‘After nearly destroying our planet, the families have become allies’: the thrilling podcast featuring JFK & Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

In the month of October 1962, the world edged nearer toward ruin than at any other point during modern times. This occurred after an American reconnaissance plane discovered the fact that Soviet nuclear weapon sites were being assembled in the island of Cuba, less than 100 miles from American soil. In response, President John F Kennedy directed a naval task force to enact a maritime blockade encircling Cuba. What followed constituted nearly a fortnight filled with impossible stress.

The Catastrophic Threat

The danger remained clear. If Kennedy, or else his Soviet counterpart, Premier Khrushchev, initiated an attack against the other side, a chain reaction of global nuclear strikes and retaliatory strikes would have ensued, plunging civilization toward all-out destruction.

This pivotal 1962 event has been covered endlessly, through books, films, as well as television programmes. But, for its third season, the BBC World Service podcast titled "The Bomb" introduces a novel perspective to the story. It is co-presented featuring Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva, relatives of the men that, for two tense weeks, grasped the destiny of humanity in their hands.

"What were the Russians planning? What were the American side considering?" questions Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's great-granddaughter and a professor specializing in global relations.

In her view, the beauty of the show is its endeavor to explore: "Why do people detest one another and oppose one another?"

"It struck me how remarkable it is that individuals can be friends or can become total enemies," adds Max Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, nephew of JFK and now a writer and attorney. "We see this dynamic repeatedly when nations have gone to war, demonstrating the profound irrationality it is to fight."

A Brink of Catastrophe

What is notable about the Cuban missile crisis is that, since it transpired so publicly, individuals globally were able to observe nearly in real time while it crept closer to catastrophe. However, the risk of destruction came closer than what anybody understood at the time.

"Virtually everyone in the White House wanted an airstrike and a ground invasion," notes Kennedy. "If we had attacked the Cubans using the Sixth Fleet, it is certain the Russians on the ground would've fired a nuclear warhead against the American ships, which would have sunk our aircraft carriers as well as sunk our largest and most important fleet. In turn, we would have retaliated through massive retaliation which would have ended all life on the planet."

The reality it didn’t highlights the composure of both leaders, who succeeded in keep their heads and calmly negotiate at a time when many advisors in their governments was pushing for military action. Consequently, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the missiles from Cuba while President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) withdrew his missiles based in NATO ally Turkey. The relief was worldwide, as was the sense of hope.

A Different Viewpoint

Still, for those two weeks of October 1962, the tension was felt by everyone. The Bomb’s co-hosts were born in the years following these events, with Nina being taught about it through the Soviet education system, which presented a slightly different narrative of events.

"As you mentioned your father remembers it, and it was a scary day," she says. "But for Soviet citizens, the public really didn’t know that much regarding the crisis, because it was a crisis, whereas in the Soviet Union the official line was that everything was constantly wonderful or positive."

Within Khrushchev’s family, though, it was different. "They told me what a great occasion it was, as it represented eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to resolve it, and avoided a global war, seen as a wonderful outcome," she adds. In the years to come, however, that perspective would not be held by all Russians. "For a long time within Russian historical analysis, it was considered a failure for Khrushchev, because he didn’t blow up America."

An Unprecedented Partnership

This podcast is so even-handed , well produced so much so that Khrushcheva jokes she nearly forgot the known outcome. This is, in part, due to the participation of renowned scholars. Yet, really, the most momentous thing remains the involvement of the descendants. Even within living memory, it was unthinkable that relatives of the heads of state of America and Soviet Union would appear side by side. That these two individuals are able to do so, and exhibit such warmth with each other, has to be a symbol of progress.

"Max and I are not the first," notes Khrushcheva. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, my uncle moved to America and became great friends with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"But we had never met before the podcast," clarifies Max. "Which is unfortunate because we got along really well and now we are friends, which is wonderful. Finally, following almost six decades of almost destroying the world, our lineages are now allies, so I think the world is safer, a little bit."

Contemporary Parallels and Current Dangers

Or is it? One reason the reason this series seems so urgent is because we once again are living living through dark times. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to midnight than ever before, in part because world leaders don’t seem to have the capacity to comprehend