Following nearly annihilating our world, our relatives are allies’: the thrilling audio series featuring John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

In October 1962, the planet edged closer to destruction more so than ever during modern times. This occurred following the discovery that an American surveillance aircraft found that Russian atomic missile installations were being built on Cuba, a mere 100 miles off the coast of the United States. Reacting to this, President JFK commanded the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to impose a maritime quarantine around the island. The ensuing period constituted almost a fortnight filled with impossible anxiety.

The Catastrophic Danger

The peril remained palpable. If President Kennedy, or his Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, initiated an attack on the other side, a chain reaction involving global atomic strikes followed by counterstrikes would have followed, plunging mankind into all-out destruction.

The October crisis has been covered extensively, in volumes, films, and television programmes. However, in its latest installment, a prominent BBC World Service podcast titled "The Bomb" has brought a novel dimension into the story. It is co-presented featuring Kennedy's relative alongside Nina Khrushcheva, relatives belonging to the figures that, for two tense weeks, grasped the destiny of the planet within their grasp.

"What was the Russians thinking? What was the American side considering?" ponders Nina Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter and a professor specializing in global relations.

In her view, the beauty of the show is its attempt to explore: "Why do people detest each other and go against each other?"

"It was not lost on me how spectacular the fact that humans can be friends or have the potential to be complete enemies," states Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, related to the late president and currently a writer as well as attorney. "We see this over and over when countries enter into conflict, and it just illustrates the sheer folly involved to fight."

The Brink Towards Catastrophe

What’s striking regarding the Cuban missile crisis is that, since it unfolded in the global spotlight, people globally were able to observe almost as it happened while it edged closer to disaster. However, the danger of annihilation was more imminent than most people understood at the time.

"Virtually everyone among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for a military strike and a ground invasion," explains Max Kennedy. "If we had struck Cuba with the Sixth Fleet, undoubtedly Soviet forces stationed there would've fired a nuclear warhead against the American ships, and that would've destroyed the aircraft carriers as well as destroyed America's largest and most important naval force. And, we would have responded with an overwhelming counterattack that would have ended all life on Earth."

The reality it didn’t stands as credit to both leaders, they succeeded in exercise restraint while engaging in diplomacy when everyone around them demanded military action. Consequently, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the nuclear weapons in the Caribbean island while President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) removed his missiles based in Turkey. The sense of relief was palpable, as was the sense of hope.

A Different Viewpoint

Still, during those 13 days of October 1962, the tension was palpable by everyone. The Bomb’s co-hosts came into the world shortly after these events, with Nina learned about it via the Soviet education system, which painted an alternative narrative of what happened.

"As you mentioned your father remembers it, and it was a frightening time," she says. "But in the Soviet Union, people really didn’t know a great deal regarding the crisis, because it was a crisis, whereas in the Soviet Union the official line was that things are constantly fine and sunny."

Within Khrushchev’s family, though, it was different. "I was informed what a great occasion for the USSR, as it was a direct confrontation. They were able to find a solution, and didn’t start the war, which was a wonderful outcome," she adds. Later on, however, that perspective was not shared by everybody. "For decades within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a failure for the Soviet leader, because he refrained from destroying America."

An Unlikely Partnership

This podcast is so even-handed and expertly crafted so much so that Nina jokes it almost made her forget she already knew the ending. This is, partly, thanks to contributions from renowned scholars. Yet, really, the most groundbreaking thing is the participation of the descendants. Not so long ago, it was unthinkable that descendants of the leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union would appear side by side. The fact that these two individuals are able to do so, and be so warm toward one another, must be seen as a sign of optimism.

"We are not the pioneers," notes Nina. "Following 1991, my uncle Sergey Khrushchev’s son where he formed a close bond with the former president's family."

"However we had never met before the podcast," clarifies Max. "Which is unfortunate because we got along really well and we’re friends, something that is wonderful. Ultimately, after nearly 60 years of nearly annihilating the world, our families have become allies, so I think global relations is safer, a little bit."

Contemporary Echoes with Present Dangers

Or is it? Part of the reason The Bomb feels so necessary is because we once again find ourselves in a perilous era. The Doomsday Clock stands nearer to catastrophe than ever before, in part because world leaders appear not to be able to grasp