‘After nearly annihilating our world, the families are friends’: a gripping podcast featuring JFK and Khrushchev’s relatives.

In the month of October 1962, the world edged nearer to annihilation more so than ever during recent history. This transpired following the discovery that a US surveillance aircraft identified the fact that Russian atomic weapon bases were under construction on Cuba, a mere 160 kilometers off the coast of American soil. In response, U.S. President John F Kennedy ordered the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to impose a maritime quarantine encircling the island. The ensuing period was nearly a fortnight filled with unbearable stress.

The Unthinkable Danger

The peril remained obvious. Should Kennedy, or else his Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, were to fire against the other side, a chain reaction of worldwide nuclear attacks and retaliatory strikes could have followed, thrusting mankind toward all-out oblivion.

The October crisis has been documented endlessly, in volumes, movies, as well as television programmes. But, in its latest installment, a prominent audio documentary series titled "The Bomb" presents a completely new perspective to the story. The series is jointly hosted by Max Kennedy alongside Khrushchev's descendant, family members belonging to the men that, for two tense weeks, held the destiny of humanity in their hands.

"What were the Kremlin planning? What were Washington thinking?" asks Nina Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter and an academic specializing in global relations.

For her, the unique appeal of the podcast is its attempt to explore: "How can individuals detest each other and go against one another?"

"It struck me how remarkable the fact that humans can be friends or else can become complete adversaries," adds Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, related to JFK and currently a writer and lawyer. "History shows this repeatedly when countries enter into conflict, highlighting the profound irrationality involved to fight."

The Brink Towards Disaster

What’s striking regarding the Cuban missile crisis was that, because it unfolded so publicly, citizens around the world were able to observe nearly in real time while it moved closer to catastrophe. Even so, the danger of destruction came closer than most people understood at the time.

"Almost all officials among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for a military strike followed by an invasion," says Kennedy. "Had the U.S. attacked Cuba using the Sixth Fleet, it is certain the Russians on the ground would have launched a nuclear warhead at the US Sixth Fleet, and that would have sunk our aircraft carriers and sunk our largest and most important naval force. And, we would have retaliated through an overwhelming counterattack which would have ended most life on Earth."

The reality this did not occur stands as credit to both leaders, who succeeded in remain calm while calmly negotiate when many advisors around them was pushing for military action. As a result, The Soviet premier removed the missiles in Cuba and Kennedy (although not reported then) removed American missiles based in Turkey. The relief was palpable, matched by the sense of hope.

A Divergent Viewpoint

Still, for those 13 days in October, the fear was palpable by everyone. The Bomb’s presenters came into the world shortly after these events, with Khrushcheva being taught about the crisis via the Soviet education system, which painted a slightly different picture of events.

"You said your parent remembers it, and it was a scary time," she says. "However in the Soviet Union, the public really didn’t know a great deal regarding the crisis, because it was a tense situation, whereas under the Soviet system the official line was that things are always fine and sunny."

Inside the Khrushchev household, however, the perspective was distinct. "They told me what a great occasion it was, as it was eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to resolve it, thus avoided the war, which was a wonderful thing," she continues. Later on, however, that perspective would not be held by everybody. "For decades in Russian politics, it was considered a defeat for Khrushchev, because he refrained from destroying the United States."

A Unlikely Partnership

The Bomb is so balanced and expertly crafted that Khrushcheva jokes she nearly forgot the known the ending. This effect is, partly, due to contributions from historians. Yet, really, the most momentous thing remains the participation of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it would be unthinkable that relatives of the leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union would appear together publicly. The fact that Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva are able to do so, and exhibit such warmth with each other, has to be a sign of progress.

"We aren't the first," notes Nina. "After the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, a relative Sergey Khrushchev’s son where he became great friends with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"However we were strangers prior to this project," adds Kennedy. "Which is unfortunate because we connected immediately and now we’re friends, which is really great. Ultimately, following nearly six decades of almost destroying the planet, our lineages are now friends, suggesting global relations is more secure, a little bit."

Contemporary Parallels and Present Perils

Or is it? One reason the reason The Bomb feels so necessary is that we once again are living in dark times. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to midnight than ever before, in part because today's statesmen appear not to have the capacity to grasp