Following almost annihilating the world, the families are friends’: the gripping audio series from JFK & Khrushchev’s descendants.

During October 1962, the world veered nearer toward annihilation than at any other point in modern times. This occurred after an American surveillance plane found the fact that Soviet atomic missile installations were being built on the island of Cuba, less than 100 miles from American soil. Reacting to this, U.S. President John F Kennedy commanded the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to impose a naval blockade encircling Cuba. The next phase constituted almost a fortnight of impossible stress.

An Catastrophic Threat

The threat remained obvious. Should President Kennedy, or his Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, were to fire on the other side, a series involving global nuclear attacks followed by retaliatory strikes might have followed, casting humanity into all-out destruction.

This pivotal 1962 event has been examined extensively, through books, movies, as well as TV documentaries. However, in its latest installment, the BBC World Service podcast The Bomb has brought a novel perspective to this historical narrative. It is jointly hosted by Kennedy's relative alongside Nina Khrushcheva, relatives belonging to the men who, over two tense weeks, controlled the destiny of humanity within their grasp.

"What was the Russians considering? What was the United States thinking?" questions Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's descendant who is also a professor specializing in international affairs.

For her, the strength of the podcast is its attempt to question: "How can individuals hate one another to the point they confront each other?"

"I am acutely aware how remarkable it is that individuals have the potential to be allies or else have the potential to be total enemies," remarks Kennedy, son of RFK, nephew of the late president and now a writer and lawyer. "History shows this dynamic over and over when countries enter into conflict, demonstrating how unbelievably stupid it is to fight."

The Brink Towards Catastrophe

What is notable regarding the Cuban missile crisis is that, since it unfolded in the global spotlight, citizens worldwide were able to observe nearly as it happened as it crept towards armageddon. However, the danger of annihilation was more imminent than what anybody realised.

"Almost all officials in the White House wanted an airstrike and an invasion," notes Kennedy. "If we had attacked the Cubans with the Sixth Fleet, it is certain the Russians stationed there would've launched a nuclear warhead at the American ships, which would have obliterated the aircraft carriers as well as destroyed our primary fleet. In turn, the U.S. would have responded with an overwhelming counterattack which would have ended most life on the planet."

The fact it didn’t highlights the composure of both leaders, who managed to keep their heads while engaging in diplomacy when everyone around them was pushing for action. As a result, Khrushchev removed the nuclear weapons in the Caribbean island while President Kennedy (although not reported then) removed his missiles based in Turkey. The relief was worldwide, matched by the sense of hope.

The Different Viewpoint

Yet, for those two weeks of October 1962, the anxiety was palpable by everyone. The podcast's co-hosts came into the world shortly after these events, and Khrushcheva learned about it via the Soviet school curriculum, which painted an alternative narrative of events.

"You said your parent remembers it, and it was a scary time," Khrushcheva notes. "But for Soviet citizens, the public really didn’t know a great deal about it, because it was a tense situation, and in the Soviet Union the official line was that everything was constantly fine and positive."

Inside the Khrushchev household, however, the perspective was different. "They told me what a great moment for the USSR, because it was a direct confrontation. The leaders managed to find a solution, and didn’t start a global war, which was a positive outcome," she continues. In the years to come, though, that perspective would not be shared by all Russians. "For decades within Russian historical analysis, it was considered a defeat for Khrushchev, because he didn’t blow up the United States."

A Unlikely Partnership

This podcast is remarkably even-handed , well produced so much so that Khrushcheva quips it almost made her forget she already knew the ending. This is, in part, due to contributions from renowned scholars. Yet, truly, the most significant aspect is the participation of the hosts themselves. Not so long ago, it was inconceivable that relatives of the heads of state of the United States and the Soviet Union to 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 progress.

"Max and I aren't the pioneers," notes Nina. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, a relative Sergey Khrushchev’s son and became great friends with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"However we had never met before the podcast," clarifies Kennedy. "Which is a shame since we got along really well and we’re friends, something that is really great. Finally, after nearly six decades of nearly annihilating the planet, our families have become allies, suggesting global relations is safer, somewhat."

Contemporary Parallels with Current Perils

Or is it? One reason why this series seems so urgent is because we now find ourselves living through dark times. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to midnight than ever before, partly since today's statesmen appear not to have the capacity to learn