take responsibility for what they had done. to the point where nearly a decade after the shoot-down, when boris yeltsin was the first post-soviet president of russia, the reaction to that shoot-down of that korean airliner was such that nearly a decade after it happened, the russians still had custody of the black boxes from that crash. they had never given into international president, president reagan's pressure, or anybody else's pressure to turn the black boxes over so they could be part of an investigation into what happened. the russians kept those voice recorders and those data recorders from korean airlines flight 007. they kept them away from the world for nine years. until boris yeltsin decided in 1992 that one of the first things he was going to do as president of the new russia would be to try to right that wrong, to return those black boxes. so in november 1992, russian president boris yeltsin traveled
vacation, but four days after it happened, president reagan was back in washington and delivering this sternly worded address to the nation. he said what the soviets had done was monstrous. but honestly, looking back at that time, i have to tell you that sternly worded address was basically it in terms of the u.s. response. the presidential response to that tragedy. korean airlines flight 007 had departed from the united states. it had departed from new york city. it had stopped to refuel in anchorage. it was carrying dozens of americans including a serving u.s. congressman named larry mcdonald. president reagan addressed the nation after that flight crashed and did use very strong language, but then he warned his advisers against any overreaction to what happened. he told a national security meeting, we've got to protect against overreaction. vengeance is not the name of the game. so it was a speech, but that was sort of it. this was the middle of the cold war. and in truth, there was not much president reagan or anybody else
could do to make the soviets take responsibility for what they had done. to the point where nearly a decade after the shoot-down, when boris yeltsin was the first post-soviet president of russia, the reaction to that shoot-down of that korean airliner was such that nearly a decade after it happened, the russians still had custody of the black boxes from that crash. they had never given into international pressure, to president reagan's pressure, or anybody else's pressure to turn the black boxes over so they could be part of an investigation into what happened. the russians kept those voice recorders and those data recorders from korean airlines flight 007. they kept them away from the world for nine years. until boris yeltsin decided in 1992 that one of the first things he was going to do as president of the new russia would be to try to right that wrong, to return those black boxes. so in november 1992, russian president boris yeltsin traveled to seoul, south korea in what he
throughout the world. let me state as plainly as i can, there was absolutely no justification either legal or moral for what the soviets did. one newspaper in india said, if every passenger plane is fair game for home air forces, it will be the end to civil aviation as we know it. >> joining me now fox news military analyst kt mcfarland. the korean airlines flight 007 that was one incident, that was 1983, there was a prior incident e in 1978 a korean airlines flight 902. >> right. >> where the russians shot it down. >> but what happened in 1983 and i worked for president reagan then, i was at the pentagon, it was a game changer for him. he understood at that point the soviet union was not going to compromise. that they couldn't be trusted. that he would have to deal with them very differently. and starting at that point he set out to do different things. what did he do? he redoubled efforts to do the missile -- star wars missile
throughout the world. let me state as plainly as i can, there was absolutely no justification either legal or moral for what the soviets did. one newspaper in india said, if every passenger plane is fair game for home air forces, it will be the end to civil aviation as we know it. >> joining me now fox news military analyst kt mcfarland. the korean airlines flight 007 that was one incident, that was 1983, there was a prior incident e in 1978 a korean airlines flight 902. >> right. >> where the russians shot it down. >> but what happened in 1983 and i worked for president reagan then, i was at the pentagon, it was a game changer for him. he understood at that point the soviet union was not going to compromise. that they couldn't be trusted. that he would have to deal with them very differently. and starting at that point he set out to do different things. what did he do? he redoubled efforts to do the missile -- star wars missile
throughout the world. let me state as plainly as i can, there was absolutely no justification either legal or moral for what the soviets did. one newspaper in india said, if every passenger plane is fair game for home air forces, it will be the end to civil aviation as we know it. >> joining me now fox news military analyst kt mcfarland. the korean airlines flight 007 that was one incident, that was 1983, there was a prior incident e in 1978 a korean airlines flight 902. >> right. >> where the russians shot it down. >> but what happened in 1983 and i worked for president reagan then, i was at the pentagon, it was a game changer for him. he understood at that point the soviet union was not going to compromise. that they couldn't be trusted. that he would have to deal with them very differently. and starting at that point he set out to do different things. what did he do? he redoubled efforts to do the missile -- star wars missile
it takes place among some of the worst airline incidents ever recorded. it comes 18 years to the day, that twa flight 800 crashed in 1986. that was a fuel tank explosion. but there's within examples of hostile actions taking down commercial jets. and we get more on that from nbc's kate snow. >> reporter: it was september 1st, 1983. the height of the cold war. >> the united states accused if soviet union of shooting down a jumbo jet. >> reporter: days later, president reagan addressed the nation. >> i'm coming to you tonight about the korean airline massacre. the attack by the soviet union against 269 innocent men, women and children, aboard an unarmed korean passenger plane. >> reporter: korean airlines flight 007 was supposed to fly from new york city to seoul, stopping over in anchorage, alaska. but it drifted offcourse and headed towards soviet air space. soviet jets fired warning shots
and the soviet jets were scrambled to go check it out. they fired a heat-seeking missile at that korean airlines jet. the jet got hit by the missile, but it was not destroyed. the pilots of that plane emergency landed the aircraft on a frozen lake. two of the passengers onboard were killed by the missile. about a dozen of them were injured. the rest survived. that was 1978. five years later, the soviets did it again and they did it again to another korean airlines jet. although this time in 1983, it was a direct hit and the jet was destroyed and everybody onboard was killed. this was a much more famous incident, the one that happened in 1983. korean airlines flight 007. that flight, again, had strayed into the soviet union, but honestly, that flight was only seconds away from international airspace when a soviet fighter jet hit it with two missiles.
mistakenly crossed over into soviet airspace up near the soviet border with finland. and the soviet jets were scrambled to go check it out. they fired a heat-seeking missile at that korean airlines jet. the jet got hit by the missile, but it was not destroyed. the pilots of that plane emergency landed the aircraft on a frozen lake. two of the passengers onboard were killed by the missile. about a dozen of them were injured. the rest survived. that was 1978. five years later, the soviets did it again and they did it again to another korean airlines jet. although this time in 1983, it was a direct hit and the jet was destroyed and everybody onboard was killed. this was a much more famous incident, the one that happened in 1983. korean airlines flight 007. that flight, again, had strayed into the soviet union, but honestly, that flight was only seconds away from international airspace when a soviet fighter jet hit it with two missiles. that was 1983.
scrambled to go check it out. they fired a heat-seeking missile at that korean airlines jet. the jet got hit by the missile, but it was not destroyed. the pilots of that plane emergency landed the aircraft on a frozen lake. two of the passengers onboard were killed by the missile. about a dozen of them were injured. the rest survived. that was 1978. five years later, the soviets did it again and they did it again to another korean airlines jet. although this time in 1983, it was a direct hit and the jet was destroyed and everybody onboard was killed. this was a much more famous incident, the one that happened in 1983. korean airlines flight 007. that flight, again, had strayed into the soviet union, but honestly, that flight was only seconds away from international airspace when a soviet fighter jet hit it with two missiles. that was 1983. one of the passengers onboard that plane that was shot down was a u.s. congressman named lawrence mcdonald.