‘After almost destroying our world, our relatives are friends’: a thrilling audio series featuring JFK & Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

During October 1962, the planet came closer toward destruction more so than ever during the contemporary era. This happened following the discovery that a US surveillance aircraft discovered that Russian nuclear missile sites were being assembled on Cuba, a mere 160 kilometers off the coast of the United States. Reacting to this, U.S. President John F Kennedy directed the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to establish a naval quarantine encircling Cuba. What followed was nearly two weeks of extreme tension.

The Unthinkable Threat

The peril remained clear. If President Kennedy, or else his Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, initiated an attack on the other side, a chain reaction involving global atomic strikes and counterstrikes would have ensued, casting mankind toward total oblivion.

The Cuban missile crisis has been documented repeatedly, in volumes, movies, and television programmes. However, for its third season, a prominent audio documentary series The Bomb presents a novel element into this historical narrative. The series is co-presented by Kennedy's relative and Khrushchev's descendant, relatives of the leaders who, over two tense weeks, held the destiny of the planet within their grasp.

"What was the Soviet side planning? What was Washington planning?" questions Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's great-granddaughter who is also an academic specializing in global relations.

For her, the beauty of the podcast lies in its attempt to objectively ask: "Why do people detest one another to the point they confront each other?"

"It was not lost on me how remarkable the fact that individuals can be allies or have the potential to be complete adversaries," remarks Max Kennedy, the son of RFK, nephew of JFK and now a writer and attorney. "We see this over and over when countries enter into conflict, and it just illustrates how unbelievably stupid it is to engage in warfare."

A Precipice of Disaster

What is remarkable regarding the Cuban missile crisis is that, since it transpired so publicly, citizens globally were able to observe nearly as it happened as it edged closer to catastrophe. However, the threat of annihilation came closer than what anybody realised.

"Virtually everyone among Kennedy's advisors wanted a military strike followed by an invasion," explains Kennedy. "Had the U.S. struck Cuba using the naval blockade, there is no question the Russians stationed there would've fired a nuclear warhead at the American ships, and that would have destroyed our naval vessels as well as sunk America's primary naval force. And, we would have retaliated through massive retaliation which would have ended all life on the planet."

The fact this did not occur stands as credit to Kennedy and Khrushchev, they managed to exercise restraint and engaging in diplomacy when hawkish elements around them demanded military action. As a result, The Soviet premier agreed to withdraw the nuclear weapons from Cuba while President Kennedy (although not reported at the time) withdrew American similar weapons from Turkey. The sense of relief was immense, matched by a feeling of hope.

A Different Viewpoint

Yet, during those two weeks of October 1962, the tension was felt globally. The Bomb’s presenters came into the world shortly after these events, with Nina being taught about the crisis through the Soviet education system, which painted an alternative picture of what happened.

"You said your parent recalls it, describing it as a frightening day," she says. "However for Soviet citizens, people really didn’t know a great deal about it, because it was a tense situation, whereas in the Soviet Union we were told that everything was constantly wonderful and sunny."

Inside Khrushchev’s family, however, the perspective was different. "They told me what a great occasion it was, because it was a direct confrontation. They were able to resolve it, and avoided a global war, seen as a positive outcome," she continues. In the years to come, however, that interpretation was not shared by all Russians. "For decades in Russian politics, it was considered a setback for the Soviet leader, because he didn’t blow up the United States."

An Unlikely Partnership

The Bomb is so balanced and expertly crafted that Khrushcheva jokes it almost made her forget she already knew the ending. This effect is, in part, due to the participation of historians. But, really, the most momentous thing remains the participation of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it was unthinkable that descendants of the leaders of America and USSR to appear side by side. The fact that Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva can do that, and be so warm with each other, has to be a symbol of hope.

"We are not the pioneers," notes Khrushcheva. "After the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, a relative Sergey Khrushchev’s son where he became great friends with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"But we were strangers prior to this project," adds Kennedy. "Which is a shame because we got along immediately and we are friends, something that is wonderful. Finally, following almost six decades since nearly annihilating the planet, our families have become allies, so I think the world is safer, a little bit."

Modern Parallels and Current Dangers

Or is it? Part of the reason this series feels so necessary is because we now are living in dark times. The Doomsday Clock stands nearer to midnight than ever before, in part because today's statesmen don’t seem to have the capacity to grasp