A Shroud of Torments

In April 1954, military defeat in Indo-China leads to the downfall of the French government. The new government, saddled with Communists and acting upon orders from Moscow, steers French policy in a strongly anti-NATO direction. The CIA, acting in concert with conservative members of the French military, tries unsuccessfully to eliminate Communist influence in the new government but draws NATO into a larger conflict with the Soviet Union. As American's attention is focused on the deteriorating situation in Europe, the Chinese and North Koreans set out to reignite the Korean War. In the midst of these crises, President Dwight D. Eisenhower suffers a debilitating heart attack which leaves Vice President Richard Nixon in power at a supremely perilous moment in American history. Learning of Eisenhower's illness and believing that the U.S. government is in a state of chaos, the Soviets invade West Germany with the ultimate goal of destroying the NATO alliance. Events quickly swirl out of control. based on previously classified documents both East and West, A Shroud of Torments presents a chillingly realistic scenario of how a nuclear war could have been waged in the 1950s.