There were a lot of near nuclear incidents. The madmen part reminded me Nixon, and this article, about an ICBM crew member doing training in the '70s:
"Maj. Hering decided to ask his question anyway, regardless of consequences: How could he know that an order to launch his missiles was “lawful”? That it came from a sane president, one who wasn’t “imbalance[d]” or “berserk,” as Maj. Hering’s lawyer eventually, colorfully put it?
Hering needed a lawyer because as soon as he asked the question he was yanked out of missile training class, and after two years of appeals, eventually had to leave the Air Force, trade in a launch key for the ignition keys to an 18-wheeler.
[0] https://slate.com/human-interest/2011/02/nuclear-weapons-how...
