‘After nearly destroying our world, our families have become allies’: the gripping podcast featuring JFK & Nikita Khrushchev’s descendants.

During October 1962, the world came nearer toward annihilation more so than ever during recent history. This occurred after an American surveillance aircraft found that Russian atomic weapon bases were being assembled on the island of Cuba, a mere 100 miles from the United States. Reacting to this, U.S. President John F Kennedy commanded the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to enact a naval blockade around the island. The ensuing period was almost two weeks filled with extreme anxiety.

An Unthinkable Threat

The peril remained obvious. If Kennedy, or his Russian opposite, Nikita Khrushchev, initiated an attack on their enemy, a series of global atomic strikes followed by counterstrikes might have followed, plunging civilization toward total ruination.

This pivotal 1962 event has been examined endlessly, in volumes, movies, as well as television programmes. However, in its latest installment, the BBC World Service podcast The Bomb introduces a novel perspective into the story. The series is jointly hosted featuring Kennedy's relative alongside Nina Khrushcheva, relatives of the men who, over two tense weeks, grasped the fate of the world in their hands.

"What were the Kremlin considering? What were the United States thinking?" ponders Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter and a professor of international affairs.

For her, the beauty of the show is its attempt to objectively ask: "Why do nations detest one another to the point they oppose one another?"

"It was not lost on me how spectacular it is that people can be friends or can become complete enemies," adds Max Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy, nephew of JFK and now an author as well as lawyer. "We see this dynamic repeatedly in instances where countries have gone to war, demonstrating the profound irrationality it is to engage in warfare."

The Brink of Catastrophe

What is striking about the Cuban missile crisis is that, since it transpired in the global spotlight, individuals around the world could watch almost in real time as it edged towards catastrophe. Even so, the threat of annihilation was more imminent than what most people understood at the time.

"Virtually everyone among Kennedy's advisors wanted an airstrike followed by a ground invasion," explains Kennedy. "If we had attacked Cuba with the naval blockade, it is certain Soviet forces stationed there would've launched a tactical nuclear weapon at the American ships, and that would have obliterated our aircraft carriers as well as destroyed our largest and most important naval force. In turn, we would have retaliated through massive retaliation that would have ended most life on Earth."

The reality it didn’t highlights the composure of both leaders, who managed to exercise restraint while calmly negotiate at a time when hawkish elements around them was pushing for action. Consequently, The Soviet premier removed the missiles in Cuba while Kennedy (although not reported then) withdrew American missiles based in Turkey. The sense of relief was palpable, matched by the sense of hope.

A Different Viewpoint

Yet, for those 13 days in October, the tension was felt globally. The Bomb’s co-hosts came into the world shortly after the crisis, and Nina being taught about it through the Soviet school curriculum, which portrayed an alternative version of events.

"You said your father remembers it, describing it as a scary time," Khrushcheva notes. "But in the Soviet Union, people really didn’t know that much regarding the crisis, because it was a tense situation, and in the Soviet Union the official line was that everything was constantly fine or positive."

Within the Khrushchev household, however, the perspective was different. "They told me that it was a triumphant occasion it was, as it was eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to resolve it, thus avoided the war, which was a wonderful thing," she adds. Subsequently, however, that view was not held by everybody. "For decades in Russian politics, the crisis was viewed as a setback for the Soviet leader, simply he refrained from destroying the United States."

An Unprecedented Partnership

The Bomb is remarkably even-handed and well produced that Khrushcheva jokes it almost made her forget she already knew the ending. This effect is, in part, thanks to the participation of historians. Yet, truly, the most momentous thing remains the participation of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it would be inconceivable that descendants of the leaders of America and Soviet Union would appear side by side. That these two individuals can do that, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, must be seen as a sign of hope.

"We aren't the first," smiles Nina. "After the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, my uncle moved to America and became great friends with the former president's family."

"However we were strangers before the podcast," adds Max. "Which is a shame since we got along really well and we are friends, something that is wonderful. Finally, following almost 60 years of almost destroying the planet, our families have become friends, so I think global relations is safer, a little bit."

Modern Parallels with Current Dangers

Is that truly the case? Part of the reason The Bomb seems so urgent is because we now find ourselves living through a perilous era. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to catastrophe in its history, partly since today's statesmen appear not to be able to learn