‘After nearly annihilating our world, our relatives are allies’: the gripping podcast from JFK and Nikita Khrushchev’s descendants.

In the month of October 1962, the world edged nearer toward annihilation more so than ever during the contemporary era. This transpired after a US surveillance aircraft found that Russian nuclear missile installations were being built on the island of Cuba, less than 160 kilometers off the coast of the United States. Reacting to this, U.S. President JFK directed the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to establish a naval quarantine around Cuba. The ensuing period constituted almost 14 days of extreme tension.

An Catastrophic Threat

The peril remained clear. Should Kennedy, or his Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, initiated an attack against their enemy, a chain reaction of worldwide atomic attacks followed by counterstrikes might have ensued, plunging mankind into all-out destruction.

The October crisis has been documented endlessly, through books, movies, as well as TV documentaries. However, in its latest installment, a prominent BBC World Service podcast titled "The Bomb" has brought a completely new element into the story. The series is jointly hosted by Max Kennedy and Khrushchev's descendant, family members belonging to the figures that, for 13 days, grasped the destiny of humanity in their hands.

"What was the Soviet side thinking? What was the American side planning?" asks Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's great-granddaughter who is also an academic specializing in international affairs.

In her view, the beauty of the show is its endeavor to objectively ask: "Why do individuals hate one another and confront one another?"

"It was not lost on me how remarkable the fact that people have the potential to be friends or else have the potential to be complete adversaries," remarks Max Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy, related to JFK and now a writer and attorney. "History shows this over and over in instances where nations enter into conflict, highlighting the sheer folly it is to engage in warfare."

The Precipice Towards Catastrophe

What’s notable about this event is that, because it unfolded in the global spotlight, citizens globally could watch almost as it happened as it moved closer to disaster. However, the risk of annihilation was more imminent than what most people realised.

"The overwhelming majority in the White House were advocating for a military strike followed by an invasion," explains Max Kennedy. "If we had attacked Cuba with the Sixth Fleet, undoubtedly Soviet forces on the ground would have deployed a nuclear warhead against the American ships, and that would have destroyed our aircraft carriers and destroyed our primary fleet. And, we would have retaliated with massive retaliation which would have eradicated all life on the planet."

The fact this did not occur highlights the composure of both leaders, who managed to exercise restraint and calmly negotiate when many advisors in their governments was pushing for military action. Consequently, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the missiles in the Caribbean island while President Kennedy (although not reported then) removed American similar weapons from Turkey. The sense of relief was worldwide, as was the sense of optimism.

A Divergent Viewpoint

Yet, for 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 Khrushcheva being taught about the crisis via the Soviet school curriculum, which presented an alternative version of events.

"You said your father recalls it, and it was a scary time," she says. "But in the Soviet Union, people were largely unaware a great deal about it, since it was a crisis, whereas under the Soviet system we were told that everything was always wonderful or sunny."

Inside the Khrushchev household, however, the perspective was different. "They told me what a great moment for the USSR, as it represented eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to resolve it, thus avoided the war, seen as a wonderful outcome," she adds. Later on, however, that perspective was not held by everybody. "For decades within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a setback for the Soviet leader, simply he refrained from destroying the United States."

A Unprecedented Partnership

The Bomb is remarkably even-handed and expertly crafted that Khrushcheva jokes it almost made her forget the known the ending. This is, in part, due to contributions from renowned scholars. Yet, truly, the most groundbreaking aspect is the participation of the hosts themselves. Not so long ago, it would be inconceivable that relatives of the leaders of America and Soviet Union would appear together publicly. The fact that Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva can do that, and be so warm toward one another, has to be a sign of optimism.

"Max and I aren't the pioneers," notes Nina. "Following 1991, my uncle moved to America and became great friends with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"However we were strangers prior to this project," clarifies Kennedy. "That is unfortunate since we connected really well and we’re friends, which is really great. Finally, after nearly 60 years since nearly annihilating the world, our families are now allies, suggesting the world is more secure, somewhat."

Modern Parallels and Current Dangers

Is that truly the case? Part of the reason this series feels so necessary is because we once again are living living through dark times. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to midnight in its history, in part because today's statesmen don’t seem to have the capacity to learn