‘After almost annihilating the planet, our relatives have become friends’: the thrilling audio series from John F. Kennedy & Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

In October 1962, the planet came closer to destruction more so than ever during the contemporary era. This transpired following the discovery that an American surveillance plane found that Russian nuclear weapon installations were being built on the island of Cuba, a mere 160 kilometers off the coast of the US mainland. In response, President JFK ordered a naval task force to enact a maritime quarantine encircling the island. What followed constituted almost a fortnight filled with unbearable tension.

The Catastrophic Danger

The peril was clear. Should Kennedy, or the Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, were to fire against the other side, a chain reaction involving global nuclear strikes and counterstrikes would have followed, thrusting civilization into total destruction.

This pivotal 1962 event has been documented repeatedly, through books, movies, and TV documentaries. However, in its latest installment, the BBC World Service podcast titled "The Bomb" introduces an unprecedented element into this historical narrative. The series is jointly hosted featuring Max Kennedy alongside Nina Khrushcheva, relatives belonging to the leaders that, for 13 days, controlled the fate of the world within their grasp.

"What was the Russians considering? What was the United States considering?" ponders Nina Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter and a professor specializing in international affairs.

For her, the beauty of the podcast is its attempt to question: "How can people detest each other and confront one another?"

"It was not lost on me how spectacular the fact that people have the potential to be allies or can become total adversaries," remarks Max Kennedy, son of RFK, nephew of JFK and currently a writer as well as attorney. "History shows this dynamic over and over in instances where nations have gone to war, and it just illustrates how unbelievably stupid involved to fight."

A Precipice of Disaster

What is striking regarding the Cuban missile crisis is that, because it unfolded in the global spotlight, citizens globally were able to observe almost in real time as it crept closer to disaster. Nonetheless, the threat of annihilation came closer than anybody realised.

"The overwhelming majority among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for an airstrike and a ground invasion," notes Max Kennedy. "If we had struck Cuba with the Sixth Fleet, undoubtedly Soviet forces on the ground would've deployed a tactical nuclear weapon against the US Sixth Fleet, which would've destroyed the naval vessels as well as sunk America's primary fleet. In turn, the U.S. would have retaliated through an overwhelming counterattack which would have ended most life on Earth."

The fact it didn’t stands as credit to Kennedy and Khrushchev, they succeeded in remain calm and engaging in diplomacy when many advisors around them was pushing for action. As a result, The Soviet premier removed the missiles from the Caribbean island while Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) withdrew American missiles based in Turkey. The sense of relief was worldwide, matched by a feeling of optimism.

A Divergent Viewpoint

Still, for those two weeks in October, the tension was felt by everyone. The Bomb’s co-hosts were born in the years following the crisis, and Nina learned about the crisis through the USSR's school curriculum, which painted a slightly different picture of events.

"You said your parent remembers it, describing it as a frightening day," she says. "But for Soviet citizens, the public were largely unaware that much regarding the crisis, since it was a crisis, and under the Soviet system we were told that things are constantly fine or positive."

Within Khrushchev’s family, though, it was different. "They told me that it was a triumphant moment it was, because it was eyeball to eyeball. They were able to resolve it, and didn’t start the war, which was a positive outcome," she continues. In the years to come, however, that perspective was not held by all Russians. "For a long time in Russian politics, the crisis was viewed as a failure for Khrushchev, simply he didn’t blow up the United States."

An Unprecedented Collaboration

This podcast is so even-handed and well produced so much so that Nina jokes it almost made her forget the known outcome. This effect is, partly, due to contributions from renowned scholars. But, truly, the most momentous thing remains the participation of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it would be unthinkable for descendants of the heads of state of the United States and USSR would appear side by side. The fact that these two individuals are able to do so, and exhibit such warmth with each other, must be seen as a symbol of optimism.

"Max and I aren't the first," notes Khrushcheva. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, my uncle Sergey Khrushchev’s son where he formed a close bond with the former president's family."

"But we were strangers prior to this project," adds Max. "Which is a shame because we got along really well and now we’re friends, something that is really great. Ultimately, following almost six decades since almost destroying the world, our families have become friends, so I think the world is more secure, a little bit."

Contemporary 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 dark times. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to catastrophe than ever before, in part because world leaders don’t seem to have the capacity to comprehend