‘After nearly annihilating our planet, our relatives have become allies’: a gripping audio series from JFK and Khrushchev’s relatives.

In October 1962, the world edged nearer toward ruin more so than ever during recent history. This happened when an American surveillance plane found that Soviet atomic missile sites were under construction on the island of Cuba, less than 160 kilometers from the United States. Reacting to this, President John F Kennedy ordered the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to impose a maritime quarantine around the island. What followed was almost a fortnight of impossible tension.

The Catastrophic Danger

The threat was obvious. Should President Kennedy, or the Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, had fired on the other side, a series of global nuclear attacks and counterstrikes could have followed, plunging civilization toward all-out ruination.

The October crisis has been covered repeatedly, in books, films, as well as television programmes. But, in its latest installment, a prominent audio documentary series titled "The Bomb" introduces a completely new dimension into the story. It is co-presented featuring Max Kennedy and Khrushchev's descendant, family members belonging to the men that, over two tense weeks, held the destiny of the planet in their hands.

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

For her, the unique appeal of the podcast is its attempt to explore: "How can nations detest one another and go against each other?"

"It struck me how spectacular it is that humans can be allies or else can become total enemies," adds Max Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, nephew of JFK and now an author as well as lawyer. "History shows this dynamic repeatedly when nations enter into conflict, and it just illustrates the profound irrationality it is to fight."

A Brink of Disaster

What’s striking about the Cuban missile crisis was that, because it transpired in the global spotlight, citizens around the world were able to observe nearly as it happened while it crept towards disaster. However, the danger of destruction was more imminent than what anybody understood at the time.

"Virtually everyone among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for an airstrike and an invasion," notes Max Kennedy. "If we had struck the Cubans using the naval blockade, there is no question Soviet forces on the ground would have fired a tactical nuclear weapon against the US Sixth Fleet, and that would've destroyed the naval vessels as well as sunk our largest and most important naval force. And, the U.S. would have responded through massive retaliation that would have ended all life on the planet."

The reality it didn’t is a testament to Kennedy and Khrushchev, who managed to exercise restraint while engaging in diplomacy at a time when hawkish elements around them was pushing for action. As a result, The Soviet premier removed the nuclear weapons in Cuba and President Kennedy (although not reported at the time) removed American missiles based in Turkey. The sense of relief was immense, as was the sense of hope.

A Divergent Perspective

Still, for those two weeks in October, the anxiety was felt globally. The Bomb’s co-hosts came into the world shortly after these events, and Khrushcheva learned about it via the USSR's education system, which presented a slightly different picture of what happened.

"As you mentioned your parent remembers it, and it was a frightening time," she says. "However in the Soviet Union, people really didn’t know a great deal about it, because it was a crisis, and under the Soviet system the official line was that everything was always wonderful or positive."

Within the Khrushchev household, though, the perspective was distinct. "They told me what a great moment it was, because it represented eyeball to eyeball. They were able to resolve it, thus didn’t start the war, seen as a wonderful outcome," she continues. In the years to come, though, that interpretation would not be held by everybody. "For decades in Russian politics, it was considered a defeat for the Soviet leader, simply he didn’t blow up America."

An Unprecedented Partnership

This podcast is so even-handed and well produced so much so that Nina jokes she nearly forgot the known outcome. This effect is, in part, due to the participation of historians. Yet, truly, the most significant aspect is the participation of the hosts themselves. Not so long ago, it would be unthinkable that descendants of the leaders of the United States and USSR would appear side by side. That Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva can do that, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, must be seen as a symbol of progress.

"Max and I aren't the first," notes Khrushcheva. "After 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," adds Max. "That is a shame because we got along really well and now we’re friends, which is wonderful. Finally, after almost six decades since almost destroying the world, our families are now allies, so I think the world is more secure, somewhat."

Contemporary Echoes with Current Dangers

Or is it? Part of why The Bomb seems so urgent is because we now find ourselves in dark times. The Doomsday Clock stands nearer to midnight than ever before, partly since world leaders don’t seem to be able to grasp