‘After nearly annihilating the world, the relatives are friends’: the gripping podcast featuring John F. Kennedy & Khrushchev’s relatives.

During October 1962, humanity edged nearer to destruction than at any other point in the contemporary era. This happened following the discovery that a US surveillance aircraft found that Soviet atomic missile installations were under construction on the island of Cuba, less than 100 miles from the United States. Reacting to this, U.S. President John F Kennedy ordered the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to enact a maritime quarantine encircling the island. What followed constituted nearly 14 days of extreme stress.

The Catastrophic Danger

The peril was clear. If Kennedy, or the Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, initiated an attack against their enemy, a chain reaction involving worldwide atomic strikes and retaliatory strikes might have followed, casting civilization toward all-out destruction.

The Cuban missile crisis has been documented repeatedly, through volumes, movies, as well as TV documentaries. But, for its third season, the BBC World Service podcast The Bomb presents a completely new element to this historical narrative. The series is co-presented featuring Kennedy's relative and Nina Khrushcheva, relatives of the men that, over two tense weeks, grasped the destiny of the planet in their hands.

"What were the Kremlin considering? What were the United States thinking?" asks Nina Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's descendant who is also a professor specializing in international affairs.

For her, the strength of the show lies in its attempt to explore: "Why do nations detest each other and go against each other?"

"It struck me how spectacular the fact that humans have the potential to be friends or can become complete adversaries," remarks Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy, nephew of JFK and now a writer as well as lawyer. "We see this over and over when countries have gone to war, and it just illustrates how unbelievably stupid it is to engage in warfare."

The Brink of Catastrophe

What is remarkable about the Cuban missile crisis was that, since it unfolded in the global spotlight, people worldwide were able to observe nearly in real time as it crept closer to catastrophe. Even so, the risk of annihilation was more imminent than most people understood at the time.

"Virtually everyone among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for an airstrike followed by an invasion," notes Kennedy. "If we had attacked the Cubans using the Sixth Fleet, it is certain Soviet forces stationed there would've deployed a tactical nuclear weapon at the US Sixth Fleet, and that would've destroyed our naval vessels as well as destroyed America's largest and most important fleet. And, the U.S. would have retaliated through massive retaliation that would have ended all life on Earth."

The reality it didn’t highlights the composure of Kennedy and Khrushchev, who succeeded in keep their heads while engaging in diplomacy when everyone in their governments was pushing for military action. Consequently, The Soviet premier agreed to withdraw the nuclear weapons in the Caribbean island while Kennedy (although not reported then) removed American missiles from Turkey. The sense of relief was palpable, matched by a feeling of hope.

A Different Viewpoint

Yet, for those 13 days of October 1962, the fear was felt by everyone. The podcast's co-hosts came into the world in the years following the crisis, and Khrushcheva learned about the crisis through the Soviet school curriculum, which portrayed a slightly different version of what happened.

"You said your parent recalls it, and it was a frightening time," she says. "However for Soviet citizens, people were largely unaware a great deal about it, because it was a tense situation, and under the Soviet system the official line was that everything was constantly fine or positive."

Within Khrushchev’s family, though, the perspective was distinct. "I was informed what a great occasion it was, as it represented eyeball to eyeball. They were able to resolve it, thus avoided a global war, which was a positive outcome," she continues. Later on, however, that interpretation was not held by everybody. "For a long time in Russian politics, it was considered a failure for the Soviet leader, because he refrained from destroying the United States."

An Unlikely Partnership

The Bomb is so balanced and well produced that Nina jokes she nearly forgot the known outcome. This is, partly, due to contributions from historians. Yet, truly, the most groundbreaking aspect remains the participation of the descendants. Even within living memory, it would be unthinkable for relatives of the heads of state of the United States and USSR to appear side by side. That these two individuals can do that, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, must be seen as a sign of optimism.

"Max and I are not the pioneers," smiles Nina. "Following 1991, my uncle Sergey Khrushchev’s son and formed a close bond with the former president's family."

"However we were strangers before the podcast," clarifies Max. "That is a shame since we connected immediately and we are friends, which is wonderful. Finally, following nearly six decades of almost destroying the planet, our families are now allies, suggesting global relations is more secure, somewhat."

Contemporary Echoes and Current Perils

Is that truly the case? One reason the reason this series seems so urgent is because we now find ourselves in dark times. The Doomsday Clock is closer to midnight than ever before, in part because today's statesmen appear not to be able to learn