‘After nearly annihilating our planet, the relatives have become allies’: a gripping podcast from JFK and Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

During the month of October 1962, the planet edged closer to ruin more so than ever during recent history. This happened when a US surveillance aircraft discovered the fact that Soviet atomic weapon installations were under construction in the island of Cuba, a mere 100 miles off the coast of the United States. In response, President John F Kennedy directed a naval task force to establish a maritime quarantine around the island. The next phase was nearly two weeks of impossible tension.

The Unthinkable Danger

The peril remained clear. If Kennedy, or his Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, initiated an attack on the other side, a cascade involving worldwide nuclear strikes and counterstrikes might have followed, plunging mankind toward total oblivion.

The Cuban missile crisis has been documented repeatedly, through books, films, and TV documentaries. But, in its latest installment, a prominent BBC World Service podcast The Bomb has brought an unprecedented perspective into the story. The series is co-presented by Max Kennedy alongside Nina Khrushcheva, relatives belonging to the figures who, over two tense weeks, held the destiny of the planet in their hands.

"What were the Kremlin considering? What was Washington planning?" ponders Nina Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s descendant and a professor specializing in global relations.

In her view, the unique appeal of the podcast is its attempt to question: "How can people detest one another and confront one another?"

"It was not lost on me how profound the fact that humans can be friends or can become total enemies," adds Max Kennedy, the son of RFK, nephew of the late president and currently a writer and attorney. "We see this repeatedly when nations enter into conflict, and it just illustrates how unbelievably stupid it is to engage in warfare."

The Brink of Catastrophe

What’s notable about this event was that, since it transpired so publicly, citizens worldwide could watch almost in real time while it moved closer to armageddon. However, the threat of annihilation came closer than what most people realised.

"The overwhelming majority among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for an airstrike followed by an invasion," says Max Kennedy. "Had the U.S. struck Cuba using the naval blockade, undoubtedly the Russians stationed there would have launched a tactical nuclear weapon at the American ships, and that would have destroyed our naval vessels as well as destroyed America's largest and most important fleet. In turn, the U.S. would have retaliated through an overwhelming counterattack which would have eradicated most life on the planet."

The reality it didn’t highlights the composure of Kennedy and Khrushchev, they succeeded in remain calm while engaging in diplomacy when hawkish elements in their governments were advocating military action. As a result, Khrushchev removed the nuclear weapons in Cuba while Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) withdrew his similar weapons based in Turkey. The sense of relief was palpable, matched by the sense of optimism.

A Divergent Perspective

Yet, for those 13 days in October, the anxiety was felt globally. The Bomb’s presenters came into the world in the years following these events, with Khrushcheva learned about the crisis via the USSR's education system, which portrayed a slightly different version of what happened.

"You said your parent remembers it, describing it as a frightening time," she says. "However in the Soviet Union, the public were largely unaware that much about it, because it was a tense situation, whereas in the Soviet Union we were told that things are constantly fine or sunny."

Inside Khrushchev’s family, though, it was distinct. "They told me that it was a triumphant occasion for the USSR, because it represented a direct confrontation. The leaders managed to find a solution, and avoided the war, seen as a wonderful thing," she adds. Subsequently, though, that interpretation was not held by everybody. "For a long time within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a setback for Khrushchev, because he refrained from destroying America."

An Unlikely Collaboration

This podcast is so even-handed and expertly crafted so much so that Khrushcheva quips it almost made her forget the known outcome. This effect is, in part, due to contributions from renowned scholars. But, truly, the most momentous thing remains the participation of the hosts themselves. Not so long ago, it would be inconceivable for relatives of the heads of state of America and the Soviet Union would appear together publicly. That Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva can do that, and be so warm with each other, has to be a sign of progress.

"We aren't the pioneers," smiles Khrushcheva. "After 1991, a relative Sergey Khrushchev’s son where he formed a close bond with the former president's family."

"But we were strangers prior to this project," clarifies Kennedy. "Which is a shame since we got along really well and we’re friends, which is really great. Ultimately, after almost 60 years of almost destroying the world, our families are now allies, so I think the world is safer, a little bit."

Contemporary Echoes with Present Dangers

Or is it? Part of the reason this series feels so necessary is because we once again are living living through dark times. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to catastrophe than ever before, partly since world leaders don’t seem to be able to learn