‘After almost annihilating our world, the families have become friends’: a gripping audio series from JFK & Nikita Khrushchev’s descendants.

In the month of October 1962, humanity came nearer to ruin than at any other point in modern times. This happened after a US reconnaissance plane identified that Russian atomic missile sites were being built on Cuba, a mere 100 miles from the US mainland. In response, U.S. President JFK commanded the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to enact a maritime blockade encircling the island. What followed was nearly 14 days filled with unbearable stress.

An Catastrophic Danger

The threat was obvious. If President Kennedy, or his Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, were to fire against their enemy, a chain reaction involving worldwide atomic attacks and counterstrikes would have followed, casting civilization into total oblivion.

The October crisis has been examined repeatedly, in volumes, movies, as well as TV documentaries. However, for its third season, a prominent BBC World Service podcast titled "The Bomb" introduces an unprecedented perspective into the story. The series is jointly hosted featuring Max Kennedy and Khrushchev's descendant, relatives of the leaders that, over two tense weeks, controlled the fate of humanity in their hands.

"What was the Kremlin thinking? What was the American side considering?" ponders Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's great-granddaughter who is also a professor specializing in global relations.

In her view, the unique appeal of the podcast is its attempt to explore: "Why do individuals hate each other and go against each other?"

"It struck me how remarkable it is that humans have the potential to be friends or can become total adversaries," adds Max Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy, related to the late president and now a writer as well as attorney. "We see this repeatedly when nations have gone to war, highlighting the profound irrationality involved to fight."

The Precipice Towards Catastrophe

What’s striking regarding the Cuban missile crisis was that, since it transpired so publicly, individuals globally were able to observe almost as it happened as it crept closer to disaster. Even so, the danger of annihilation was more imminent than what anybody understood at the time.

"Virtually everyone among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for an airstrike followed by a ground invasion," explains Kennedy. "Had the U.S. struck Cuba using the Sixth Fleet, undoubtedly the Russians stationed there would've launched a nuclear warhead against the American ships, and that would've sunk our naval vessels and sunk America's largest and most important fleet. And, the U.S. would have responded with an overwhelming counterattack that would have eradicated most life on Earth."

The fact this did not occur stands as credit to Kennedy and Khrushchev, who managed to remain calm and calmly negotiate at a time when many advisors in their governments were advocating action. As a result, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the nuclear weapons from Cuba and Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) withdrew his missiles from NATO ally Turkey. The relief was worldwide, as was a feeling of hope.

A Divergent Viewpoint

Still, for those 13 days of October 1962, the fear was palpable by everyone. The Bomb’s presenters came into the world in the years following the crisis, with Nina learned about the crisis through the Soviet school curriculum, which presented an alternative picture of what happened.

"As you mentioned your parent recalls it, and it was a frightening day," she says. "But for Soviet citizens, people really didn’t know a great deal about it, since it was a tense situation, whereas in the Soviet Union we were told that everything was always fine or positive."

Within Khrushchev’s family, however, the perspective was different. "I was informed that it was a triumphant occasion for the USSR, because it represented a direct confrontation. They were able to resolve it, thus didn’t start the war, which was a wonderful thing," she continues. Later on, though, that perspective was not shared by all Russians. "For a long time in Russian politics, it was considered a defeat for Khrushchev, because he didn’t blow up the United States."

A Unprecedented Collaboration

This podcast is so balanced , expertly crafted so much so that Khrushcheva jokes it almost made her forget the known the ending. This effect is, in part, thanks to the participation of historians. Yet, truly, the most momentous thing is the involvement of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it was unthinkable that descendants of the heads of state of the United States and Soviet Union to appear side by side. The fact that these two individuals can do that, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, has to be a symbol of progress.

"We aren't the pioneers," notes Nina. "After the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, my uncle Sergey Khrushchev’s son and became great friends with the former president's family."

"But we were strangers before the podcast," adds Max. "Which is a shame since we got along really well and now we’re friends, something that is really great. Ultimately, following almost six decades of nearly annihilating the planet, our lineages are now allies, suggesting the world is more secure, a little bit."

Contemporary Parallels and Current Dangers

Or is it? Part of the reason The Bomb feels so necessary is that we once again find ourselves in a perilous era. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to catastrophe in its history, in part because today's statesmen appear not to be able to grasp