![A radar station near the northeast corner of Alaska, once part of the front line of the Cold War. George Steinmetz/Corbis](/sites/default/files/inline-images/DEW%20line-cropped_0.jpg)
Cold War
![A radar station near the northeast corner of Alaska, once part of the front line of the Cold War. George Steinmetz/Corbis](/sites/default/files/inline-images/DEW%20line-cropped_0.jpg)
Spring 2007 | Volume 22, Issue 4
A radar station near the northeast corner of Alaska, once part of the front line of the Cold War. George Steinmetz/CorbisIn the early hours of April 17, 1952, World War III nearly began—although not many people realized it at the time.
The previous afternoon an intelligence source had reported…