WI: H-Bomb goes off over North Carolina in 1961?

So, to my surprise upon opening the BBC News website there was an article about how the USA almost bombed North Carolina with two H-bombs after a B-52 went into a tailspin.

The article is here.

The bomb went through every stage but failed on the last one, so what if that last trigger doesn't fail? JFK had just been inaugurated, so I imagine it might seriously damage his image. There would be political mudslinging on both sides of course and probably a backlash against nuclear weapons. But I don't really know much about US politics. SO what would happen?
 
So, to my surprise upon opening the BBC News website there was an article about how the USA almost bombed North Carolina with two H-bombs after a B-52 went into a tailspin.

The article is here.

The bomb went through every stage but failed on the last one, so what if that last trigger doesn't fail? JFK had just been inaugurated, so I imagine it might seriously damage his image. There would be political mudslinging on both sides of course and probably a backlash against nuclear weapons. But I don't really know much about US politics. SO what would happen?
We already have a thread on this.
 
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