‘After nearly destroying our planet, our relatives are allies’: a gripping podcast featuring JFK & Khrushchev’s descendants.

In October 1962, humanity veered closer toward destruction more so than ever during recent history. This happened when an American surveillance aircraft found the fact that Russian atomic missile installations were under construction on the island of Cuba, a mere 100 miles off the coast of the US mainland. In response, President JFK ordered a naval task force to establish a naval blockade encircling the island. What followed was nearly 14 days of extreme anxiety.

The Catastrophic Threat

The threat remained obvious. If President Kennedy, or the Russian opposite, Nikita Khrushchev, initiated an attack on their enemy, a chain reaction of worldwide atomic strikes followed by counterstrikes might have followed, plunging civilization toward total destruction.

The October crisis has been covered repeatedly, in volumes, movies, and television programmes. But, for its third season, a prominent audio documentary series The Bomb has brought a completely new element into the story. The series is co-presented featuring Kennedy's relative alongside Khrushchev's descendant, relatives of the men that, for two tense weeks, held the destiny of the world in their hands.

"What were the Russians planning? What were Washington planning?" asks Nina Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's descendant and a professor of international affairs.

For her, the strength of the podcast is its endeavor to question: "How can individuals detest one another and oppose one another?"

"It struck me how remarkable the fact that individuals have the potential to be friends or have the potential to be complete adversaries," adds Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy, related to the late president and now a writer as well as attorney. "History shows this over and over in instances where nations have gone to war, highlighting the profound irrationality it is to engage in warfare."

The Brink of Catastrophe

What is remarkable about this event was that, because it transpired in the global spotlight, people around the world were able to observe almost in real time as it moved towards catastrophe. Even so, the threat of annihilation was more imminent than most people realised.

"The overwhelming majority in the White House were advocating for an airstrike and an invasion," notes Kennedy. "If we had attacked the Cubans using the Sixth Fleet, undoubtedly Soviet forces on the ground would have fired a tactical nuclear weapon against the American ships, and that would've sunk our aircraft carriers as well as destroyed our primary naval force. And, we would have responded with an overwhelming counterattack which would have ended all life on Earth."

The reality it didn’t is a testament to both leaders, who succeeded in exercise restraint while engaging in diplomacy when hawkish elements around them was pushing for military action. As a result, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the missiles from the Caribbean island while President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) removed American missiles from Turkey. The relief was immense, matched by a feeling of hope.

The Divergent Viewpoint

Yet, for those two weeks of October 1962, the fear was felt globally. The Bomb’s co-hosts came into the world shortly after the crisis, and Khrushcheva learned about it via the USSR's education system, which presented a slightly different picture of what happened.

"You said your parent remembers it, and it was a frightening time," she says. "But in the Soviet Union, the public really didn’t know that much about it, since it was a crisis, whereas under the Soviet system the official line was that everything was always fine and positive."

Within the Khrushchev household, though, the perspective was different. "They told me that it was a triumphant occasion it was, as it represented a direct confrontation. The leaders managed to find a solution, thus didn’t start the war, seen as a wonderful thing," she adds. In the years to come, however, that interpretation would not be shared by all Russians. "For a long time in Russian politics, the crisis was viewed as a failure for Khrushchev, because he didn’t blow up the United States."

An Unlikely Collaboration

The Bomb is so balanced and well produced so much so that Khrushcheva jokes it almost made her forget she already knew outcome. This effect is, in part, thanks to contributions from renowned scholars. But, really, the most groundbreaking thing remains the involvement of the descendants. Even within living memory, it would be unthinkable that descendants of the leaders of America and USSR would appear side by side. That these two individuals can do that, and exhibit such warmth with each other, must be seen as a sign of hope.

"We aren't the first," smiles Nina. "Following 1991, my uncle moved to America and formed a close bond with the former president's family."

"However we had never met before the podcast," adds Max. "That is unfortunate since we connected immediately and we’re friends, which is wonderful. Ultimately, after almost 60 years since almost destroying the planet, our lineages are now friends, suggesting global relations is safer, somewhat."

Contemporary Echoes and Current Dangers

Is that truly the case? Part of the reason this series seems so urgent is because we now find ourselves in dark times. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to catastrophe than ever before, in part because today's statesmen appear not to be able to learn