‘After almost annihilating our world, the families are allies’: a gripping podcast featuring John F. Kennedy & Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

During October 1962, the planet came nearer toward ruin than at any other point during recent history. This happened after an American reconnaissance plane found the fact that Soviet atomic weapon bases were under construction in the island of Cuba, a mere 160 kilometers from the US mainland. Reacting to this, President JFK directed the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to establish a naval blockade around the island. The next phase constituted almost 14 days of impossible anxiety.

The Catastrophic Threat

The peril was obvious. If President Kennedy, or else his Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, initiated an attack on their enemy, a chain reaction of global nuclear attacks and retaliatory strikes could have ensued, casting mankind into total oblivion.

This pivotal 1962 event has been covered extensively, in volumes, movies, as well as TV documentaries. However, for its third season, a prominent BBC World Service podcast titled "The Bomb" has brought a novel element into this historical narrative. It is jointly hosted featuring Kennedy's relative and Khrushchev's descendant, family members of the figures that, over two tense weeks, controlled the fate of humanity in their hands.

"What were the Russians considering? What was the American side considering?" asks Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter and an academic specializing in international affairs.

In her view, the beauty of the show is its attempt to explore: "How can nations hate each other to the point they confront each other?"

"It was not lost on me how remarkable it is that people can be allies or have the potential to be total enemies," adds Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy, nephew of JFK and now an author and lawyer. "History shows this over and over in instances where countries enter into conflict, demonstrating how unbelievably stupid involved to engage in warfare."

The Precipice Towards Catastrophe

What is notable about this event was that, since it transpired so publicly, people globally were able to observe almost as it happened while it edged closer to disaster. Even so, the threat of annihilation was more imminent than what most people realised.

"Virtually everyone in the White House were advocating for an airstrike followed by an invasion," explains Max Kennedy. "If we had attacked Cuba with the naval blockade, undoubtedly the Russians stationed there would've launched a tactical nuclear weapon at the US Sixth Fleet, and that would've obliterated our naval vessels and destroyed our largest and most important naval force. In turn, the U.S. would have responded with an overwhelming counterattack which would have ended most life on Earth."

The fact this did not occur stands as credit to Kennedy and Khrushchev, who managed to remain calm and calmly negotiate when hawkish elements in their governments was pushing for military action. Consequently, Khrushchev removed the missiles from the Caribbean island and Kennedy (although not reported then) withdrew his missiles based in NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was immense, as was the sense of hope.

The Divergent Viewpoint

Still, during those 13 days in October, the tension was palpable globally. The podcast's presenters came into the world in the years following the crisis, with Khrushcheva learned about the crisis via the Soviet school curriculum, which presented a slightly different picture of what happened.

"As you mentioned your parent remembers it, describing it as a scary day," Khrushcheva notes. "However in the Soviet Union, people were largely unaware a great deal regarding the crisis, since it was a crisis, and in the Soviet Union we were told that things are constantly fine and sunny."

Inside the Khrushchev household, though, the perspective was distinct. "They told me that it was a triumphant moment for the USSR, because it represented eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to resolve it, and didn’t start a global war, seen as a wonderful thing," she adds. In the years to come, though, that interpretation would not be held by all Russians. "For a long time within Russian historical analysis, it was considered a defeat for Khrushchev, simply he didn’t blow up America."

An Unprecedented Collaboration

The Bomb is remarkably even-handed and well produced that Khrushcheva jokes it almost made her forget she already knew the ending. This is, partly, due to the participation of historians. But, truly, the most groundbreaking aspect is the participation of the descendants. Not so long ago, it would be unthinkable that descendants of the leaders of America and the USSR would appear together publicly. That these two individuals are able to do so, and exhibit such warmth with each other, has to be a symbol of optimism.

"Max and I are not the first," smiles Nina. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, a relative Sergey Khrushchev’s son and became great friends with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"But we were strangers prior to this project," clarifies Max. "Which is unfortunate since we got along really well and now we are friends, which is really great. Finally, following almost six decades of almost destroying the world, our families are now allies, so I think global relations is more secure, somewhat."

Contemporary Parallels with Current Perils

Or is it? One reason why this series seems so urgent is because we now are living in dark times. The Doomsday Clock stands nearer to catastrophe than ever before, in part because world leaders don’t seem to have the capacity to learn