‘After nearly destroying the planet, our relatives have become friends’: the thrilling podcast featuring John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

During October 1962, the planet came closer to annihilation more so than ever in the contemporary era. This happened after a US surveillance plane identified that Soviet nuclear missile sites were being built in the island of Cuba, less than 100 miles from American soil. In response, U.S. President JFK ordered the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to establish a maritime quarantine around Cuba. The next phase was nearly two weeks of impossible stress.

An Unthinkable Danger

The threat was obvious. If President Kennedy, or the Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, were to fire against their enemy, a chain reaction of global nuclear strikes followed by retaliatory strikes would have ensued, plunging humanity toward all-out oblivion.

This pivotal 1962 event has been covered extensively, through books, films, as well as TV documentaries. However, for its third season, a prominent BBC World Service podcast titled "The Bomb" has brought a novel dimension into the story. The series is jointly hosted featuring Max Kennedy alongside Khrushchev's descendant, relatives of the men that, over two tense weeks, grasped the destiny of the planet in their hands.

"What were the Russians considering? What was the United States planning?" asks Nina Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's descendant and a professor specializing in global relations.

In her view, the beauty of the show is its endeavor to question: "How can individuals hate each other and confront one another?"

"It struck me how remarkable it is that people have the potential to be allies or else can become complete adversaries," remarks Max Kennedy, the son of RFK, nephew of the late president and now an author as well as lawyer. "History shows this dynamic over and over in instances where nations enter into conflict, and it just illustrates how unbelievably stupid involved to engage in warfare."

The Precipice Towards Disaster

What is notable regarding the Cuban missile crisis is that, because it transpired so publicly, people worldwide could watch nearly as it happened while it crept towards armageddon. However, the danger of annihilation came closer than what anybody realised.

"Almost all officials among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for a military strike and a ground invasion," says Max Kennedy. "If we had attacked Cuba using the Sixth Fleet, undoubtedly Soviet forces on the ground would've fired a nuclear warhead against the American ships, and that would've obliterated the aircraft carriers as well as destroyed America's largest and most important naval force. In turn, we would have retaliated with an overwhelming counterattack which would have ended all life on the planet."

The fact it didn’t highlights the composure of both leaders, who managed to remain calm and engaging in diplomacy at a time when hawkish elements in their governments demanded military action. As a result, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the nuclear weapons in Cuba while Kennedy (although not reported then) removed American missiles from NATO ally Turkey. The relief was immense, as was the sense of optimism.

The Different Perspective

Yet, during those two weeks of October 1962, the fear was felt globally. The Bomb’s presenters came into the world in the years following the crisis, with Khrushcheva being taught about the crisis via the USSR's education system, which painted an alternative picture of what happened.

"You said your father remembers it, and it was a scary time," she says. "However for Soviet citizens, people were largely unaware a great deal about it, since it was a tense situation, and in the Soviet Union the official line was that things are always fine or sunny."

Inside the Khrushchev household, however, the perspective was different. "I was informed that it was a triumphant occasion for the USSR, as it was eyeball to eyeball. They were able to resolve it, and avoided the war, which was a wonderful thing," she adds. Later on, though, that perspective was not held by all Russians. "For decades in Russian politics, the crisis was viewed as a failure for Khrushchev, simply he didn’t blow up America."

A Unlikely Collaboration

This podcast is remarkably even-handed , well produced so much so that Nina quips she nearly forgot she already knew outcome. This is, partly, due to the participation of historians. Yet, really, the most significant aspect remains the participation of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it would be inconceivable that relatives of the leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union would appear together publicly. That these two individuals can do that, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, must be seen as a sign of progress.

"Max and I aren't the first," notes Nina. "After 1991, my uncle Sergey Khrushchev’s son and became great friends with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"However we were strangers prior to this project," clarifies Kennedy. "That is a shame since we got along immediately and now we are friends, which is really great. Finally, after nearly six decades of almost destroying the world, our lineages are now allies, so I think global relations is more secure, somewhat."

Modern Parallels with Current Perils

Is that truly the case? One reason the reason this series seems so urgent is that we once again find ourselves in dark times. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to midnight than ever before, partly since world leaders appear not to be able to grasp