‘After almost destroying the world, the families are allies’: the thrilling podcast from John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

In the month of October 1962, the world came nearer to ruin more so than ever during the contemporary era. This transpired after a US surveillance aircraft discovered the fact that Soviet atomic weapon installations were being built in the island of Cuba, less than 100 miles off the coast of the US mainland. Reacting to this, U.S. President JFK commanded the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to impose a maritime quarantine encircling the island. The next phase was nearly two weeks of extreme stress.

An Unthinkable Danger

The danger was obvious. Should Kennedy, or his Russian opposite, Nikita Khrushchev, had fired on the other side, a cascade involving global atomic strikes followed by retaliatory strikes might have ensued, thrusting civilization toward total destruction.

The Cuban missile crisis has been examined extensively, through books, movies, as well as TV documentaries. But, in its latest installment, a prominent audio documentary series titled "The Bomb" introduces a completely new dimension into this historical narrative. The series is jointly hosted by Kennedy's relative alongside Khrushchev's descendant, relatives belonging to the men who, for 13 days, held the destiny of humanity in their hands.

"What was the Kremlin thinking? What were Washington planning?" asks Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's descendant and an academic specializing in international affairs.

In her view, the beauty of the podcast is its attempt to objectively ask: "How can nations hate each other and go against each other?"

"I am acutely aware how profound the fact that humans can be friends or else can become complete enemies," states Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy, related to the late president and now an author as well as attorney. "History shows this over and over in instances where nations have gone to war, demonstrating the sheer folly involved to engage in warfare."

The Precipice Towards Catastrophe

What’s notable about this event is that, since it unfolded so publicly, people around the world were able to observe almost as it happened as it moved towards armageddon. Even so, the threat of annihilation was more imminent than what most people understood at the time.

"Almost all officials among Kennedy's advisors wanted a military strike followed by a ground invasion," notes Max Kennedy. "If we had attacked Cuba with the naval blockade, it is certain Soviet forces on the ground would've fired a nuclear warhead against the US Sixth Fleet, and that would have obliterated our aircraft carriers as well as sunk America's primary naval force. And, the U.S. would have responded with massive retaliation that would have eradicated all life on the planet."

The fact this did not occur stands as credit to both leaders, they succeeded in keep their heads while engaging in diplomacy when many advisors around them demanded military action. Consequently, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the missiles from the Caribbean island while President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) removed his similar weapons from Turkey. The relief was palpable, as was the sense of optimism.

The Different Perspective

Yet, for those 13 days of October 1962, the anxiety was palpable by everyone. The podcast's presenters were born in the years following the crisis, and Nina being taught about it via the Soviet school curriculum, which portrayed a slightly different narrative of what happened.

"As you mentioned your father remembers it, and it was a scary time," she says. "However for Soviet citizens, the public were largely unaware a great deal regarding the crisis, because it was a tense situation, whereas in the Soviet Union the official line was that everything was always fine and sunny."

Inside the Khrushchev household, though, the perspective was different. "I was informed that it was a triumphant occasion for the USSR, as it represented a direct confrontation. The leaders managed to find a solution, thus didn’t start a global war, which was a positive outcome," she adds. In the years to come, though, that interpretation was not shared by everybody. "For decades within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a defeat for Khrushchev, because he refrained from destroying America."

An Unlikely Partnership

The Bomb is so even-handed and well produced that Nina quips it almost made her forget she already knew outcome. This is, partly, thanks to the participation of historians. Yet, truly, the most groundbreaking aspect remains the involvement of the descendants. Even within living memory, it would be unthinkable for relatives of the leaders of the United States and Soviet Union to appear together publicly. That Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva can do that, and be so warm with each other, has to be a symbol of optimism.

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

"But we had never met before the podcast," clarifies Kennedy. "Which is a shame since we connected immediately and now we’re friends, something that is wonderful. Ultimately, after almost 60 years of nearly annihilating the world, our families are now friends, suggesting the world is safer, somewhat."

Contemporary Echoes and Current Perils

Or is it? One reason the reason this series feels so necessary is because we now are living living through a perilous era. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to midnight in its history, in part because today's statesmen don’t seem to be able to learn