Following nearly destroying the world, our families are friends’: the thrilling audio series featuring John F. Kennedy & Khrushchev’s relatives.

In the month of October 1962, the world came closer to annihilation more so than ever in modern times. This transpired when a US surveillance plane found that Soviet nuclear weapon installations were being built in Cuba, less than 100 miles from American soil. In response, U.S. President John F Kennedy ordered the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to enact a naval quarantine around Cuba. The next phase was nearly two weeks of impossible tension.

The Catastrophic Danger

The danger was clear. If Kennedy, or his Soviet counterpart, Premier Khrushchev, initiated an attack against the other side, a chain reaction of global atomic strikes and counterstrikes might have followed, plunging mankind toward all-out destruction.

This pivotal 1962 event has been covered extensively, in books, films, as well as TV documentaries. However, for its third season, the BBC World Service podcast The Bomb presents an unprecedented dimension to the story. The series is jointly hosted by Max Kennedy alongside Khrushchev's descendant, relatives belonging to the leaders who, for 13 days, held the fate of the world within their grasp.

"What was the Soviet side thinking? What were the United States considering?" questions Nina Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's descendant and a professor of international affairs.

For her, the beauty of the show is its attempt to question: "How can people detest one another and oppose one another?"

"It was not lost on me how spectacular the fact that people have the potential to be allies or else can become complete adversaries," remarks Max Kennedy, the son of RFK, nephew of JFK and now a writer and attorney. "History shows this dynamic over and over in instances where nations have gone to war, and it just illustrates the sheer folly involved to engage in warfare."

The Precipice Towards Disaster

What’s notable about the Cuban missile crisis is that, since it transpired so publicly, individuals around the world could watch nearly as it happened as it moved towards disaster. Nonetheless, the danger of annihilation came closer than what anybody understood at the time.

"Almost all officials in the White House wanted an airstrike and an invasion," explains Max Kennedy. "Had the U.S. struck Cuba using the Sixth Fleet, it is certain Soviet forces on the ground would have deployed a tactical nuclear weapon at the US Sixth Fleet, which would have sunk our aircraft carriers and sunk America's primary naval force. And, the U.S. would have retaliated through an overwhelming counterattack that would have ended all life on Earth."

The reality this did not occur highlights the composure of Kennedy and Khrushchev, they succeeded in exercise restraint and engaging in diplomacy at a time when everyone in their governments was pushing for military action. As a result, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the missiles in Cuba while President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) withdrew American similar weapons based in NATO ally Turkey. The relief was worldwide, as was the sense of hope.

A Divergent Viewpoint

Still, for those 13 days in October, the fear was felt globally. The Bomb’s presenters were born shortly after these events, and Khrushcheva being taught about it via the USSR's school curriculum, which painted an alternative version of what happened.

"You said your parent remembers it, describing it as a scary time," Khrushcheva notes. "But in the Soviet Union, the public were largely unaware a great deal about it, because it was a crisis, and in the Soviet Union we were told that things are always wonderful or positive."

Within Khrushchev’s family, however, it was different. "They told me what a great occasion for the USSR, as it represented a direct confrontation. They were able to find a solution, and didn’t start a global war, which was a positive thing," she adds. In the years to come, though, that perspective would not be held by everybody. "For decades within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a defeat for Khrushchev, simply he didn’t blow up the United States."

A Unlikely Partnership

This podcast is so balanced , well produced that Nina quips it almost made her forget the known the ending. This is, in part, thanks to the participation of historians. But, truly, the most significant aspect is the participation of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it would be inconceivable for descendants of the leaders of the United States and the USSR would appear together publicly. That these two individuals can do that, and be so warm toward one another, has to be a sign of progress.

"We aren't the pioneers," notes Khrushcheva. "After 1991, a relative moved to America where he formed a close bond with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"However we had never met before the podcast," adds Kennedy. "That is unfortunate since we got along really well and now we are friends, something that is really great. Finally, following almost six decades of almost destroying the world, our lineages have become allies, suggesting the world is more secure, somewhat."

Modern Echoes with Current Perils

Is that truly the case? Part of the reason The Bomb seems so urgent is that we now are living living through a perilous era. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to midnight than ever before, partly since world leaders don’t seem to have the capacity to comprehend