The 32^nd anniversary of an event that has relevance to the current political circus deserves a little more attention.

          On Aug. 11, 1984, President Ronald Reagan was doing a microphone sound check prior to giving a radio broadcast. Instead of the typical “Testing 1-2-3, testing 1-2-3,” President Reagan, who had a well-developed sense of humor (remember when there was a place for a little humor in politics?), solemnly intoned: “My fellow Americans. I’m pleased to tell you that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.”

          The president’s words never went out over the air, but word of the comment got out, of course, and hit the international news. Once that happened, it (as we would say today) went “viral” – at least in the USSR.

          Neither the Soviets then, nor the Russian Federation now, are known for having a sense of humor, nor were they amused in this instance. On Aug. 15, TASS, the official news agency of the Soviet Union, shared the government’s response, in part, as follows: “The USSR condemns this unprecedented and hostile attack by the United States president. … This kind of behavior is incompatible with the great responsibilities borne by heads of nuclear states for the destinies of their own people and mankind.” 

          As distasteful as it is to quote a Soviet-era propaganda machine to make a point, the point still needs to be made.

          Words do have consequences, and those consequences can be dangerous. The most dangerous words are typically not those contained in written or prepared remarks. Those words have been reviewed and, hopefully, carefully vetted to ensure that there are no unintended ramifications. Much more dangerous are the throwaway one-liners that are delivered “in the moment” without much, if any, prior thought.

          Almost immediately (although it wasn’t reported by the media and confirmed by the Pentagon for two months), there was a potentially much more serious response that same day.

          On Oct. 18, NBC reported that on Aug. 15, a communication went out from the headquarters of the Soviet Far East Command, based in Vladivostok, to military units on land, as well as Soviet naval elements on patrol in the North Pacific. The message: “We now embark on military action against the United States forces.”

          The Soviets had gone on a heightened state of alert.

          American and Japanese intelligence agencies intercepted and decoded the Vladivostok signal and both American and Japanese military forces went on a heightened state of alert as well.

          American intelligence monitored Soviet military chatter, looking for evidence of Soviet mobilization in the Far East Theater.

          Luckily, dubious Soviet naval commanders began to contact their command authorities asking for confirmation of the Vladivostok transmission. Did a state of war exist, or did it not?

          It quickly became apparent the message was a hoax. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and stood down.

          All of this happened within half an hour. For the mathematically challenged, that is as long as one installment of “Two and a Half Men.”

          At the time, it was suggested that a “wayward operator,” who may have been drunk, was responsible for the Russian transmission. But even today, the possibility exists it was the Soviet leadership giving President Reagan a heavy-handed dose of his own medicine.

          An off-the-cuff quip with potentially tragic consequences. It happened to President Reagan. It happened last week to Donald Trump.

          I am confident in my own mind that President Reagan never intended his flash of humor (and it was, to us, funny at the time) to result in an international incident. I am willing to give The Donald the benefit of the doubt that he was not calling on Second Amendment zealots to assassinate Hillary Clinton.

          But here’s the thing: It isn’t so much what is said, as it is how it is received. All it takes is for one looney to take Mr. Trump’s comment as license to take direct action beyond merely “locking her up.”

          I have lived through the assassinations of John Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King, and Bobby Kennedy. I don’t want to do it again – and I don’t want my country to suffer another such national trauma whose aftermath will hang over us for weeks, months, years, and maybe forever, thereafter.

          It’s only August. There is plenty of time for a candidate to exercise more self-control in the language they use, and the messages they send. If they do, fair enough.

          But if they don’t, they have no place in the Oval Office, no matter whatever other virtues they are perceived to have.

          Words have consequences, and those consequences can be far more unpredictable than what was originally intended – assuming there was conscious intent in the first place.