‘After almost annihilating the world, our relatives are friends’: a thrilling podcast featuring JFK & Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

In October 1962, the planet came closer to annihilation than at any other point in modern times. This transpired after an American reconnaissance aircraft found that Russian atomic missile installations were under construction on the island of Cuba, less than 100 miles from the US mainland. In response, U.S. President JFK ordered the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to enact a naval quarantine around Cuba. What followed was almost a fortnight filled with extreme tension.

An Catastrophic Threat

The peril was clear. If Kennedy, or else the Russian opposite, Nikita Khrushchev, were to fire against the other side, a series involving global atomic strikes followed by retaliatory strikes might have followed, thrusting mankind into all-out oblivion.

The October crisis has been covered repeatedly, in books, films, as well as television programmes. But, for its third season, a prominent audio documentary series The Bomb has brought an unprecedented dimension to this historical narrative. The series is jointly hosted by Kennedy's relative alongside Khrushchev's descendant, family members of the leaders that, for 13 days, grasped the destiny of the planet within their grasp.

"What was the Kremlin thinking? What were Washington planning?" ponders Nina Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s descendant and a professor of international affairs.

In her view, the strength of the show is its endeavor to explore: "How can nations detest each other and confront each other?"

"It struck me how profound the fact that humans have the potential to be friends or else can become total enemies," states Max Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy, nephew of JFK and currently an author and attorney. "History shows this dynamic over and over when nations have gone to war, and it just illustrates how unbelievably stupid it is to fight."

A Brink Towards Disaster

What’s striking about the Cuban missile crisis was that, since it unfolded so publicly, people globally could watch nearly as it happened as it moved towards disaster. Even so, the danger of annihilation was more imminent than most people understood at the time.

"Virtually everyone in the White House wanted a military strike and a ground invasion," explains Max Kennedy. "Had the U.S. struck Cuba using the naval blockade, it is certain Soviet forces stationed there would've fired a nuclear warhead against the US Sixth Fleet, and that would have obliterated the naval vessels as well as destroyed America's primary fleet. In turn, the U.S. would have retaliated with massive retaliation which would have ended all life on Earth."

The reality it didn’t is a testament to Kennedy and Khrushchev, they succeeded in remain calm and engaging in diplomacy at a time when everyone around them were advocating action. As a result, Khrushchev removed the missiles in Cuba while President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) removed American similar weapons from Turkey. The sense of relief was palpable, matched by the sense of optimism.

A Different Perspective

Still, during those 13 days of October 1962, the tension was felt by everyone. The Bomb’s presenters came into the world shortly after the crisis, with Nina being taught about it through the Soviet education system, which painted a slightly different picture of what happened.

"As you mentioned your father remembers it, and it was a frightening time," she says. "But for Soviet citizens, people really didn’t know that much regarding the crisis, because it was a crisis, and in the Soviet Union we were told that things are constantly fine and positive."

Inside the Khrushchev household, however, the perspective was different. "They told me that it was a triumphant occasion for the USSR, as it was a direct confrontation. The leaders managed to resolve it, thus avoided the war, seen as a wonderful thing," she adds. Subsequently, however, that perspective was not held by everybody. "For a long time in Russian politics, it was considered a failure for Khrushchev, simply he didn’t blow up America."

A Unlikely Partnership

This podcast is so even-handed , well produced that Khrushcheva jokes she nearly forgot she already knew outcome. This effect is, partly, due to the participation of historians. Yet, truly, the most groundbreaking aspect is the participation of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it would be unthinkable for descendants of the heads of state of the United States and Soviet Union would appear together publicly. The fact that these two individuals are able to do so, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, must be seen as a symbol of hope.

"We aren't the pioneers," notes Khrushcheva. "After the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, my uncle Sergey Khrushchev’s son where he became great friends with the former president's family."

"However we were strangers prior to this project," clarifies Max. "That is a shame since we connected immediately and now we are friends, something that is really great. Finally, after nearly six decades of almost destroying the world, our families are now allies, suggesting global relations is more secure, somewhat."

Modern Parallels with Current Perils

Or is it? One reason the reason The Bomb feels so necessary is that we once again are living living through dark times. The Doomsday Clock is closer to catastrophe than ever before, in part because world leaders appear not to have the capacity to grasp