‘After nearly destroying the world, the relatives have become allies’: a gripping audio series featuring JFK & Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

In October 1962, the planet veered nearer toward destruction more so than ever during the contemporary era. This transpired after an American surveillance plane identified the fact that Russian nuclear weapon installations were being built in Cuba, less than 160 kilometers from the United States. Reacting to this, U.S. President JFK commanded the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to enact a maritime quarantine encircling Cuba. The next phase constituted nearly 14 days filled with impossible anxiety.

An Catastrophic Danger

The threat remained obvious. If Kennedy, or his Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, had fired against their enemy, a cascade of global atomic strikes and counterstrikes would have followed, casting humanity into all-out ruination.

The Cuban missile crisis has been examined endlessly, through books, movies, as well as television programmes. However, for its third season, a prominent BBC World Service podcast The Bomb presents a novel perspective to this historical narrative. The series is co-presented by Kennedy's relative alongside Nina Khrushcheva, family members of the figures that, for 13 days, held the destiny of humanity within their grasp.

"What was the Russians considering? What was the United States thinking?" ponders Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's great-granddaughter and an academic of global relations.

For her, the beauty of the podcast is its endeavor to objectively ask: "Why do individuals hate one another and oppose each other?"

"I am acutely aware how spectacular the fact that humans can be friends or can become total enemies," states Kennedy, the son of RFK, related to the late president and currently an author as well as attorney. "We see this over and over in instances where nations have gone to war, demonstrating the sheer folly it is to engage in warfare."

The Brink Towards Disaster

What’s striking about the Cuban missile crisis was that, because it unfolded in the global spotlight, individuals globally could watch almost in real time as it edged towards disaster. Nonetheless, the threat of annihilation came closer than anybody realised.

"Virtually everyone in the White House were advocating for a military strike followed by a ground invasion," explains Max Kennedy. "If we had attacked Cuba using the Sixth Fleet, undoubtedly Soviet forces on the ground would've fired a nuclear warhead at the US Sixth Fleet, and that would've destroyed our aircraft carriers and sunk our primary naval force. And, the U.S. would have retaliated through massive retaliation which would have eradicated all life on Earth."

The fact this did not occur highlights the composure of both leaders, they succeeded in remain calm while calmly negotiate at a time when everyone in their governments demanded military action. Consequently, Khrushchev removed the missiles from Cuba and Kennedy (although not reported at the time) withdrew his similar weapons based in Turkey. The sense of relief was immense, matched by the sense of hope.

A Different Viewpoint

Yet, for those two weeks in October, the anxiety was palpable globally. The Bomb’s presenters came into the world in the years following these events, with Khrushcheva learned about it via the USSR's school curriculum, which painted a slightly different picture of what happened.

"As you mentioned your father remembers it, describing it as a scary day," Khrushcheva notes. "But for Soviet citizens, people were largely unaware that much about it, since it was a tense situation, whereas in the Soviet Union we were told that everything was constantly fine and sunny."

Within Khrushchev’s family, however, the perspective was different. "I was informed what a great moment for the USSR, because it represented eyeball to eyeball. They were able to find a solution, and didn’t start a global war, seen as a positive thing," she adds. In the years to come, though, that interpretation would not be held by all Russians. "For decades within Russian historical analysis, it was considered a failure for Khrushchev, because he didn’t blow up the United States."

An Unlikely Partnership

The Bomb is so even-handed and well produced so much so that Nina jokes she nearly forgot she already knew outcome. This effect is, in part, due to the participation of historians. Yet, really, the most groundbreaking thing is the involvement of the descendants. Even within living memory, it would be unthinkable that relatives of the heads of state of America and the Soviet Union to appear side by side. The fact that these two individuals can do that, and exhibit such warmth with each other, must be seen as a symbol of hope.

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

"However we were strangers before the podcast," adds Kennedy. "That is unfortunate since we got along really well and we are friends, something that is wonderful. Finally, following nearly six decades of nearly annihilating the world, our lineages are now allies, so I think global relations is safer, a little bit."

Contemporary Parallels and Present Perils

Is that truly the case? One reason why this series seems so urgent is that we now are living living through a perilous era. The Doomsday Clock is closer to midnight in its history, partly since world leaders appear not to have the capacity to grasp