‘After almost annihilating our planet, the families have become allies’: the gripping podcast featuring JFK and Khrushchev’s relatives.

During the month of October 1962, humanity edged closer to ruin than at any other point during modern times. This happened when a US surveillance aircraft identified that Russian nuclear missile installations were being built in the island of Cuba, a mere 160 kilometers from American soil. In response, President JFK ordered a naval task force to establish a maritime blockade around the island. What followed constituted almost 14 days of impossible stress.

The Unthinkable Danger

The danger was clear. Should Kennedy, or else the Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, initiated an attack against the other side, a cascade of global atomic attacks and counterstrikes might have followed, casting civilization toward total ruination.

The October crisis has been documented endlessly, in volumes, films, and TV documentaries. However, for its third season, a prominent BBC World Service podcast The Bomb has brought a novel dimension into the story. The series is co-presented featuring Kennedy's relative alongside Nina Khrushcheva, relatives belonging to the men who, over 13 days, grasped the fate of humanity in their hands.

"What was the Soviet side considering? What were the United States thinking?" questions Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's descendant and an academic of global relations.

In her view, the unique appeal of the show is its attempt to question: "How can individuals detest one another to the point they confront one another?"

"I am acutely aware how profound it is that individuals can be allies or can become total enemies," remarks Max Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy, related to the late president and now a writer and lawyer. "We see this dynamic over and over in instances where nations have gone to war, highlighting the sheer folly involved to engage in warfare."

The Brink Towards Disaster

What’s remarkable about this event was that, since it transpired so publicly, people worldwide were able to observe nearly in real time as it moved closer to armageddon. However, the danger of destruction came closer than most people realised.

"The overwhelming majority among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for a military strike and a ground invasion," notes Kennedy. "Had the U.S. struck the Cubans with the Sixth Fleet, undoubtedly Soviet forces on the ground would have deployed a tactical nuclear weapon against the US Sixth Fleet, and that would've destroyed our aircraft carriers and destroyed America's primary naval force. And, we would have retaliated with massive retaliation which would have ended most life on the planet."

The fact this did not occur highlights the composure of both leaders, they managed to keep their heads and engaging in diplomacy at a time when many advisors in their governments demanded military action. As a result, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the missiles from the Caribbean island and President Kennedy (although not reported then) removed American similar weapons based in Turkey. The relief was palpable, as was a feeling of hope.

The Different Perspective

Yet, for those two weeks in October, the anxiety was palpable globally. The Bomb’s co-hosts came into the world in the years following the crisis, and Nina learned about it through the Soviet school curriculum, which painted an alternative picture of events.

"As you mentioned your parent recalls it, and it was a frightening time," she says. "However for Soviet citizens, people really didn’t know a great deal regarding the crisis, because it was a tense situation, whereas under the Soviet system the official line was that everything was constantly fine and positive."

Within Khrushchev’s family, however, the perspective was different. "I was informed what a great occasion it was, as it represented eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to resolve it, thus avoided a global war, seen as a positive thing," she continues. Later on, however, that interpretation would not be held by all Russians. "For a long time in Russian politics, it was considered a failure for the Soviet leader, simply he didn’t blow up the United States."

A Unprecedented Collaboration

This podcast is so balanced , well produced that Khrushcheva quips she nearly forgot she already knew outcome. This effect is, partly, due to the participation of renowned scholars. Yet, truly, the most momentous thing remains the involvement of the descendants. Not so long ago, it was inconceivable that relatives of the leaders of the United States and USSR to appear together publicly. The fact that these two individuals are able to do so, and exhibit such warmth with each other, has to be a symbol of optimism.

"Max and I are not the first," notes Khrushcheva. "Following 1991, my uncle moved to America where he became great friends with the former president's family."

"However we had never met before the podcast," clarifies Kennedy. "Which is a shame since we connected really well and we’re friends, which is wonderful. Finally, after nearly six decades since nearly annihilating the world, our lineages have become friends, suggesting global relations is safer, a little bit."

Modern Echoes with Current Perils

Is that truly the case? One reason why this series seems so urgent is because we now are living living through a perilous era. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to midnight than ever before, in part because world leaders don’t seem to be able to grasp