‘After almost annihilating our planet, the families have become allies’: the thrilling podcast from JFK and Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

In the month of October 1962, humanity veered nearer to destruction more so than ever during recent history. This occurred following the discovery that a US reconnaissance plane identified the fact that Soviet atomic missile bases were being assembled in Cuba, less than 160 kilometers from the United States. Reacting to this, President JFK directed a naval task force to enact a maritime quarantine around Cuba. The next phase constituted almost 14 days filled with extreme stress.

The Unthinkable Danger

The peril was palpable. Should Kennedy, or the Russian opposite, Nikita Khrushchev, initiated an attack on the other side, a series of worldwide atomic strikes followed by retaliatory strikes could have followed, thrusting humanity toward total ruination.

The Cuban missile crisis has been covered repeatedly, through books, films, and TV documentaries. But, in its latest installment, a prominent BBC World Service podcast titled "The Bomb" introduces an unprecedented element into the story. It is jointly hosted featuring Kennedy's relative and Nina Khrushcheva, family members belonging to the figures that, for two tense weeks, held the destiny of the planet in their hands.

"What were the Kremlin thinking? What were Washington considering?" questions Nina Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's great-granddaughter who is also a professor of international affairs.

For her, the beauty of the show is its attempt to explore: "Why do nations hate one another to the point they go against one another?"

"It struck me how remarkable the fact that individuals have the potential to be allies or can become total adversaries," adds Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, related to JFK and currently a writer and lawyer. "We see this dynamic repeatedly in instances where countries enter into conflict, and it just illustrates the sheer folly it is to engage in warfare."

The Brink of Disaster

What’s notable about this event was that, since it transpired in the global spotlight, people globally could watch almost in real time while it moved closer to armageddon. However, the risk of annihilation was more imminent than anybody understood at the time.

"Virtually everyone in the White House were advocating for a military strike and a ground invasion," notes Max Kennedy. "If we had struck Cuba using the naval blockade, undoubtedly the Russians on the ground would've deployed a nuclear warhead against the American ships, which would've destroyed the aircraft carriers as well as destroyed our primary fleet. And, we would have retaliated through massive retaliation that would have ended most life on Earth."

The reality it didn’t highlights the composure of both leaders, who succeeded in exercise restraint while calmly negotiate when hawkish elements in their governments demanded military action. As a result, Khrushchev removed the nuclear weapons from Cuba and Kennedy (although not reported at the time) removed American missiles from Turkey. The sense of relief was palpable, as was a feeling of hope.

The Different Perspective

Yet, during those 13 days of October 1962, the tension was palpable by everyone. The podcast's co-hosts were born in the years following the crisis, and Nina being taught about the crisis via the Soviet education system, which portrayed a slightly different version of what happened.

"As you mentioned your parent recalls it, and it was a scary time," Khrushcheva notes. "However in the Soviet Union, the public really didn’t know a great deal about it, since it was a tense situation, and under the Soviet system the official line was that everything was constantly fine or sunny."

Inside the Khrushchev household, however, the perspective was different. "They told me what a great occasion for the USSR, because it was eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to resolve it, and avoided a global war, seen as a wonderful thing," she continues. Subsequently, however, that interpretation would not be shared by all Russians. "For a long time within Russian historical analysis, it was considered a setback for Khrushchev, simply he didn’t blow up America."

An Unprecedented Partnership

The Bomb is so balanced and well produced that Khrushcheva jokes it almost made her forget the known the ending. This is, in part, thanks to the participation of renowned scholars. But, truly, the most momentous thing remains the participation of the hosts themselves. Not so long ago, it was unthinkable for relatives of the leaders of America and the USSR to appear side by side. That Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva are able to do so, and be so warm with each other, has to be a sign of progress.

"We are not the first," notes Nina. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, a relative moved to America and became great friends with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"However we were strangers prior to this project," clarifies Max. "That is a shame since we got along immediately and we’re friends, something that is wonderful. Finally, following almost 60 years of nearly annihilating the planet, our lineages are now friends, suggesting the world is safer, a little bit."

Contemporary Echoes with Present Dangers

Or is it? One reason why The Bomb seems so urgent is that we once again are living living through a perilous era. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to midnight than ever before, partly since world leaders don’t seem to have the capacity to comprehend