Unclassified Documents Show Nuclear Bomb Incident in N.C.
BROWN: We're learning new details about another historic highlight from "The Sixties," the Goldsboro Incident from 1961. That is when a B-52 bomber jet broke in half during a flight and lost its load, two nuclear bombs. Where was it flying at the time? Over the city of Goldsboro, North Carolina. Eight crewmen were onboard. The plane crashed in this field. Both bombs plummeted to the ground. One was nearly armed and set to explode. But miraculously, neither did. These extraordinary facts were recently declassified and just released by the National Security Archive. And here's a pictures of one of the nuclear bombs. Weighing 10,000 pounds, it could emit 3.8 megatons of gas. The bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were barely one megaton, just to put it in perspective. The documents say catastrophe was averted because there was a mechanical malfunction within the bombs themselves. And speaking of "The Sixties, see why the assassination of John F. Kennedy was a key turning point in the decade that changed the world. CNN's special series, "The Sixties," tonight at 9:00 on CNN. Here is a preview.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The president has been hit.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: John F. Kennedy died at approximately 1:00 today.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The whole world is swerved because of his loss.</s>ROBERT CARO, AUTHOR: America was a different place on the day before John f. Kennedy was killed. The assassination changed the trajectory of the sixties.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll remember November the 22nd as long as I live.</s>CARO: Lee Harvey Oswald is arrested.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Did you kill the president?</s>LEE HARVEY OSWALD, ACCUSED OF KILLING PRESIDENT KENNEDY: No, I have not been charged with that.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Lee Oswald has been shot!</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Information concerning the cause of the death of your president has been with held from you.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The story has been suppressed. Witnesses have been killed.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a right to know who killed our president and why he died.</s>ANNOUNCER: "The Sixties," tonight at 9:00 on CNN.</s>BROWN: And coming up right here on NEWSROOM, former President George H.W. Bush taking to the skies for his annual birthday sky dive. See the video. And next, they were labeled as too extreme for al-Qaeda, so just who is this terrorist group wreaking havoc in Iraq? We'll explain, up next.