Hey, guys, it's Mike Rowe, and this is the way I heard it, the only podcast for The Curious Mind with a short attention span.

It's episode number 172 and this one is called an unforgivable overreaction. An Unforgivable Overreaction. Do you watch the debate the other night? Yeah, yeah, me too. I watched the debate with a room full of friends.

And what struck me the most wasn't the constant interrupting going on between the candidates. It was the constant interrupting going on between me and my friends.

And it got me thinking, you know what I mean? It was a dumpster fire when you have to admit it, just a hot mess. It was not it was not a presidential debate. It was a it was a brawl.

In fact, somebody on my Facebook page posted a funny meme, said maybe next time for debate number two, we'll just have a fist fight in front of a Chili's. Which made me laugh anyway. What's going on in our country right now is not the the topic of this podcast, and as most of you know, I don't get political on the podcast or in real life for the most part. And I'm not going to I'm not going to do that here.

But I am going to suggest that that part of what happened during that presidential debate was well, regarding the interrupting, it seemed to me that in every instance, the interruptions happened when one candidate heard something that he believed was untrue.

And that's what happened in my house with the people that I was watching the debate with as well. And there's just so much information out in the world today that is publicly challenged to the point where you can't really blame someone.

I mean, it's not unreasonable for a person to say with regard to virtually any topic, what is the truth? What is the truth with masks?

Well, there's certainly two sides and both sides sound absolutely certain when they answer that question.

And so if you think about the the institutions that we rely upon the most to give us accurate information, you know, the politicians, journalists, the medical community, scientists, you know, we're just living at a time when. All of those institutions have said things that have contradicted other things.

What do you do when the scientists disagree? It's one thing for politicians to disagree. We know they're going to disagree. And I guess we know now that journalists are going to disagree. But when the scientists start to disagree, then people start to overreact. Well, they start to react and then they start to overreact and then some of those overreactions become unforgivable. So after the debate, this is all bouncing around in my head. And I wrote the story you're about to hear.

It's called an unforgivable overreaction. And among other things, it gives me a chance to ruminate on some other presidents and some other things that other presidents have said that I believe might be more quotable than anything we heard the other night.

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You should go there and just scroll through some of the testimonials from satisfied customers. There are thousands of them. These guys are doing good work. Check them out. Light streamed Dotcom Magro. This, on the other hand, can only be called what it is an unforgivable. Overreaction. He was not the first president to be publicly challenged by a powerful enemy, nor was he the first to consider extreme retaliation.

But now, as the prospect of an unprecedented launch became more and more real, his vice president was getting nervous.

Sir, we must not overreact. The world expects a measured response, not a launch of this magnitude. Consider the fallout. And remember what President McKinley said. War should never be entered upon until every agency of peace has failed. The president nodded. A student of history, he was well acquainted with the words of America's 25th president. William McKinley had done everything in his power to stay out of Cuba in 1898, even after the USS Maine was sunk in Havana Harbor.

Was this so different? Would McKinley have simply ignored the challenge now facing this president, just as he ignored the attack on the main 100 years before? Probably with respect, sir. McKinley was a fool with his head in the sand. The director of communications didn't mince words. Congress declared war without him. So if we're going to quote presidents, let's not forget the man who actually fought the war that McKinley failed to avoid was in a Teddy Roosevelt who said, if you're going to hit, never hit soft.

The president nodded, he was well acquainted with the words of America's 26th president, another man who had distinguished himself in Cuba when he led his Rough Riders to victory in the famous charge up San Juan Hill. Was this so different?

Would Teddy Roosevelt have sought a measured response to the challenge before them today? Probably not. Roosevelt would have hit back hard. The vice president could see the way the president was leaning. Sir, I know that we've been publicly challenged and I understand the world is watching. But let us also remember the words of John F. Kennedy.

Mankind, he said, must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind.

The president's side. Yes, he remembered Kennedy's words vividly. Words spoken in the wake of that other nightmare in Cuba, the fiasco called the Bay of Pigs that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. But hadn't. Kennedy also said the one path America shall never choose is the path of submission. Of course he had. The president rubbed his temples what to do, ignoring the challenge would be an admission of defeat, but a measured response would only escalate the war and increase hostilities.

Now a decisive retaliatory launch seemed like the only viable path, a launch that the enemy would never anticipate. Gentlemen, I appreciate your counsel, but in the words of Harry Truman, the buck stops here, leave me. I'll make my decision within the hour. Alone now, the president considered the wisdom of the third president of these United States, the buck did indeed stop with the president. It always had. Indeed, it was Harry Truman who had made the toughest call of all when he ended the Second World War with two atomic bombs, a call that many still see as an unforgivable overreaction.

But was it how many millions of lives were saved as a result of Truman's decision to hit hard like Roosevelt and crushed the Japanese challenge once and for all?

Then the president's thoughts returned to Cuba, as they often did, because this president, unlike McKinley, Roosevelt, Truman or Kennedy and all the presidents who preceded him, for that matter, had been born there.

Like Fidel Castro, this president had learned the English language at a young age and established himself as a man who got things done. But unlike Castro, this future leader defected to the United States in 1953. In fact, he was living in Miami during the Cuban Missile Crisis, where he watched breathlessly with the rest of the world as John F. Kennedy, with his hand on the button, waited for the Soviets to blink. Well, now it was his turn.

Now, this Cuban defector was in the hot seat and the stakes could not be higher to launch or not to launch. That was the question.

Years later, historians call it the greatest marketing blunder of the 20th century, and yet the man responsible for this disastrous launch is remembered today as one of the most prudent presidents in American history.

The president and CEO of a Fortune 500 company who served his shareholders for six years and grew his company's value by thirty five hundred percent during his remarkable time at the helm. Alas, in spite of his many successes, Roberto Goizueta is also remembered for his response to the challenge that terrified his shareholders. The challenge that took the Cola wars to a whole new level, the Pepsi Challenge, which provoked an otherwise prudent president to launch a real bomb, an unforgivable overreaction.

We remember today. As New Coke. Anyway, that's the way I heard.