‘After almost destroying the planet, our relatives have become allies’: a thrilling audio series from John F. Kennedy & Khrushchev’s descendants.

During October 1962, the world came nearer to ruin than at any other point in recent history. This occurred after an American reconnaissance aircraft discovered that Soviet atomic weapon sites were being built on the island of Cuba, less than 100 miles off the coast of the US mainland. Reacting to this, President John F Kennedy ordered a naval task force to establish a maritime blockade encircling Cuba. The ensuing period constituted nearly 14 days of impossible anxiety.

An Catastrophic Danger

The threat remained palpable. If President Kennedy, or else his Russian opposite, Nikita Khrushchev, were to fire on the other side, a series involving global atomic strikes and retaliatory strikes would have followed, plunging mankind into total oblivion.

The October crisis has been covered endlessly, through volumes, movies, and television programmes. However, in its latest installment, the BBC World Service podcast titled "The Bomb" has brought an unprecedented element to this historical narrative. The series is jointly hosted featuring Kennedy's relative alongside Nina Khrushcheva, family members of the men that, over 13 days, grasped the destiny of the planet in their hands.

"What were the Soviet side considering? What was the American side thinking?" questions Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's descendant and an academic of international affairs.

For her, the strength of the show is its attempt to objectively ask: "Why do individuals detest each other to the point they confront one another?"

"I am acutely aware how profound it is that individuals can be allies or can become total adversaries," adds Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, nephew of the late president and now a writer as well as lawyer. "We see this repeatedly in instances where nations have gone to war, and it just illustrates how unbelievably stupid involved to fight."

The Precipice of Disaster

What’s remarkable regarding the Cuban missile crisis was that, because it unfolded in the global spotlight, people globally were able to observe almost in real time as it crept towards catastrophe. However, the threat of annihilation was more imminent than most people understood at the time.

"Almost all officials among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for a military strike and a ground invasion," explains Max Kennedy. "If we had attacked Cuba with the Sixth Fleet, there is no question Soviet forces on the ground would've deployed a nuclear warhead at the US Sixth Fleet, which would've sunk our naval vessels as well as destroyed our primary naval force. And, the U.S. would have retaliated with an overwhelming counterattack which would have eradicated most life on the planet."

The reality it didn’t stands as credit to both leaders, who succeeded in remain calm while calmly negotiate when hawkish elements around them demanded military action. As a result, The Soviet premier removed the nuclear weapons from the Caribbean island and President Kennedy (although not reported at the time) removed American similar weapons from Turkey. The relief was immense, as was the sense of hope.

A Divergent Perspective

Yet, during those 13 days in October, the anxiety was felt by everyone. The Bomb’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 narrative of what happened.

"You said your father remembers it, and it was a frightening day," Khrushcheva notes. "However in the Soviet Union, people were largely unaware a great deal about it, because it was a tense situation, and under the Soviet system we were told that things are always fine and sunny."

Within Khrushchev’s family, however, it was different. "They told me that it was a triumphant occasion for the USSR, as it represented a direct confrontation. They were able to find a solution, and didn’t start the war, seen as a wonderful outcome," she continues. Subsequently, however, that interpretation would not be shared by everybody. "For decades within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a defeat for the Soviet leader, because he didn’t blow up the United States."

An Unprecedented Partnership

This podcast is remarkably even-handed and well produced so much so that Nina jokes it almost made her forget she already knew the ending. This effect is, in part, due to the participation of historians. But, really, the most groundbreaking aspect remains the involvement of the descendants. Not so long ago, it was unthinkable that relatives of the leaders of America and the Soviet Union would appear side by side. That Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva can do that, and be so warm toward one another, must be seen as a symbol of progress.

"We aren't the pioneers," smiles Khrushcheva. "After the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, a relative Sergey Khrushchev’s son and became great friends with the former president's family."

"But we had never met before the podcast," clarifies Kennedy. "That is unfortunate since we got along really well and we are friends, something that is really great. Finally, after nearly six decades of almost destroying the world, our families have become friends, suggesting the world is safer, somewhat."

Contemporary Echoes with Present Dangers

Or is it? Part of the reason The Bomb seems so urgent is that we once again find ourselves in a perilous era. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to catastrophe in its history, in part because world leaders don’t seem to be able to grasp