In late 1968 a small group of men gathered in a rambling old house situated a few miles outside the German city of Munich. The weak afternoon sunlight was starting to fade as they sat down at the polished oak conference table, and despite a roaring log fire in the ornate fireplace there was a noticeable chill in the air. These men were of no particular religion, nor were they politicians, bankers, bureaucrats or mainstream military personnel. To use their own self-effacing term they were "no-persons", just a group of intelligent men from all over the world deeply concerned about the looming probability of global thermonuclear war. The American Department of State, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the Russian Kremlin were brimming over with megalomaniacs quite capable of destroying all life on the planet in their blind quest for power, unless they could be persuaded not to do so.