‘After almost destroying the world, the families are friends’: a thrilling podcast featuring JFK & Khrushchev’s relatives.

In October 1962, the planet came nearer to annihilation than at any other point in recent history. This happened after an American reconnaissance aircraft found that Russian atomic missile installations were under construction on the island of Cuba, less than 100 miles from the US mainland. In response, President JFK ordered a naval task force to establish a maritime blockade encircling the island. The ensuing period constituted almost two weeks filled with extreme stress.

The Unthinkable Danger

The peril was clear. If Kennedy, or the Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, initiated an attack against the other side, a chain reaction involving worldwide atomic strikes followed by counterstrikes might have followed, casting civilization into all-out ruination.

The October crisis has been examined endlessly, through books, movies, as well as television programmes. However, in its latest installment, a prominent BBC World Service podcast titled "The Bomb" introduces an unprecedented dimension to this historical narrative. The series is jointly hosted by Max Kennedy alongside Khrushchev's descendant, relatives belonging to the leaders that, for two tense weeks, controlled the fate of the world within their grasp.

"What were the Russians thinking? What was the American side considering?" questions Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's descendant and a professor specializing in international affairs.

For her, the strength of the podcast is its attempt to question: "How can individuals detest one another to the point they confront each other?"

"It struck me how profound it is that people can be friends or else can become complete enemies," states Max Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy, related to JFK and now a writer and attorney. "We see this over and over in instances where countries enter into conflict, demonstrating the profound irrationality it is to engage in warfare."

A Brink of Catastrophe

What’s striking regarding the Cuban missile crisis is that, because it unfolded in the global spotlight, people worldwide could watch nearly as it happened as it edged closer to catastrophe. Nonetheless, the threat of annihilation was more imminent than anybody realised.

"Almost all officials among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for an airstrike followed by an invasion," notes Kennedy. "Had the U.S. attacked the Cubans using the Sixth Fleet, it is certain Soviet forces stationed there would have fired a tactical nuclear weapon at the US Sixth Fleet, which would have destroyed the aircraft carriers as well as sunk America's largest and most important naval force. In turn, we would have responded through massive retaliation that would have ended all life on the planet."

The fact it didn’t is a testament to Kennedy and Khrushchev, who managed to remain calm while calmly negotiate at a time when hawkish elements around them demanded action. Consequently, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the nuclear weapons in the Caribbean island and Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) removed American similar weapons from NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was immense, as was a feeling of optimism.

The Divergent Viewpoint

Still, during those two weeks of October 1962, the anxiety was felt by everyone. The podcast's presenters were born in the years following these events, and Nina learned about the crisis through the USSR's education system, which painted an alternative version of events.

"As you mentioned your father remembers it, and it was a frightening day," she says. "But in the Soviet Union, the public were largely unaware a great deal about it, since it was a crisis, whereas in the Soviet Union we were told that everything was constantly wonderful and sunny."

Inside Khrushchev’s family, though, it was different. "They told me what a great occasion it was, as it represented a direct confrontation. They were able to find a solution, and avoided the war, which was a wonderful outcome," she adds. In the years to come, though, that view was not held by everybody. "For a long time within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a failure for Khrushchev, simply he refrained from destroying the United States."

A Unprecedented Collaboration

The Bomb is so balanced , well produced that Khrushcheva jokes she nearly forgot the known the ending. This is, partly, thanks to the participation of renowned scholars. Yet, really, the most groundbreaking thing is the involvement of the descendants. Not so long ago, it was inconceivable that relatives of the heads of state of America and the Soviet Union to appear side by side. The fact that these two individuals can do that, and be so warm with each other, has to be a symbol of progress.

"Max and I are not the first," notes Khrushcheva. "After 1991, my uncle moved to America and formed a close bond with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"However we were strangers prior to this project," clarifies Kennedy. "Which is a shame since we connected really well and we are friends, something that is really great. Finally, following almost six decades of almost destroying the planet, our families are now friends, so I think the world is more secure, a little bit."

Contemporary Echoes with Current Dangers

Or is it? One reason the reason The Bomb feels so necessary is because we now are living in a perilous era. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to catastrophe in its history, in part because world leaders appear not to be able to grasp