‘After nearly annihilating the world, our families have become allies’: the thrilling audio series featuring JFK & Nikita Khrushchev’s descendants.

In the month of October 1962, the planet edged nearer toward ruin than at any other point in the contemporary era. This occurred after a US surveillance aircraft found the fact that Soviet atomic weapon installations were being assembled on Cuba, a mere 160 kilometers off the coast of the US mainland. Reacting to this, U.S. President John F Kennedy ordered the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to enact a naval quarantine encircling the island. The next phase was nearly 14 days of extreme anxiety.

The Unthinkable Danger

The peril remained clear. Should President Kennedy, or his Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, had fired on the other side, a cascade involving worldwide nuclear strikes and counterstrikes might have ensued, casting civilization into all-out destruction.

This pivotal 1962 event has been covered repeatedly, in volumes, movies, as well as TV documentaries. However, for its third season, a prominent BBC World Service podcast The Bomb introduces a completely new element into this historical narrative. The series is jointly hosted by Kennedy's relative and Khrushchev's descendant, family members belonging to the leaders who, over two tense weeks, held the fate of the planet in their hands.

"What was the Kremlin considering? What was the United States thinking?" ponders Nina Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter and an academic of global relations.

For her, the beauty of the podcast lies in its endeavor to explore: "Why do people hate one another and oppose each other?"

"It was not lost on me how spectacular it is that humans have the potential to be allies or have the potential to be total enemies," remarks Max Kennedy, the son of RFK, related to the late president and now a writer as well as attorney. "History shows this repeatedly when nations have gone to war, and it just illustrates how unbelievably stupid it is to fight."

A Brink of Catastrophe

What is striking regarding this event was that, since it transpired in the global spotlight, citizens worldwide were able to observe nearly as it happened while it moved towards disaster. Even so, the threat of annihilation was more imminent than what anybody understood at the time.

"Virtually everyone in the White House were advocating for an airstrike followed by a ground invasion," notes Kennedy. "Had the U.S. struck Cuba using the naval blockade, there is no question Soviet forces stationed there would have fired a tactical nuclear weapon against the American ships, which would've sunk our naval vessels and sunk America's primary fleet. And, the U.S. would have retaliated through an overwhelming counterattack which would have ended most life on Earth."

The reality this did not occur is a testament to both leaders, they succeeded in keep their heads and engaging in diplomacy when everyone around them were advocating military action. Consequently, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the missiles from Cuba while President Kennedy (although not reported at the time) withdrew his similar weapons from Turkey. The sense of relief was palpable, matched by the sense of optimism.

A Divergent Viewpoint

Yet, for those 13 days in October, the fear was felt by everyone. The podcast's presenters came into the world shortly after the crisis, and Nina being taught about the crisis via the USSR's school curriculum, which portrayed an alternative narrative of what happened.

"As you mentioned your parent remembers it, and it was a frightening day," she says. "However for Soviet citizens, the public really didn’t know that much regarding the crisis, because it was a crisis, and in the Soviet Union the official line was that everything was constantly wonderful and sunny."

Inside Khrushchev’s family, though, it was different. "They told me that it was a triumphant occasion it was, because it was a direct confrontation. They were able to find a solution, and avoided a global war, seen as a positive outcome," she continues. Subsequently, though, that perspective was not held by all Russians. "For decades in Russian politics, it was considered a failure for the Soviet leader, because he didn’t blow up the United States."

An Unprecedented Collaboration

This podcast is remarkably balanced , well produced that Khrushcheva jokes she nearly forgot the known the ending. This is, partly, thanks to contributions from renowned scholars. But, truly, the most groundbreaking aspect remains the involvement of the hosts themselves. Not so long ago, it would be inconceivable for descendants of the leaders of the United States and Soviet Union would appear together publicly. The fact that these two individuals are able to do so, and be so warm with each other, must be seen as a sign of hope.

"We aren't the pioneers," notes Nina. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, my uncle Sergey Khrushchev’s son and formed a close bond with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"However we had never met before the podcast," adds Max. "Which is unfortunate since we connected really well and we’re friends, which is really great. Finally, after almost six decades since nearly annihilating the world, our lineages are now allies, suggesting global relations is safer, a little bit."

Modern Parallels with Current Dangers

Or is it? Part of the reason The Bomb seems so urgent is because we once again find ourselves in dark times. The Doomsday Clock stands nearer to catastrophe than ever before, partly since world leaders don’t seem to have the capacity to grasp