‘After almost destroying our planet, our relatives are friends’: the thrilling audio series from JFK and Khrushchev’s descendants.

In October 1962, humanity edged closer toward annihilation than at any other point in recent history. This transpired following the discovery that an American reconnaissance plane identified the fact that Russian nuclear missile sites were being assembled in Cuba, a mere 160 kilometers from the US mainland. In response, U.S. President JFK ordered the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to enact a maritime blockade encircling the island. What followed constituted nearly two weeks of extreme anxiety.

The Unthinkable Danger

The threat remained palpable. If President Kennedy, or his Soviet counterpart, Premier Khrushchev, initiated an attack against the other side, a cascade of global nuclear attacks and retaliatory strikes could have followed, casting mankind toward all-out oblivion.

The October crisis has been documented extensively, through volumes, movies, as well as TV documentaries. But, in its latest installment, the BBC World Service podcast The Bomb introduces a completely new perspective to this historical narrative. It is co-presented featuring Kennedy's relative alongside Khrushchev's descendant, relatives of the leaders that, for two tense weeks, held the fate of humanity in their hands.

"What was the Soviet side thinking? What were the United States considering?" asks Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's descendant who is also an academic of international affairs.

In her view, the unique appeal of the show is its attempt to question: "Why do people detest one another and go against one another?"

"It was not lost on me how spectacular the fact that people can be allies or else can become complete enemies," states Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy, nephew of JFK and currently a writer as well as lawyer. "We see this dynamic repeatedly in instances where countries enter into conflict, demonstrating the sheer folly involved to engage in warfare."

A Brink of Disaster

What is striking about this event was that, because it unfolded so publicly, citizens around the world were able to observe nearly as it happened as it edged closer to armageddon. Even so, the risk of destruction was more imminent than what most people understood at the time.

"Almost all officials among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for an airstrike and a ground invasion," explains Kennedy. "If we had struck Cuba using the naval blockade, it is certain the Russians stationed there would have fired a tactical nuclear weapon against the American ships, and that would have obliterated the aircraft carriers and sunk our largest and most important fleet. In turn, we would have retaliated with massive retaliation that would have ended all life on Earth."

The reality this did not occur is a testament to Kennedy and Khrushchev, they succeeded in remain calm while calmly negotiate when many advisors around them were advocating action. As a result, The Soviet premier agreed to withdraw the missiles in the Caribbean island and President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) withdrew his missiles based in Turkey. The relief was worldwide, matched by the sense of optimism.

A Divergent Perspective

Yet, during those two weeks in October, the tension was palpable globally. The podcast's co-hosts came into the world in the years following the crisis, and Nina being taught about the crisis through the USSR's school curriculum, which portrayed a slightly different version of what happened.

"You said your parent recalls it, and it was a scary day," she says. "But for Soviet citizens, people really didn’t know a great deal about it, since it was a tense situation, and under the Soviet system we were told that everything was constantly fine and positive."

Inside the Khrushchev household, though, it was distinct. "They told me what a great moment it was, as it represented eyeball to eyeball. They were able to find a solution, and avoided a global war, seen as a wonderful thing," she continues. Subsequently, though, that perspective was not shared by everybody. "For decades within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a defeat for Khrushchev, because he refrained from destroying the United States."

A Unlikely Collaboration

This podcast is so even-handed , expertly crafted so much so that Khrushcheva quips it almost made her forget the known outcome. This effect is, partly, due to contributions from renowned scholars. Yet, really, the most momentous thing remains the participation of the descendants. Not so long ago, it would be inconceivable for relatives of the heads of state of the United States and the Soviet Union would appear together publicly. That Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva can do that, and exhibit such warmth with each other, must be seen as a sign of hope.

"Max and I are not the first," notes Khrushcheva. "After the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, a relative moved to America where he became great friends with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"But we were strangers before the podcast," adds Kennedy. "That is a shame because we got along immediately and now we’re friends, which is wonderful. Ultimately, following nearly six decades of almost destroying the world, our lineages are now allies, so I think the world is more secure, somewhat."

Modern Parallels with Present Dangers

Or is it? Part of the reason this series feels so necessary is because we now are living living through dark times. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to catastrophe than ever before, partly since world leaders don’t seem to be able to grasp