‘After almost annihilating our planet, our families are friends’: the gripping audio series featuring JFK & Khrushchev’s descendants.

During October 1962, humanity edged closer to destruction than at any other point in recent history. This occurred following the discovery that a US reconnaissance aircraft found the fact that Russian atomic weapon installations were under construction on Cuba, a mere 160 kilometers from the United States. Reacting to this, President JFK directed the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to enact a maritime quarantine around the island. The next phase constituted almost a fortnight filled with unbearable stress.

An Unthinkable Threat

The threat was clear. Should President Kennedy, or else his Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, had fired against their enemy, a series involving worldwide nuclear attacks followed by counterstrikes might have ensued, casting mankind into total ruination.

The Cuban missile crisis has been covered endlessly, through volumes, movies, as well as TV documentaries. However, for its third season, the BBC World Service podcast The Bomb has brought a completely new element into the story. It is co-presented featuring Kennedy's relative and Nina Khrushcheva, relatives of the men who, for two tense weeks, grasped the fate of the planet in their hands.

"What were the Soviet side considering? What was the American side thinking?" questions Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter and a professor of global relations.

In her view, the unique appeal of the show is its endeavor to question: "How can individuals detest each other and go against each other?"

"It was not lost on me how profound it is that people have the potential to be friends or else have the potential to be total enemies," remarks Max Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, nephew of the late president and now a writer and lawyer. "We see this dynamic over and over when nations have gone to war, demonstrating the sheer folly it is to fight."

The Brink of Disaster

What is striking about the Cuban missile crisis was that, since it transpired in the global spotlight, people globally could watch nearly as it happened as it crept towards disaster. However, the danger of destruction was more imminent than what most people understood at the time.

"Virtually everyone in the White House were advocating for an airstrike and a ground invasion," explains Max Kennedy. "If we had attacked Cuba with the naval blockade, it is certain Soviet forces stationed there would have fired a nuclear warhead against the US Sixth Fleet, which would have sunk our naval vessels as well as destroyed our largest and most important fleet. In turn, we would have retaliated through an overwhelming counterattack that would have eradicated most life on the planet."

The fact this did not occur highlights the composure of both leaders, who managed to remain calm while engaging in diplomacy when everyone around them were advocating military action. Consequently, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the nuclear weapons from the Caribbean island and President Kennedy (although not reported then) removed American similar weapons from NATO ally Turkey. The relief was palpable, as was the sense of optimism.

The Different Viewpoint

Yet, for those 13 days in October, the tension was felt globally. The Bomb’s presenters were born shortly after these events, and Khrushcheva learned about the crisis through the Soviet education system, which presented a slightly different picture of what happened.

"As you mentioned your parent recalls it, describing it as a scary time," she says. "However for Soviet citizens, people were largely unaware that much regarding the crisis, since it was a crisis, and under the Soviet system we were told that things are always fine or sunny."

Within the Khrushchev household, though, the perspective was distinct. "They told me what a great occasion it was, as it represented eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to resolve it, thus avoided the war, seen as a positive thing," she adds. In the years to come, though, that interpretation would not be held by everybody. "For decades within Russian historical analysis, it was considered a defeat for the Soviet leader, simply he refrained from destroying America."

An Unlikely Collaboration

This podcast is so even-handed , well produced that Khrushcheva jokes it almost made her forget she already knew outcome. This effect is, in part, thanks to contributions from renowned scholars. Yet, really, the most momentous thing remains the participation of the descendants. Even within living memory, it would be unthinkable that descendants of the heads of state of the United States and Soviet Union 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 sign of hope.

"We are not the first," smiles Nina. "Following 1991, a relative moved to America where he formed a close bond with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"However we had never met before the podcast," clarifies Kennedy. "Which is a shame because we connected really well and now we’re friends, which is really great. Ultimately, after almost six decades of nearly annihilating the planet, our lineages are now friends, suggesting the world is safer, a little bit."

Modern Echoes with Current Dangers

Is that truly the case? One reason the reason The Bomb feels so necessary is that we now find ourselves living through a perilous era. The Doomsday Clock stands nearer to midnight than ever before, in part because today's statesmen appear not to be able to grasp