‘After almost annihilating our planet, the relatives have become allies’: a gripping podcast featuring JFK & Nikita Khrushchev’s descendants.

In the month of October 1962, humanity edged nearer toward destruction than at any other point during modern times. This happened following the discovery that a US reconnaissance aircraft found that Russian nuclear missile installations were being assembled in Cuba, less than 160 kilometers from the United States. Reacting to this, President JFK ordered the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to enact a naval blockade encircling Cuba. The next phase constituted almost two weeks filled with extreme tension.

The Catastrophic Threat

The threat remained obvious. Should President Kennedy, or the Russian opposite, Nikita Khrushchev, initiated an attack against the other side, a series of worldwide atomic attacks and counterstrikes might have followed, thrusting civilization into total ruination.

This pivotal 1962 event has been examined extensively, in books, films, as well as television programmes. But, in its latest installment, the audio documentary series The Bomb introduces an unprecedented perspective into this historical narrative. The series is jointly hosted featuring Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva, relatives of the leaders that, for two tense weeks, grasped the fate of humanity within their grasp.

"What were the Soviet side considering? What was the United States planning?" asks Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's descendant and an academic of international affairs.

For her, the unique appeal of the podcast lies in its attempt to explore: "Why do individuals detest each other and go against one another?"

"It was not lost on me how profound the fact that individuals have the potential to be allies or else have the potential to be complete enemies," remarks Max Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, nephew of JFK and currently a writer as well as lawyer. "We see this repeatedly when countries have gone to war, and it just illustrates how unbelievably stupid it is to engage in warfare."

The Brink Towards Disaster

What’s notable about the Cuban missile crisis is that, because it unfolded in the global spotlight, individuals around the world were able to observe nearly as it happened while it crept towards catastrophe. Even so, the danger of annihilation was more imminent than anybody realised.

"Virtually everyone in the White House were advocating for a military strike and an invasion," says Kennedy. "If we had attacked the Cubans using the Sixth Fleet, there is no question the Russians stationed there would've fired a tactical nuclear weapon at the American ships, and that would've destroyed the aircraft carriers and destroyed our largest and most important fleet. In turn, the U.S. would have retaliated with an overwhelming counterattack that would have eradicated all life on Earth."

The fact this did not occur stands as credit to Kennedy and Khrushchev, who managed to exercise restraint and calmly negotiate when hawkish elements in their governments were advocating military action. As a result, Khrushchev removed the missiles from Cuba and President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) removed American similar weapons based in NATO ally Turkey. The relief was worldwide, matched by the sense of optimism.

The Divergent Perspective

Still, during those 13 days 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 it via the USSR's education system, which presented a slightly different version of events.

"You said your father recalls it, and it was a scary time," she says. "But for Soviet citizens, the public were largely unaware a great deal about it, because it was a tense situation, and in the Soviet Union the official line was that everything was always wonderful and sunny."

Within Khrushchev’s family, though, the perspective was different. "I was informed that it was a triumphant occasion it was, as it was eyeball to eyeball. They were able to find a solution, thus avoided the war, seen as a positive outcome," she continues. In the years to come, however, that perspective was not held by everybody. "For a long time in Russian politics, it was considered a failure for the Soviet leader, simply he refrained from destroying America."

A Unlikely Partnership

This podcast is so balanced , expertly crafted 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 is the involvement of the descendants. Even within living memory, it would be unthinkable for descendants of the leaders of the United States and USSR to appear side by side. The fact that Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva can do that, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, has to be a symbol of optimism.

"Max and I aren't the first," notes Nina. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, a relative moved to America and formed a close bond with the former president's family."

"But we had never met before the podcast," clarifies Max. "That is unfortunate because we connected immediately and we are friends, which is wonderful. Ultimately, following nearly 60 years since nearly annihilating the world, our families are now friends, so I think global relations is safer, a little bit."

Modern Echoes and Current Perils

Or is it? Part of the reason The Bomb seems so urgent is because we now are living in a perilous era. The Doomsday Clock is closer to catastrophe than ever before, in part because world leaders don’t seem to have the capacity to grasp