‘After nearly destroying our world, the relatives have become friends’: the gripping podcast from JFK & Nikita Khrushchev’s descendants.

In the month of October 1962, humanity edged closer toward destruction more so than ever in recent history. This happened after an American surveillance aircraft identified that Soviet atomic missile installations were being built in the island of Cuba, a mere 160 kilometers off the coast of American soil. In response, U.S. President John F Kennedy commanded the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to enact a maritime blockade around the island. The ensuing period was almost a fortnight of extreme stress.

The Unthinkable Danger

The peril remained clear. If Kennedy, or else his Soviet counterpart, Premier Khrushchev, were to fire against their enemy, a cascade involving global nuclear attacks and counterstrikes might have followed, plunging mankind into total oblivion.

The Cuban missile crisis has been covered repeatedly, through books, movies, and TV documentaries. However, in its latest installment, a prominent BBC World Service podcast titled "The Bomb" has brought a novel element into the story. The series is co-presented featuring Kennedy's relative and Khrushchev's descendant, relatives of the figures that, over two tense weeks, controlled the destiny of the planet in their hands.

"What was the Kremlin considering? What were Washington planning?" asks Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's great-granddaughter and a professor specializing in global relations.

In her view, the beauty of the show is its attempt to question: "How can nations detest one another and confront one another?"

"It struck me how remarkable it is that people have the potential to be allies or else can become total enemies," adds Max Kennedy, the son of RFK, related to JFK and currently a writer as well as attorney. "We see this dynamic over and over in instances where countries have gone to war, and it just illustrates the profound irrationality involved to engage in warfare."

The Precipice Towards Disaster

What is notable regarding this event was that, because it transpired so publicly, individuals around the world were able to observe nearly as it happened as it crept towards disaster. Even so, the threat of annihilation came closer than anybody realised.

"Virtually everyone among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for a military strike and a ground invasion," explains Kennedy. "If we had struck Cuba using the Sixth Fleet, undoubtedly Soviet forces on the ground would have launched a nuclear warhead at the American ships, and that would have obliterated the aircraft carriers and destroyed our primary naval force. In turn, we would have responded with massive retaliation which would have ended all life on Earth."

The fact this did not occur highlights the composure of Kennedy and Khrushchev, who managed to remain calm while calmly negotiate at a time when hawkish elements around them were advocating action. Consequently, The Soviet premier removed the missiles in the Caribbean island and President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) removed his similar weapons based in NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was immense, as was the sense of hope.

The Divergent Viewpoint

Yet, for those 13 days of October 1962, the tension was palpable by everyone. The Bomb’s presenters were born shortly after these events, and Nina learned about the crisis through the Soviet education system, which presented an alternative picture of what happened.

"You said your father remembers it, and it was a scary day," she says. "But in the Soviet Union, the public really didn’t know that much regarding the crisis, because it was a crisis, whereas under the Soviet system the official line was that everything was constantly wonderful and sunny."

Inside Khrushchev’s family, however, the perspective was distinct. "I was informed what a great moment it was, as it represented eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to resolve it, and avoided a global war, seen as a wonderful outcome," she adds. Subsequently, however, that perspective was not shared by all Russians. "For decades within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a setback for the Soviet leader, because he refrained from destroying the United States."

A Unlikely Collaboration

This podcast is remarkably balanced , expertly crafted so much so that Nina quips it almost made her forget she already knew the ending. This effect is, in part, thanks to contributions from renowned scholars. But, truly, the most significant thing remains the participation of the descendants. Even within living memory, it was inconceivable that descendants of the heads of state of America and Soviet Union would appear side by side. The fact that these two individuals are able to do so, and exhibit such warmth with each other, has to be a symbol of progress.

"We are not the first," notes Nina. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, my uncle Sergey Khrushchev’s son and formed a close bond with the former president's family."

"However we had never met before the podcast," clarifies Kennedy. "Which is a shame because we connected immediately and we’re friends, something that is wonderful. Finally, after nearly 60 years of almost destroying the planet, our lineages are now friends, so I think the world is safer, somewhat."

Modern Parallels with Present Perils

Is that truly the case? One reason why The Bomb feels so necessary is that we now are living living through dark times. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to midnight in its history, in part because world leaders appear not to be able to grasp