‘After nearly destroying our world, our relatives are friends’: the thrilling audio series featuring JFK & Khrushchev’s descendants.

During the month of October 1962, the world edged nearer toward ruin more so than ever during the contemporary era. This happened after a US reconnaissance plane identified the fact that Russian nuclear missile sites were being built in Cuba, a mere 160 kilometers from American soil. Reacting to this, President JFK directed a naval task force to impose a naval quarantine encircling the island. The ensuing period was nearly 14 days of impossible anxiety.

The Catastrophic Threat

The danger was palpable. If President Kennedy, or his Soviet counterpart, Premier Khrushchev, initiated an attack on the other side, a chain reaction of global atomic attacks followed by retaliatory strikes would have ensued, plunging civilization toward total ruination.

The Cuban missile crisis has been covered extensively, through books, movies, as well as TV documentaries. But, for its third season, the BBC World Service podcast titled "The Bomb" has brought a novel element into this historical narrative. The series is co-presented by Max Kennedy alongside Nina Khrushcheva, relatives belonging to the leaders who, over 13 days, held the destiny of the world in their hands.

"What was the Soviet side considering? What were the American side planning?" ponders Nina Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's great-granddaughter and a professor specializing in international affairs.

For her, the beauty of the podcast lies in its endeavor to objectively ask: "Why do nations hate each other and oppose one another?"

"It was not lost on me how spectacular the fact that individuals can be allies or have the potential to be total enemies," remarks Max Kennedy, the son of RFK, related to the late president and now an author as well as lawyer. "We see this dynamic repeatedly in instances where countries enter into conflict, highlighting the sheer folly involved to fight."

A Brink Towards Disaster

What’s notable about this event was that, because it unfolded in the global spotlight, people globally could watch nearly in real time while it crept closer to catastrophe. Even so, the threat of destruction was more imminent than what anybody realised.

"Almost all officials among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for an airstrike and an invasion," explains Max Kennedy. "If we had attacked the Cubans using the Sixth Fleet, there is no question Soviet forces on the ground would've launched a tactical nuclear weapon against the American ships, which would've destroyed the naval vessels as well as sunk America's largest and most important fleet. And, we would have retaliated through massive retaliation which would have eradicated all life on the planet."

The fact this did not occur stands as credit to both leaders, they managed to keep their heads and calmly negotiate when many advisors around them demanded military action. Consequently, The Soviet premier removed the missiles in Cuba and President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) removed his similar weapons from NATO ally Turkey. The relief was immense, as was a feeling of optimism.

A Divergent Perspective

Yet, for those two weeks of October 1962, the tension was felt globally. The Bomb’s presenters were born shortly after these events, with Nina being taught about it via the Soviet education system, which portrayed a slightly different version of events.

"As you mentioned your parent recalls it, and it was a scary day," she says. "However in the Soviet Union, people were largely unaware that much about it, because it was a tense situation, and in the Soviet Union we were told that things are always wonderful and positive."

Within Khrushchev’s family, however, the perspective was distinct. "They told me what a great moment it was, because it was eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to resolve it, and avoided a global war, seen as a wonderful thing," she adds. Later on, though, that interpretation was not shared by all Russians. "For decades within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a defeat for the Soviet leader, because he refrained from destroying America."

A Unlikely Collaboration

This podcast is so balanced and expertly crafted that Khrushcheva quips she nearly forgot she already knew outcome. This is, partly, due to the participation of historians. Yet, really, the most momentous aspect remains the participation of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it was unthinkable that descendants of the heads of state of the United States and the USSR would appear together publicly. That these two individuals are able to do so, and exhibit such warmth with each other, must be seen as a symbol of progress.

"We aren't the pioneers," smiles Khrushcheva. "After the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, a relative moved to America where he formed a close bond with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"But we had never met prior to this project," adds Max. "Which is a shame since we got along immediately and now we’re friends, something that is wonderful. Ultimately, following nearly 60 years since nearly annihilating the world, our lineages have become friends, suggesting global relations is safer, somewhat."

Modern Parallels with Current Perils

Is that truly the case? Part of the reason The Bomb seems so urgent is that we now are living in dark times. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to midnight in its history, in part because world leaders don’t seem to be able to learn