Following nearly annihilating the planet, our relatives are friends’: a gripping audio series from JFK & Khrushchev’s descendants.

During the month of October 1962, humanity edged nearer toward annihilation than at any other point in the contemporary era. This happened when a US reconnaissance plane discovered that Russian nuclear missile bases were under construction on Cuba, less than 100 miles off the coast of the US mainland. Reacting to this, U.S. President John F Kennedy commanded the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to enact a naval blockade encircling Cuba. The ensuing period was almost two weeks of impossible stress.

The Unthinkable Danger

The peril was palpable. If President Kennedy, or his Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, were to fire on the other side, a cascade of global atomic strikes followed by retaliatory strikes would have ensued, plunging humanity toward all-out ruination.

This pivotal 1962 event has been documented endlessly, in volumes, films, and TV documentaries. However, for its third season, the BBC World Service podcast titled "The Bomb" has brought an unprecedented dimension to this historical narrative. The series is jointly hosted featuring Max Kennedy alongside Khrushchev's descendant, family members belonging to the men who, over 13 days, grasped the fate of humanity within their grasp.

"What were the Soviet side planning? What was the American side planning?" asks Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's descendant and an academic specializing in global relations.

For her, the unique appeal of the show is its attempt to question: "Why do people hate one another and go against each other?"

"It struck me how profound it is that people have the potential to be friends or else have the potential to be total adversaries," adds Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, related to JFK and currently a writer and attorney. "We see this dynamic repeatedly when nations enter into conflict, demonstrating the profound irrationality involved to engage in warfare."

The Precipice Towards Catastrophe

What’s remarkable about the Cuban missile crisis is that, because it transpired so publicly, people around the world were able to observe nearly as it happened while it crept closer to armageddon. Even so, the danger of destruction was more imminent than what anybody realised.

"Virtually everyone among Kennedy's advisors wanted an airstrike and a ground invasion," explains Kennedy. "If we had attacked Cuba using the naval blockade, it is certain Soviet forces stationed there would have launched a nuclear warhead at the US Sixth Fleet, which would have obliterated our aircraft carriers and destroyed our primary fleet. In turn, the U.S. would have responded with an overwhelming counterattack that would have eradicated most life on the planet."

The reality it didn’t stands as credit to Kennedy and Khrushchev, who succeeded in exercise restraint and engaging in diplomacy at a time when everyone around them were advocating action. As a result, The Soviet premier agreed to withdraw the missiles in the Caribbean island and President Kennedy (although not reported then) removed his similar weapons from Turkey. The sense of relief was immense, as was the sense of hope.

The Divergent Viewpoint

Yet, for those two weeks in October, the tension was palpable globally. The podcast's co-hosts came into the world shortly after the crisis, with Nina learned about the crisis via the Soviet school curriculum, which presented a slightly different narrative of events.

"You said your father recalls it, describing it as a scary day," she says. "However for Soviet citizens, people really didn’t know that much regarding the crisis, because it was a tense situation, whereas in the Soviet Union the official line was that everything was always fine or sunny."

Within the Khrushchev household, though, the perspective was different. "They told me what a great moment it was, as it represented a direct confrontation. They were able to resolve it, thus didn’t start the war, seen as a positive thing," she continues. Subsequently, though, that interpretation was not held by everybody. "For decades within Russian historical analysis, it was considered a setback for Khrushchev, simply he didn’t blow up America."

An Unprecedented Collaboration

The Bomb is so balanced and expertly crafted so much so that Nina quips it almost made her forget she already knew the ending. This is, partly, thanks to contributions from historians. But, really, the most momentous thing remains the participation of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it would be inconceivable for descendants of the leaders of the United States and Soviet Union would appear side by side. That these two individuals can do that, and be so warm with each other, has to be a symbol of progress.

"We aren't the first," notes Nina. "After 1991, a relative Sergey Khrushchev’s son where he formed a close bond with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"But we had never met before the podcast," clarifies Max. "Which is a shame since we connected immediately and we are friends, something that is wonderful. Ultimately, following almost six decades since nearly annihilating the planet, our families are now friends, so I think the world is more secure, somewhat."

Contemporary Parallels with Present Perils

Is that truly the case? Part of why this series seems so urgent is because we now find ourselves in a perilous era. The Doomsday Clock stands nearer to midnight than ever before, in part because world leaders appear not to be able to learn