Following nearly destroying our planet, our families have become friends’: a thrilling audio series from JFK & Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

During October 1962, humanity edged nearer toward ruin more so than ever during the contemporary era. This happened when an American reconnaissance aircraft found that Soviet nuclear missile sites were being assembled in the island of Cuba, less than 160 kilometers off the coast of American soil. In response, President JFK ordered a naval task force to establish a naval blockade around the island. The next phase constituted nearly 14 days of impossible stress.

The Catastrophic Threat

The peril remained palpable. If Kennedy, or else his Russian opposite, Nikita Khrushchev, were to fire on their enemy, a series of global atomic strikes followed by retaliatory strikes would have followed, plunging mankind into total oblivion.

The Cuban missile crisis has been examined repeatedly, in volumes, films, as well as TV documentaries. However, in its latest installment, a prominent BBC World Service podcast titled "The Bomb" presents a novel perspective to this historical narrative. The series is co-presented featuring Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva, relatives belonging to the leaders who, for 13 days, held the fate of the planet in their hands.

"What were the Kremlin planning? What were the United States considering?" ponders Nina Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's great-granddaughter and a professor of global relations.

For her, the beauty of the show is its endeavor to explore: "Why do individuals detest each other and confront one another?"

"I am acutely aware how remarkable the fact that humans can be allies or have the potential to be complete adversaries," adds Max Kennedy, the son of RFK, related to JFK and now a writer and lawyer. "We see this dynamic repeatedly when nations have gone to war, and it just illustrates the sheer folly involved to engage in warfare."

A Precipice of Catastrophe

What’s notable about the Cuban missile crisis is that, because it unfolded in the global spotlight, individuals worldwide were able to observe almost as it happened while it moved closer to disaster. However, the threat of destruction was more imminent than what most people understood at the time.

"Almost all officials in the White House were advocating for an airstrike and an invasion," notes Max Kennedy. "Had the U.S. struck Cuba using the naval blockade, there is no question the Russians on the ground would have launched a nuclear warhead at the American ships, and that would have sunk the naval vessels and sunk America's primary naval force. In turn, the U.S. would have retaliated through an overwhelming counterattack that would have ended all life on Earth."

The fact it didn’t highlights the composure of Kennedy and Khrushchev, they managed to exercise restraint and calmly negotiate when everyone around them demanded action. Consequently, The Soviet premier agreed to withdraw the nuclear weapons from the Caribbean island while President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) removed American missiles based in Turkey. The relief was palpable, as was a feeling of optimism.

A Divergent Viewpoint

Still, for those 13 days of October 1962, the tension was felt globally. The Bomb’s presenters came into the world shortly after the crisis, and Khrushcheva learned about the crisis through the Soviet school curriculum, which portrayed a slightly different narrative of events.

"As you mentioned your parent remembers it, describing it as a frightening day," Khrushcheva notes. "However in the Soviet Union, the public really didn’t know a great deal regarding the crisis, since it was a crisis, and under the Soviet system the official line was that things are constantly fine and positive."

Within Khrushchev’s family, however, it was different. "They told me what a great moment it was, because it was a direct confrontation. The leaders managed to resolve it, thus avoided the war, seen as a wonderful outcome," she adds. Later on, though, that perspective would not be shared by all Russians. "For decades within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a setback for Khrushchev, simply he didn’t blow up America."

A Unlikely Collaboration

The Bomb is remarkably balanced and well produced so much so that Khrushcheva jokes it almost made her forget the known the ending. This effect is, partly, thanks to the participation of renowned scholars. Yet, truly, the most significant thing remains the involvement of the hosts themselves. Not so long ago, it would be inconceivable for relatives of the heads of state of the United States and the Soviet Union to appear together publicly. That Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva are able to do so, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, has to be a symbol of progress.

"We are not the first," notes Khrushcheva. "After 1991, my uncle moved to America where he became great friends with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"But we had never met prior to this project," clarifies Max. "That is unfortunate since we got along really well and we’re friends, something that is really great. Ultimately, after almost 60 years since nearly annihilating the planet, our lineages have become allies, so I think the world is safer, somewhat."

Contemporary Echoes and Present Perils

Is that truly the case? Part of the reason The Bomb seems so urgent is because we once again find ourselves in dark times. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to catastrophe in its history, in part because world leaders don’t seem to have the capacity to learn