‘After nearly destroying the planet, the relatives are allies’: the gripping audio series featuring JFK and Nikita Khrushchev’s descendants.

During October 1962, humanity came closer toward annihilation more so than ever during modern times. This transpired after an American surveillance plane identified that Soviet atomic missile sites were being assembled in Cuba, a mere 160 kilometers off the coast of the United States. In response, U.S. President JFK directed the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to enact a maritime quarantine around Cuba. What followed constituted almost 14 days filled with impossible stress.

The Unthinkable Threat

The peril remained palpable. If President Kennedy, or else the Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, were to fire against their enemy, a chain reaction involving global nuclear strikes and retaliatory strikes would have followed, casting humanity toward total destruction.

This pivotal 1962 event has been covered endlessly, through volumes, movies, as well as TV documentaries. However, in its latest installment, the BBC World Service podcast The Bomb presents an unprecedented element into this historical narrative. The series is jointly hosted featuring Max Kennedy and Khrushchev's descendant, relatives of the leaders that, for 13 days, held the destiny of the planet in their hands.

"What was the Soviet side thinking? What were the United States planning?" asks Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter who is also a professor of international affairs.

In her view, the unique appeal of the podcast is its attempt to objectively ask: "How can individuals detest one another to the point they confront each other?"

"I am acutely aware how profound it is that individuals have the potential to be allies or else have the potential to be complete enemies," remarks Max Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, nephew of JFK and now a writer and attorney. "We see this dynamic over and over when nations have gone to war, highlighting the sheer folly involved to engage in warfare."

A Precipice Towards Disaster

What’s notable regarding the Cuban missile crisis was that, since it unfolded so publicly, people around the world were able to observe nearly in real time as it moved towards armageddon. However, the danger of destruction came closer than anybody realised.

"Almost all officials in the White House were advocating for an airstrike followed by a ground invasion," says Max Kennedy. "Had the U.S. attacked the Cubans using the Sixth Fleet, undoubtedly the Russians stationed there would have launched a tactical nuclear weapon against the US Sixth Fleet, and that would have destroyed the aircraft carriers and destroyed our primary fleet. And, we would have retaliated through massive retaliation which would have ended all life on the planet."

The fact it didn’t is a testament to both leaders, who managed to remain calm while calmly negotiate when everyone around them was pushing for military action. Consequently, Khrushchev removed the nuclear weapons in the Caribbean island while Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) removed American missiles based in Turkey. The relief was immense, matched by a feeling of hope.

A Different Viewpoint

Yet, 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, and Khrushcheva learned about it through the Soviet education system, which portrayed a slightly different picture of events.

"As you mentioned your parent remembers it, and it was a scary time," she says. "But in the Soviet Union, the public really didn’t know that much regarding the crisis, since it was a crisis, whereas under the Soviet system we were told that everything was always fine or sunny."

Inside Khrushchev’s family, though, the perspective was different. "I was informed what a great moment it was, because it was eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to find a solution, thus avoided the war, seen as a wonderful thing," she adds. In the years to come, though, that perspective would not be held by everybody. "For a long time in Russian politics, it was considered a defeat for the Soviet leader, because he didn’t blow up America."

A Unprecedented Partnership

This podcast is so balanced , well produced that Nina jokes she nearly forgot she already knew the ending. This effect is, in part, thanks to contributions from renowned scholars. But, truly, the most momentous thing remains the participation of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it was inconceivable that descendants of the heads of state of the United States and the Soviet Union to appear together publicly. The fact that these two individuals can do that, and be so warm with each other, must be seen as a sign of progress.

"Max and I are not the first," notes Nina. "After 1991, my uncle Sergey Khrushchev’s son and became great friends with the former president's family."

"However we had never met prior to this project," adds Max. "Which is unfortunate since we connected immediately and now we are friends, which is wonderful. Finally, after nearly six decades of almost destroying the planet, our lineages have become allies, suggesting the world is safer, somewhat."

Contemporary Parallels with Present Perils

Or is it? Part of why The Bomb seems so urgent is because we once again are living in a perilous era. The Doomsday Clock is closer to midnight than ever before, in part because world leaders appear not to be able to learn