Following almost annihilating the planet, the relatives have become friends’: a thrilling podcast featuring JFK and Khrushchev’s relatives.

During the month of October 1962, humanity edged nearer toward destruction than at any other point in the contemporary era. This transpired following the discovery that a US surveillance plane discovered the fact that Russian nuclear weapon installations were being built in the island of Cuba, less than 160 kilometers from American soil. Reacting to this, U.S. President JFK commanded the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to impose a naval quarantine around Cuba. The next phase was nearly a fortnight filled with extreme stress.

The Unthinkable Danger

The peril remained obvious. If Kennedy, or the Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, were to fire against their enemy, a series of worldwide atomic attacks and retaliatory strikes would have ensued, casting humanity into total destruction.

This pivotal 1962 event has been documented repeatedly, through volumes, movies, as well as television programmes. However, for its third season, a prominent audio documentary series titled "The Bomb" has brought a completely new element into this historical narrative. The series is jointly hosted featuring Kennedy's relative alongside Khrushchev's descendant, relatives of the men that, for two tense weeks, controlled the destiny of humanity within their grasp.

"What was the Kremlin planning? What were the United States thinking?" ponders Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s descendant who is also a professor specializing in global relations.

In her view, the strength of the podcast lies in its endeavor to objectively ask: "How can individuals detest one another to the point they confront one another?"

"It struck me how spectacular the fact that individuals have the potential to be friends or else have the potential to be total adversaries," adds Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, nephew of the late president and now a writer as well as lawyer. "History shows this dynamic repeatedly when nations have gone to war, demonstrating the sheer folly involved to fight."

The Brink of Disaster

What’s remarkable regarding this event is that, because it unfolded so publicly, individuals around the world could watch almost in real time while it crept closer to armageddon. However, the threat of annihilation came closer than what most people realised.

"Virtually everyone among Kennedy's advisors wanted an airstrike and a ground invasion," explains Max Kennedy. "If we had attacked the Cubans using the Sixth Fleet, undoubtedly Soviet forces on the ground would've fired a tactical nuclear weapon at the US Sixth Fleet, which would have sunk our aircraft carriers as well as sunk America's largest and most important naval force. And, we would have retaliated with massive retaliation which would have eradicated all life on the planet."

The fact it didn’t stands as credit to Kennedy and Khrushchev, they managed to remain calm and calmly negotiate when many advisors around them was pushing for action. As a result, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the missiles in the Caribbean island while Kennedy (although not reported at the time) removed American similar weapons based in Turkey. The sense of relief was worldwide, matched by the sense of hope.

The Different Viewpoint

Yet, during those 13 days of October 1962, the tension was palpable globally. The Bomb’s presenters were born shortly after the crisis, and Nina being taught about it via the Soviet school curriculum, which portrayed a slightly different picture of events.

"As you mentioned your father remembers it, describing it as a scary day," she says. "But in the Soviet Union, the public were largely unaware that much regarding the crisis, since it was a crisis, and in the Soviet Union we were told that things are always wonderful and sunny."

Inside Khrushchev’s family, though, the perspective was different. "I was informed what a great moment for the USSR, because it represented a direct confrontation. The leaders managed to find a solution, thus didn’t start the war, seen as a wonderful outcome," she adds. In the years to come, though, that view would not be shared by all Russians. "For a long time within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a defeat for the Soviet leader, simply he didn’t blow up the United States."

An Unprecedented Collaboration

This podcast is remarkably even-handed and expertly crafted that Nina quips it almost made her forget the known the ending. This is, partly, thanks to contributions from historians. Yet, really, the most momentous aspect is the participation of the descendants. Even within living memory, it would be inconceivable that descendants of the heads of state of the United States and the Soviet Union would appear side by side. That Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva are able to do so, and be so warm with each other, must be seen as a symbol of hope.

"Max and I aren't the pioneers," notes Nina. "After 1991, a relative moved to America and formed a close bond with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"However we had never met prior to this project," clarifies Max. "That is a shame since we connected immediately and now we’re friends, something that is wonderful. Finally, following almost 60 years since almost destroying the world, our lineages have become allies, so I think global relations is more secure, a little bit."

Modern Parallels and Current Perils

Is that truly the case? One reason the reason this series seems so urgent is because we once again are living living through a perilous era. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to midnight in its history, in part because today's statesmen appear not to be able to comprehend