‘After nearly destroying the world, our families are friends’: a thrilling podcast from JFK & Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

In October 1962, the world came closer to destruction than at any other point in modern times. This occurred when a US surveillance aircraft found the fact that Russian atomic missile installations were under construction in the island of Cuba, a mere 100 miles from American soil. Reacting to this, President JFK ordered the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to enact a maritime blockade around Cuba. What followed constituted almost a fortnight of unbearable stress.

An Unthinkable Danger

The threat was obvious. If President Kennedy, or the Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, had fired on the other side, a series involving global nuclear strikes and counterstrikes might have ensued, casting civilization into all-out oblivion.

The Cuban missile crisis has been examined endlessly, through volumes, movies, and TV documentaries. But, for its third season, a prominent BBC World Service podcast The Bomb presents a novel perspective to the story. The series is co-presented featuring Kennedy's relative and Nina Khrushcheva, relatives belonging to the figures who, over 13 days, grasped the fate of the world in their hands.

"What was the Soviet side thinking? What were the United States thinking?" questions Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter and a professor of global relations.

For her, the strength of the show lies in its attempt to objectively ask: "Why do nations hate each other to the point they go against one another?"

"It was not lost on me how profound it is that individuals have the potential to be friends or can become total enemies," remarks Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy, related to JFK and currently an author and attorney. "We see this dynamic over and over when nations enter into conflict, highlighting the profound irrationality it is to fight."

A Precipice Towards Disaster

What is remarkable regarding this event was that, since it unfolded so publicly, people globally were able to observe nearly as it happened as it crept towards catastrophe. However, the danger of destruction was more imminent than 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. attacked Cuba using the naval blockade, there is no question the Russians stationed there would have launched a nuclear warhead against the US Sixth Fleet, which would've destroyed our aircraft carriers as well as sunk America's primary fleet. And, the U.S. would have responded with an overwhelming counterattack that would have eradicated most life on Earth."

The fact it didn’t is a testament to Kennedy and Khrushchev, who succeeded in remain calm and calmly negotiate when hawkish elements around them were advocating action. Consequently, The Soviet premier removed the nuclear weapons from the Caribbean island and Kennedy (although not reported then) withdrew his missiles based in Turkey. The sense of relief was immense, as was the sense of optimism.

The Divergent Perspective

Yet, for those 13 days in October, the fear was palpable globally. The Bomb’s presenters were born shortly after the crisis, with Nina being taught about the crisis via the USSR's school curriculum, which presented an alternative narrative of events.

"As you mentioned your parent remembers it, and it was a scary time," Khrushcheva notes. "However in the Soviet Union, the public were largely unaware that much regarding the crisis, since it was a tense situation, whereas in the Soviet Union the official line was that things are constantly wonderful or positive."

Within the Khrushchev household, however, it was distinct. "They told me that it was a triumphant moment it was, as it represented eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to find a solution, thus avoided the war, seen as a wonderful thing," she continues. Subsequently, though, that view would not be held by all Russians. "For decades in Russian politics, the crisis was viewed as a setback for Khrushchev, simply he refrained from destroying America."

A Unprecedented Partnership

This podcast is remarkably even-handed and well produced that Khrushcheva jokes it almost made her forget the known the ending. This is, partly, due to the participation of historians. Yet, truly, the most momentous aspect is the participation of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it was unthinkable for descendants of the heads of state of America and the Soviet Union would appear together publicly. That these two individuals are able to do so, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, has to be a symbol of hope.

"We are not the pioneers," notes Nina. "After 1991, a relative Sergey Khrushchev’s son and became great friends with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"But we were strangers before the podcast," adds Kennedy. "Which is a shame because we connected really well and now we’re friends, which is wonderful. Finally, following almost 60 years of almost destroying the world, our lineages are now allies, suggesting the world is safer, a little bit."

Modern Parallels with Present Perils

Or is it? One reason the reason The Bomb seems so urgent is because we once again are living living through a perilous era. The Doomsday Clock stands nearer to catastrophe than ever before, in part because world leaders appear not to be able to comprehend