Following almost annihilating our world, our families have become friends’: a gripping podcast featuring John F. Kennedy & Khrushchev’s descendants.

During October 1962, humanity came nearer toward annihilation than at any other point in recent history. This occurred when a US reconnaissance plane identified that Soviet nuclear missile installations were being assembled in Cuba, less than 160 kilometers off the coast of the United States. In response, President John F Kennedy directed the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to enact a maritime blockade encircling the island. The ensuing period constituted nearly a fortnight filled with impossible tension.

An Catastrophic Threat

The danger remained obvious. Should President Kennedy, or the Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, initiated an attack against the other side, a chain reaction involving worldwide atomic attacks followed by retaliatory strikes could have ensued, plunging humanity into all-out ruination.

The October crisis has been examined extensively, in volumes, films, as well as television programmes. However, for its third season, the audio documentary series The Bomb introduces a novel dimension to the story. The series is jointly hosted featuring Kennedy's relative alongside Nina Khrushcheva, relatives belonging to the figures that, over two tense weeks, controlled the fate of humanity in their hands.

"What was the Soviet side planning? What was Washington considering?" questions Nina Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's descendant who is also an academic of global relations.

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

"It struck me how remarkable it is that people have the potential to be allies or else have the potential to be total enemies," states Max Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy, related to the late president and now a writer as well as lawyer. "We see this dynamic repeatedly in instances where nations have gone to war, highlighting the sheer folly it is to engage in warfare."

A Brink of Catastrophe

What is remarkable about the Cuban missile crisis is that, because it transpired in the global spotlight, citizens worldwide could watch nearly in real time as it moved towards disaster. Nonetheless, the threat of annihilation came closer than anybody realised.

"Almost all officials among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for a military strike followed by an invasion," says Kennedy. "If we had attacked Cuba with the Sixth Fleet, there is no question the Russians on the ground would've deployed a tactical nuclear weapon against the US Sixth Fleet, and that would've destroyed the naval vessels as well as sunk America's largest and most important naval force. In turn, we would have retaliated through an overwhelming counterattack which would have ended all life on Earth."

The fact this did not occur is a testament to both leaders, who managed to exercise restraint while calmly negotiate when everyone in their governments demanded action. As a result, Khrushchev removed the nuclear weapons from Cuba while Kennedy (although not reported at the time) removed American missiles based in NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was worldwide, as was a feeling of hope.

A Divergent Perspective

Still, for those two weeks in October, the anxiety was palpable by everyone. The Bomb’s co-hosts came into the world in the years following these events, and Nina being taught about the crisis through the Soviet education system, which portrayed a slightly different version of events.

"As you mentioned your father recalls it, and it was a frightening time," Khrushcheva notes. "But in the Soviet Union, the public were largely unaware that much about it, because it was a tense situation, and in the Soviet Union we were told that things are always fine or positive."

Inside the Khrushchev household, though, the perspective was different. "They told me that it was a triumphant occasion it was, as it was eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to find a solution, and avoided the war, which was a positive thing," she continues. In the years to come, though, that perspective was not held by everybody. "For a long time within Russian historical analysis, it was considered a defeat for the Soviet leader, simply he refrained from destroying America."

An Unlikely Partnership

This podcast is remarkably even-handed , well produced that Khrushcheva quips it almost made her forget the known outcome. This effect is, in part, due to the participation of historians. But, really, the most groundbreaking thing remains the participation of the hosts themselves. Not so long ago, it would be unthinkable that descendants of the heads of state of the United States and the USSR would appear side by side. That Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva are able to do so, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, has to be a symbol of hope.

"We aren't the pioneers," notes Khrushcheva. "After the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, my uncle Sergey Khrushchev’s son and became great friends with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"But we had never met prior to this project," adds Kennedy. "Which is unfortunate since we got along immediately and we’re friends, something that is really great. Ultimately, after almost 60 years of nearly annihilating the world, our lineages have become allies, suggesting global relations is more secure, somewhat."

Contemporary Echoes with Present Perils

Is that truly the case? One reason the reason The Bomb feels so necessary is that we now find ourselves living through a perilous era. The Doomsday Clock is closer to midnight in its history, in part because world leaders appear not to have the capacity to learn