‘After nearly annihilating the planet, the families are allies’: the gripping podcast from John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev’s descendants.

During October 1962, the planet edged nearer to annihilation more so than ever during the contemporary era. This happened after a US reconnaissance aircraft identified that Soviet atomic missile sites were being assembled in the island of Cuba, less than 160 kilometers off the coast of the US mainland. Reacting to this, U.S. President JFK directed the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to impose a maritime quarantine around Cuba. What followed constituted almost a fortnight of unbearable anxiety.

The Catastrophic Danger

The threat remained clear. If President Kennedy, or else the Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, had fired on the other side, a cascade involving global atomic attacks followed by retaliatory strikes might have ensued, plunging humanity into all-out destruction.

The October crisis has been covered endlessly, in books, films, as well as television programmes. But, in its latest installment, a prominent audio documentary series titled "The Bomb" introduces a completely new dimension to this historical narrative. It is co-presented by Max Kennedy and Khrushchev's descendant, family members of the leaders that, over two tense weeks, controlled the destiny of the world within their grasp.

"What was the Russians planning? What was the American side planning?" asks Nina Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter and a professor specializing in international affairs.

In her view, the strength of the show lies in its endeavor to question: "Why do individuals detest one another to the point they oppose one another?"

"It was not lost on me how profound the fact that individuals have the potential to be friends or have the potential to be total enemies," adds Max Kennedy, son of RFK, related to the late president and currently a writer and lawyer. "We see this dynamic repeatedly when countries have gone to war, highlighting the profound irrationality it is to engage in warfare."

The Precipice Towards Disaster

What is striking about the Cuban missile crisis is that, since it unfolded so publicly, individuals globally were able to observe almost as it happened as it crept closer to armageddon. Nonetheless, the danger of annihilation came closer than what most people realised.

"The overwhelming majority in the White House were advocating for an airstrike followed by a ground invasion," says Kennedy. "If we had struck the Cubans using the Sixth Fleet, undoubtedly the Russians stationed there would have deployed a tactical nuclear weapon against the US Sixth Fleet, and that would've sunk our naval vessels as well as destroyed our primary fleet. In turn, the U.S. would have retaliated through an overwhelming counterattack that would have ended most life on the planet."

The fact it didn’t stands as credit to both leaders, they managed to exercise restraint and calmly negotiate when many advisors around them was pushing for military action. As a result, Khrushchev removed the nuclear weapons in the Caribbean island and Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) removed American missiles based in NATO ally Turkey. The relief was immense, as was a feeling of optimism.

A Divergent Viewpoint

Still, during those two weeks of October 1962, the fear was palpable by everyone. The Bomb’s presenters were born shortly after these events, with Nina learned about it via the Soviet education system, which portrayed a slightly different narrative of events.

"As you mentioned your father remembers it, and it was a scary time," Khrushcheva notes. "However in the Soviet Union, people really didn’t know a great deal about it, because it was a tense situation, whereas in the Soviet Union we were told that things are always wonderful and positive."

Within Khrushchev’s family, though, it was different. "They told me that it was a triumphant moment it was, as it was eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to resolve it, thus didn’t start a global war, which was a positive outcome," she adds. Subsequently, though, that view was not shared by everybody. "For decades within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a failure for the Soviet leader, simply he didn’t blow up the United States."

An Unprecedented Partnership

This podcast is so even-handed and expertly crafted so much so that Nina jokes she nearly forgot she already knew the ending. This effect is, partly, thanks to the participation of renowned scholars. But, really, the most momentous thing remains the participation of the hosts themselves. Not so long ago, it would be unthinkable that descendants of the leaders of America and the Soviet Union to appear together publicly. That Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva are able to do so, and exhibit such warmth with each other, must be seen as a sign of hope.

"We are not the first," notes Khrushcheva. "After the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, a relative Sergey Khrushchev’s son where he formed a close bond with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"But we were strangers before the podcast," adds Kennedy. "Which is unfortunate because we connected immediately and now we are friends, something that is really great. Finally, following almost 60 years of almost destroying the world, our lineages have become friends, so I think global relations is more secure, a little bit."

Modern Parallels with Present Perils

Or is it? Part of the reason this series seems so urgent is because we once again are living living through a perilous era. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to midnight than ever before, partly since world leaders appear not to be able to learn