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

In October 1962, the world came closer to annihilation more so than ever during modern times. This transpired after an American reconnaissance aircraft discovered that Soviet nuclear missile installations were being built in Cuba, less than 160 kilometers off the coast of American soil. In response, President JFK commanded the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to enact a maritime blockade encircling the island. What followed was nearly 14 days of impossible anxiety.

The Unthinkable Threat

The threat remained obvious. If President Kennedy, or his Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, were to fire on their enemy, a chain reaction involving global atomic attacks and counterstrikes might have followed, thrusting civilization toward total oblivion.

The October crisis has been covered endlessly, in books, movies, as well as television programmes. However, for its third season, a prominent BBC World Service podcast titled "The Bomb" has brought a novel element to this historical narrative. The series is co-presented by Kennedy's relative alongside Nina Khrushcheva, relatives belonging to the men who, for two tense weeks, grasped the fate of humanity in their hands.

"What was the Russians considering? What was Washington planning?" asks Nina Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter and a professor of international affairs.

For her, the beauty of the podcast is its endeavor to objectively ask: "How can nations detest one another and confront one another?"

"It was not lost on me how profound the fact that individuals can be allies or can become total enemies," states Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, nephew of the late president and currently a writer and lawyer. "We see this repeatedly when countries enter into conflict, demonstrating the sheer folly involved to fight."

The Precipice of Catastrophe

What is striking about this event was that, since it unfolded in the global spotlight, individuals worldwide were able to observe nearly in real time while it moved towards catastrophe. Even so, the risk of destruction came closer than most people realised.

"The overwhelming majority in the White House were advocating for an airstrike followed by a ground invasion," explains Max Kennedy. "If we had struck Cuba using the Sixth Fleet, undoubtedly the Russians stationed there would have launched a tactical nuclear weapon against the US Sixth Fleet, which would've sunk the aircraft carriers as well as destroyed our largest and most important fleet. In turn, the U.S. would have retaliated with an overwhelming counterattack which would have eradicated all life on Earth."

The fact this did not occur stands as credit to both leaders, who managed to keep their heads while engaging in diplomacy at a time when many advisors around them demanded military action. As a result, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the missiles from Cuba and Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) withdrew American missiles from Turkey. The relief was palpable, matched by the sense of hope.

A Divergent Viewpoint

Yet, during those 13 days of October 1962, the fear was felt by everyone. The Bomb’s presenters came into the world shortly after the crisis, and Khrushcheva learned about it via the Soviet education system, which presented an alternative version of events.

"As you mentioned your parent remembers it, and it was a scary day," she says. "However for Soviet citizens, people were largely unaware that much about it, because it was a tense situation, whereas in the Soviet Union the official line was that everything was constantly wonderful and sunny."

Inside Khrushchev’s family, though, the perspective was different. "I was informed what a great moment it was, as it was a direct confrontation. They were able to find a solution, and avoided the war, seen as a wonderful outcome," she adds. In the years to come, however, that perspective was not held by all Russians. "For a long time 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 remarkably even-handed , expertly crafted so much so that Nina jokes it almost made her forget she already knew the ending. This effect is, in part, due to the participation of renowned scholars. Yet, really, the most groundbreaking thing is the participation of the hosts themselves. Not so long ago, it was inconceivable that descendants of the leaders of the United States and USSR would appear side by side. That these two individuals can do that, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, has to be a symbol of hope.

"Max and I are not the pioneers," notes Khrushcheva. "Following 1991, my uncle Sergey Khrushchev’s son and formed a close bond with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"However we had never met prior to this project," adds Kennedy. "Which is unfortunate because we connected really well and we’re friends, something that is really great. Finally, after almost 60 years of almost destroying the planet, our families are now allies, suggesting the world is more secure, a little bit."

Contemporary Parallels with Current Perils

Is that truly the case? One reason the reason this series seems so urgent is that we once again are living living through a perilous era. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to catastrophe than ever before, in part because today's statesmen don’t seem to have the capacity to comprehend