Just caught this during Bernanke testimony to the House Finance Committe.  Rep. Kanjorski asked Bernanke to confirm the events of Sept 18th (refer video below) following tghe collapse of Lehmans and the impact on the world financial system.

Bernanke responded (quote):

“… the actions we (Bernanke/ Paulson) took averted the collapse of the global financial system.  We came very close to a global financial meltdown”

Tracking the evolution of financial institutions? Sep 18th 2008 | Russian Missile Crisis – banking crisis version