Following nearly destroying our world, the families are friends’: a thrilling audio series featuring JFK & Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

In October 1962, the world edged nearer to destruction than at any other point during modern times. This transpired following the discovery that a US surveillance aircraft identified that Soviet nuclear missile bases were being assembled in the island of Cuba, a mere 160 kilometers from the United States. In response, President John F Kennedy directed a naval task force to impose a naval quarantine encircling the island. The next phase constituted nearly 14 days filled with unbearable tension.

The Unthinkable Threat

The danger was palpable. If President Kennedy, or else the Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, were to fire on the other side, a chain reaction involving global nuclear attacks followed by retaliatory strikes might have followed, plunging humanity toward all-out ruination.

The October crisis has been documented endlessly, through volumes, films, and TV documentaries. But, for its third season, a prominent BBC World Service podcast The Bomb has brought an unprecedented dimension into the story. The series is co-presented by Max Kennedy alongside Khrushchev's descendant, relatives of the leaders that, over 13 days, controlled the fate of the planet within their grasp.

"What was the Russians planning? What were Washington thinking?" ponders Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter and an academic specializing in international affairs.

For her, the unique appeal of the podcast is its attempt to objectively ask: "How can individuals hate one another and oppose each other?"

"It struck me how profound it is that humans can be friends or have the potential to be total enemies," states Kennedy, the son of RFK, nephew of JFK and currently an author as well as lawyer. "History shows this repeatedly in instances where countries have gone to war, and it just illustrates the profound irrationality it is to engage in warfare."

The Brink of Catastrophe

What’s notable about this event was that, since it unfolded in the global spotlight, individuals worldwide could watch nearly in real time while it crept towards armageddon. Nonetheless, the threat of annihilation was more imminent than what anybody understood at the time.

"Virtually everyone among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for an airstrike and an invasion," explains Kennedy. "Had the U.S. struck Cuba with the Sixth Fleet, undoubtedly Soviet forces stationed there would have deployed a nuclear warhead at the US Sixth Fleet, and that would've obliterated our naval vessels as well as destroyed our largest and most important naval force. And, we would have responded through massive retaliation which would have eradicated most life on Earth."

The reality this did not occur highlights the composure of both leaders, who managed to exercise restraint while engaging in diplomacy when hawkish elements around them demanded action. As a result, The Soviet premier agreed to withdraw the missiles in Cuba and Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) removed American missiles based in NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was worldwide, matched by a feeling of hope.

A Different Viewpoint

Still, during those two weeks in October, the tension was palpable globally. The podcast's co-hosts were born in the years following these events, with Nina being taught about it via the Soviet education system, which portrayed an alternative narrative of what happened.

"You said your parent remembers it, describing it as a scary time," she says. "But in the Soviet Union, the public really didn’t know that much about it, because it was a crisis, whereas under the Soviet system we were told that everything was constantly wonderful or positive."

Inside Khrushchev’s family, however, the perspective was different. "I was informed that it was a triumphant occasion for the USSR, as it was eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to resolve it, and didn’t start a global war, which was a wonderful thing," she continues. Later on, however, that perspective was not held by all Russians. "For decades in Russian politics, it was considered a failure for Khrushchev, simply he didn’t blow up America."

A Unlikely Partnership

The Bomb is so balanced , expertly crafted so much so that Khrushcheva jokes she nearly forgot the known outcome. This effect is, in part, thanks to the participation of renowned scholars. But, truly, the most significant aspect remains the involvement of the descendants. Not so long ago, it would be inconceivable for descendants of the leaders of the United States and the USSR to appear together publicly. The fact that Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva can do that, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, has to be a symbol of optimism.

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

"However we were strangers before the podcast," adds Kennedy. "Which is unfortunate since we got along immediately and now we are friends, which is wonderful. Ultimately, following almost six decades of nearly annihilating the world, our lineages are now friends, suggesting the world is safer, somewhat."

Modern Echoes with Present Perils

Or is it? One reason why The Bomb feels so necessary is that we once again find ourselves living through a perilous era. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to catastrophe in its history, partly since world leaders don’t seem to have the capacity to comprehend