‘After almost destroying our planet, our relatives have become friends’: a thrilling podcast from JFK and Nikita Khrushchev’s descendants.

In October 1962, humanity veered nearer to annihilation more so than ever in the contemporary era. This transpired when a US surveillance plane discovered the fact that Russian nuclear missile sites were being assembled in the island of Cuba, less than 100 miles off the coast of the United States. In response, U.S. President John F Kennedy directed the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to impose a maritime quarantine around Cuba. The ensuing period was almost 14 days of unbearable anxiety.

An Catastrophic Danger

The peril remained palpable. If President Kennedy, or else his Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, had fired on their enemy, a chain reaction involving global atomic strikes and counterstrikes would have ensued, plunging humanity toward all-out ruination.

The October crisis has been documented endlessly, through books, movies, as well as TV documentaries. However, in its latest installment, a prominent BBC World Service podcast titled "The Bomb" has brought an unprecedented dimension into the story. The series is co-presented by Kennedy's relative alongside Khrushchev's descendant, family members belonging to the men who, for 13 days, held the destiny of the world within their grasp.

"What were the Russians thinking? What were the United States thinking?" ponders Nina Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s descendant and a professor specializing in global relations.

In her view, the strength of the show is its endeavor to objectively ask: "How can nations hate each other to the point they confront one another?"

"I am acutely aware how remarkable the fact that humans have the potential to be friends or else can become complete adversaries," adds Max Kennedy, son of RFK, related to the late president and currently a writer and lawyer. "We see this dynamic repeatedly when nations have gone to war, and it just illustrates the sheer folly involved to engage in warfare."

The Precipice Towards Disaster

What’s remarkable about this event was that, since it unfolded in the global spotlight, people globally could watch almost as it happened as it crept closer to catastrophe. Even so, the risk of annihilation was more imminent than what most people understood at the time.

"The overwhelming majority among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for an airstrike followed by an invasion," says Max Kennedy. "If we had struck the Cubans using the naval blockade, there is no question Soviet forces on the ground would have deployed a nuclear warhead against the American ships, and that would've obliterated the aircraft carriers and sunk America's largest and most important fleet. In turn, we would have responded through an overwhelming counterattack that would have ended all life on the planet."

The fact this did not occur is a testament to Kennedy and Khrushchev, who succeeded in exercise restraint and engaging in diplomacy at a time when everyone around them was pushing for military action. Consequently, The Soviet premier agreed to withdraw the nuclear weapons in the Caribbean island and Kennedy (although not reported then) withdrew his missiles based in NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was palpable, as was a feeling of optimism.

A Different Viewpoint

Still, for those two weeks in October, the anxiety was palpable globally. The Bomb’s co-hosts came into the world in the years following the crisis, and Khrushcheva learned about the crisis through the Soviet education system, which painted an alternative narrative of what happened.

"You said your father recalls it, and it was a scary day," Khrushcheva notes. "However for Soviet citizens, people really didn’t know a great deal about it, because it was a tense situation, and in the Soviet Union the official line was that everything was constantly fine and sunny."

Inside the Khrushchev household, though, it was different. "I was informed what a great occasion for the USSR, because it was a direct confrontation. The leaders managed to resolve it, thus didn’t start the war, which was a positive thing," she adds. Later on, though, that view was not shared 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 Unprecedented Collaboration

This podcast is remarkably even-handed , well produced so much so that Khrushcheva jokes she nearly forgot she already knew the ending. This is, partly, thanks to contributions from renowned scholars. Yet, really, the most significant thing is the involvement of the hosts themselves. Not so long ago, it would be inconceivable for descendants of the heads of state of the United States and USSR would appear side by side. The fact that Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva are able to do so, and be so warm toward one another, must be seen as a symbol of progress.

"We aren't the pioneers," notes Nina. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, a relative Sergey Khrushchev’s son where he formed a close bond with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"But we were strangers prior to this project," clarifies Kennedy. "Which is unfortunate since we connected immediately and we’re friends, which is really great. Ultimately, after nearly 60 years of nearly annihilating the world, our lineages are now friends, suggesting the world is safer, somewhat."

Modern Parallels and Present Perils

Or is it? One reason the reason The Bomb feels so necessary is because we once again find ourselves living through dark times. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to midnight than ever before, partly since today's statesmen don’t seem to be able to comprehend