Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet Union.

As disastrous as this could be, it gave birth...