Following nearly destroying our planet, our families are friends’: a thrilling audio series featuring JFK and Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

During October 1962, the planet veered nearer to ruin more so than ever during the contemporary era. This happened when an American reconnaissance aircraft found that Russian atomic weapon bases were being built in the island of Cuba, less than 100 miles from the US mainland. Reacting to this, U.S. President JFK directed the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to impose a naval quarantine around the island. What followed constituted nearly 14 days filled with impossible anxiety.

The Catastrophic Danger

The danger remained clear. If President Kennedy, or his Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, had fired on the other side, a cascade involving worldwide nuclear strikes and counterstrikes would have ensued, thrusting mankind toward all-out oblivion.

The October crisis has been documented repeatedly, in books, movies, as well as television programmes. However, for its third season, a prominent BBC World Service podcast titled "The Bomb" introduces an unprecedented element to the story. It is co-presented by Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva, relatives of the figures that, over 13 days, held the destiny of the world in their hands.

"What were the Soviet side thinking? What were Washington considering?" ponders Nina Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s descendant who is also an academic specializing in global relations.

For her, the unique appeal of the podcast is its endeavor to objectively ask: "How can nations hate each other and oppose each other?"

"It struck me how remarkable the fact that people can be friends or else have the potential to be total enemies," adds Kennedy, son of RFK, nephew of the late president and currently a writer as well as lawyer. "History shows this repeatedly when nations have gone to war, and it just illustrates the sheer folly involved to engage in warfare."

A Precipice Towards Disaster

What’s notable regarding the Cuban missile crisis was that, since it unfolded so publicly, citizens around the world could watch almost as it happened while it edged closer to armageddon. However, the danger of destruction was more imminent than most people realised.

"The overwhelming majority among Kennedy's advisors wanted a military strike and a ground invasion," explains Max Kennedy. "If we had attacked Cuba with the Sixth Fleet, it is certain the Russians on the ground would've fired a tactical nuclear weapon against the US Sixth Fleet, which would have destroyed the naval vessels as well as destroyed America's primary fleet. In turn, we would have responded through an overwhelming counterattack which would have eradicated all life on Earth."

The reality it didn’t is a testament to Kennedy and Khrushchev, who succeeded in remain calm while calmly negotiate when hawkish elements in their governments demanded military action. Consequently, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the missiles in Cuba and Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) removed American missiles from NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was palpable, as was a feeling of hope.

The Divergent Perspective

Yet, for those two weeks in October, the tension was palpable globally. The Bomb’s presenters came into the world in the years following the crisis, and Nina being taught about the crisis via the USSR's school curriculum, which presented a slightly different picture of what happened.

"As you mentioned your parent remembers it, and it was a frightening day," she says. "But in the Soviet Union, the public really didn’t know that much about it, because it was a crisis, and in the Soviet Union the official line was that things are constantly wonderful and positive."

Inside Khrushchev’s family, though, it was distinct. "They told me that it was a triumphant moment for the USSR, because it represented eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to resolve it, thus didn’t start the war, which was a positive outcome," she continues. Subsequently, though, that view would not be held by everybody. "For a long time within Russian historical analysis, it was considered a failure for Khrushchev, simply he didn’t blow up America."

An Unprecedented Partnership

The Bomb is so even-handed and well produced so much so that Khrushcheva quips she nearly forgot the known outcome. This is, partly, due to the participation of historians. Yet, truly, the most significant aspect remains the involvement of the descendants. Not so long ago, it would be inconceivable for descendants of the heads of state of America and USSR would appear together publicly. The fact that Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva can do that, and exhibit such warmth with each other, must be seen as a sign of hope.

"Max and I are not the pioneers," notes Khrushcheva. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, my uncle Sergey Khrushchev’s son where he formed a close bond with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"However we were strangers before the podcast," adds Max. "That is a shame since we connected immediately and we are friends, which is wonderful. Finally, following almost six decades of nearly annihilating the world, our lineages have become friends, so I think the world is more secure, a little bit."

Contemporary Parallels and Present Perils

Is that truly the case? Part of the reason this series seems so urgent is that we now find ourselves in dark times. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to midnight in its history, partly since today's statesmen appear not to be able to comprehend