‘After almost destroying our planet, the relatives have become allies’: the gripping podcast featuring John F. Kennedy and Khrushchev’s relatives.

In the month of October 1962, humanity came closer toward destruction than at any other point in recent history. This happened following the discovery that a US surveillance plane found that Soviet nuclear missile installations were under construction on Cuba, a mere 160 kilometers from the US mainland. In response, U.S. President JFK commanded a naval task force to impose a naval blockade around the island. What followed was almost two weeks filled with unbearable anxiety.

The Unthinkable Danger

The peril was palpable. If President Kennedy, or his Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, were to fire on their enemy, a chain reaction involving global nuclear attacks and retaliatory strikes could have followed, plunging civilization toward total oblivion.

The Cuban missile crisis has been documented endlessly, in volumes, films, and television programmes. But, for its third season, a prominent BBC World Service podcast The Bomb has brought an unprecedented dimension into this historical narrative. The series is co-presented featuring Max Kennedy and Khrushchev's descendant, family members belonging to the men who, over 13 days, grasped the fate of the world within their grasp.

"What were the Russians thinking? What was Washington planning?" asks Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s descendant and a professor of global relations.

In her view, the beauty of the show lies in its attempt to objectively ask: "How can nations hate one another to the point they go against each other?"

"It was not lost on me how spectacular it is that people can be allies or have the potential to be total adversaries," states Max Kennedy, the son of RFK, related to JFK and currently a writer as well as lawyer. "We see this dynamic repeatedly in instances where countries enter into conflict, and it just illustrates how unbelievably stupid it is to fight."

The Brink of Catastrophe

What’s remarkable about the Cuban missile crisis is that, because it transpired so publicly, people globally were able to observe almost in real time while it edged towards disaster. Nonetheless, the threat of annihilation was more imminent than what anybody understood at the time.

"Virtually everyone among Kennedy's advisors wanted an airstrike followed by an invasion," notes Max Kennedy. "If we had attacked the Cubans using the Sixth Fleet, it is certain Soviet forces on the ground would've fired a tactical nuclear weapon against the US Sixth Fleet, and that would've sunk the aircraft carriers as well as destroyed our largest and most important naval force. In turn, the U.S. would have responded with massive retaliation that would have ended all life on Earth."

The reality it didn’t is a testament to Kennedy and Khrushchev, who succeeded in remain calm while engaging in diplomacy when hawkish elements around them demanded military action. Consequently, The Soviet premier agreed to withdraw the nuclear weapons in Cuba and President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) withdrew American missiles from NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was worldwide, matched by the sense of hope.

The Different Perspective

Yet, for those 13 days of October 1962, the tension was felt by everyone. The Bomb’s presenters were born shortly after the crisis, with Nina learned about the crisis via the Soviet education system, which portrayed a slightly different picture of events.

"You said your parent remembers it, describing it as a scary day," she says. "But for Soviet citizens, the public really didn’t know that much regarding the crisis, since it was a tense situation, whereas under the Soviet system the official line was that things are constantly fine or positive."

Inside the Khrushchev household, though, the perspective was different. "I was informed that it was a triumphant occasion for the USSR, because it was eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to find a solution, thus didn’t start the war, which was a wonderful thing," she continues. Later on, though, that view would not be shared by all Russians. "For a long time in Russian politics, the crisis was viewed as a failure for Khrushchev, simply he didn’t blow up America."

An Unprecedented Partnership

This podcast is so balanced , expertly crafted so much so that Khrushcheva jokes she nearly forgot she already knew outcome. This effect is, in part, due to the participation of renowned scholars. Yet, really, the most groundbreaking thing remains the involvement of the descendants. Even within living memory, it would be unthinkable that relatives of the heads of state of the United States and the USSR would appear side by side. The fact that Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva are able to do so, and be so warm toward one another, has to be a sign of hope.

"Max and I are not the pioneers," notes Nina. "After the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, my uncle Sergey Khrushchev’s son and formed a close bond with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"But we were strangers prior to this project," clarifies Kennedy. "Which is a shame since we connected immediately and now we are friends, something that is wonderful. Ultimately, after almost six decades of nearly annihilating the world, our lineages are now friends, suggesting global relations is more secure, somewhat."

Modern Parallels and Present Perils

Is that truly the case? One reason why The Bomb feels so necessary is because we now are living living through dark times. The Doomsday Clock is closer to midnight in its history, partly since today's statesmen don’t seem to be able to learn