‘After nearly annihilating our planet, the relatives have become allies’: a thrilling audio series from John F. Kennedy & Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

In October 1962, the planet veered closer to annihilation more so than ever during modern times. This happened after an American surveillance plane discovered that Soviet nuclear weapon bases were under construction on the island of Cuba, less than 100 miles from the United States. Reacting to this, President John F Kennedy commanded a naval task force to establish a naval quarantine around Cuba. The ensuing period was almost two weeks filled with extreme stress.

The Catastrophic Threat

The peril was clear. If President Kennedy, or else his Soviet counterpart, Premier Khrushchev, were to fire on the other side, a cascade involving global atomic attacks followed by counterstrikes would have followed, plunging humanity toward total ruination.

This pivotal 1962 event has been covered repeatedly, through books, films, as well as TV documentaries. However, for its third season, the audio documentary series titled "The Bomb" has brought a completely new dimension into this historical narrative. The series is co-presented by Kennedy's relative and Khrushchev's descendant, family members belonging to the figures that, for two tense weeks, controlled the destiny of the planet within their grasp.

"What was the Russians thinking? What were Washington considering?" ponders Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter who is also a professor of international affairs.

For her, the beauty of the podcast is its attempt to explore: "Why do nations hate each other to the point they oppose each other?"

"It struck me how profound it is that humans have the potential to be allies or else have the potential to be complete adversaries," states Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, related to the late president and now an author as well as attorney. "We see this repeatedly when nations have gone to war, and it just illustrates how unbelievably stupid involved to fight."

The Precipice of Disaster

What’s notable about the Cuban missile crisis is that, because it transpired so publicly, citizens globally could watch nearly as it happened as it edged towards disaster. Even so, the danger of destruction was more imminent than most people understood at the time.

"Almost all officials among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for an airstrike and an invasion," says Max Kennedy. "Had the U.S. attacked Cuba with the naval blockade, there is no question Soviet forces stationed there would have launched a tactical nuclear weapon at the US Sixth Fleet, and that would've destroyed the aircraft carriers as well as sunk America's largest and most important naval force. In turn, the U.S. would have responded with massive retaliation which would have eradicated most life on Earth."

The fact it didn’t stands as credit to Kennedy and Khrushchev, who succeeded in keep their heads and engaging in diplomacy when hawkish elements in their governments demanded military action. As a result, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the missiles from the Caribbean island and Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) withdrew his similar weapons from NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was worldwide, as was a feeling of optimism.

The Different Perspective

Yet, for those two weeks of October 1962, the fear was palpable globally. The Bomb’s co-hosts were born in the years following these events, and Khrushcheva being taught about it through the Soviet education system, which presented a slightly different picture of what happened.

"You said your parent remembers it, describing it as a scary day," she says. "However in the Soviet Union, the public were largely unaware that much regarding the crisis, since it was a crisis, whereas under the Soviet system the official line was that everything was always wonderful and sunny."

Inside Khrushchev’s family, though, it was distinct. "They told me what a great occasion it was, because it represented eyeball to eyeball. They were able to resolve it, and avoided a global war, seen as a positive outcome," she adds. Later on, though, that interpretation was not held by all Russians. "For decades in Russian politics, the crisis was viewed as a defeat for the Soviet leader, because he refrained from destroying the United States."

An Unprecedented Collaboration

This podcast is remarkably even-handed and expertly crafted that Nina jokes it almost made her forget the known outcome. This effect is, in part, due to the participation of historians. But, truly, the most significant thing remains the participation of the hosts themselves. Not so long ago, it would be unthinkable that relatives of the heads of state of the United States and the Soviet Union would appear together publicly. The fact that Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva can do that, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, has to be a symbol of optimism.

"We are not the pioneers," notes Khrushcheva. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, a relative 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 a shame since we got along really well and we are friends, something that is wonderful. Finally, following nearly 60 years since almost destroying the world, our families are now allies, suggesting global relations is more secure, a little bit."

Modern Parallels and Present Perils

Or is it? Part of why this series feels so necessary is because we once again find ourselves living through dark times. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to catastrophe than ever before, partly since world leaders don’t seem to be able to comprehend