‘After nearly annihilating our planet, the families have become friends’: the thrilling audio series from John F. Kennedy and Khrushchev’s descendants.

In October 1962, humanity came nearer toward ruin than at any other point during the contemporary era. This happened when an American surveillance plane discovered that Russian nuclear weapon sites were being built in the island of Cuba, less than 160 kilometers off the coast of the United States. Reacting to this, U.S. President JFK commanded the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to enact a maritime blockade encircling the island. What followed constituted almost two weeks of extreme stress.

The Catastrophic Threat

The danger remained obvious. If Kennedy, or his Russian opposite, Nikita Khrushchev, had fired on the other side, a cascade of global atomic strikes and retaliatory strikes might have ensued, casting mankind toward all-out ruination.

The October crisis has been covered endlessly, in books, films, as well as TV documentaries. But, in its latest installment, a prominent BBC World Service podcast titled "The Bomb" introduces a completely new dimension to the story. The series is jointly hosted by Kennedy's relative and Nina Khrushcheva, family members belonging to the leaders that, over two tense weeks, controlled the destiny of humanity within their grasp.

"What was the Kremlin planning? What was the United States considering?" questions Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's descendant and an academic specializing in global relations.

For her, the strength of the show is its attempt to objectively ask: "How can people hate each other and oppose each other?"

"I am acutely aware how spectacular the fact that individuals have the potential to be allies or have the potential to be complete enemies," states Max Kennedy, the son of RFK, related to JFK and currently a writer and lawyer. "We see this dynamic over and over when countries have gone to war, highlighting the sheer folly involved to fight."

A Precipice Towards Disaster

What is striking regarding this event was that, since it transpired so publicly, citizens worldwide were able to observe nearly as it happened while it moved closer to disaster. Even so, the risk of destruction was more imminent than most people understood at the time.

"Virtually everyone among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for a military strike and an invasion," explains Max Kennedy. "Had the U.S. struck Cuba with the Sixth Fleet, undoubtedly Soviet forces on the ground would have deployed a nuclear warhead against the US Sixth Fleet, and that would've destroyed the aircraft carriers as well as destroyed America's largest and most important naval force. In turn, the U.S. would have retaliated through massive retaliation that would have eradicated all life on Earth."

The reality it didn’t highlights the composure of Kennedy and Khrushchev, they succeeded in keep their heads while engaging in diplomacy at a time when everyone around them demanded military action. As a result, The Soviet premier removed the nuclear weapons in the Caribbean island and President Kennedy (although not reported at the time) removed American similar weapons from Turkey. The sense of relief was worldwide, as was a feeling of optimism.

The Different Perspective

Still, for those two weeks of October 1962, the tension was palpable by everyone. The Bomb’s co-hosts came into the world in the years following these events, and Nina learned about the crisis via the Soviet education system, which painted a slightly different narrative of what happened.

"As you mentioned your parent recalls it, and it was a frightening time," Khrushcheva notes. "But in the Soviet Union, people really didn’t know that much regarding the crisis, since it was a crisis, whereas in the Soviet Union the official line was that everything was constantly fine and positive."

Within Khrushchev’s family, however, the perspective was distinct. "They told me what a great occasion for the USSR, as it was eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to resolve it, thus didn’t start a global war, which was a wonderful thing," she continues. Subsequently, however, that view would not be shared by all Russians. "For a long time in Russian politics, the crisis was viewed as a failure for Khrushchev, because he didn’t blow up the United States."

A Unprecedented Collaboration

The Bomb is so even-handed and well produced so much so that Khrushcheva quips she nearly forgot she already knew the ending. This is, partly, thanks to contributions from renowned scholars. Yet, really, the most significant aspect is the involvement of the descendants. Even within living memory, it would be inconceivable for descendants of the leaders of the United States and the USSR to appear side by side. That Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva are able to do so, and be so warm toward one another, has to be a symbol of optimism.

"Max and I are not the pioneers," notes Khrushcheva. "Following 1991, my uncle Sergey Khrushchev’s son where he became great friends with the former president's family."

"However we had never met before the podcast," adds Kennedy. "Which is a shame because we got along really well and now we are friends, something that is really great. Finally, following nearly six decades since almost destroying the planet, our lineages are now friends, suggesting the world is more secure, somewhat."

Modern Parallels with Current Dangers

Or is it? One reason the reason The Bomb seems so urgent is that we once again find ourselves living through dark times. The Doomsday Clock stands nearer to catastrophe in its history, in part because today's statesmen don’t seem to have the capacity to comprehend