Following almost destroying our planet, the families are allies’: the thrilling audio series featuring JFK and Nikita Khrushchev’s descendants.

In October 1962, humanity came closer to ruin more so than ever during modern times. This transpired after an American surveillance plane identified that Russian nuclear weapon sites were under construction on Cuba, less than 160 kilometers off the coast of American soil. Reacting to this, President JFK directed a naval task force to impose a maritime blockade encircling the island. The ensuing period constituted almost 14 days filled with impossible stress.

An Catastrophic Threat

The peril was palpable. If President Kennedy, or else his Soviet counterpart, Premier Khrushchev, were to fire against the other side, a chain reaction involving worldwide atomic attacks and counterstrikes could have followed, casting mankind toward all-out destruction.

The October crisis has been covered endlessly, in books, movies, and TV documentaries. However, for its third season, a prominent BBC World Service podcast The Bomb has brought a novel perspective to this historical narrative. It is jointly hosted featuring Kennedy's relative alongside Khrushchev's descendant, family members belonging to the figures that, for two tense weeks, grasped the fate of humanity in their hands.

"What was the Soviet side thinking? What was the United States considering?" ponders Nina Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter and a professor of international affairs.

For her, the beauty of the show is its endeavor to objectively ask: "How can individuals detest one another and oppose each other?"

"It was not lost on me how profound the fact that individuals can be allies or have the potential to be total adversaries," adds Max Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, nephew of JFK and now an author as well as lawyer. "History shows this repeatedly in instances where countries enter into conflict, demonstrating how unbelievably stupid involved to engage in warfare."

The Precipice Towards Catastrophe

What’s striking regarding this event was that, since it unfolded in the global spotlight, individuals globally could watch almost as it happened as it moved closer to catastrophe. However, the risk of destruction was more imminent than what most people understood at the time.

"The overwhelming majority among Kennedy's advisors wanted an airstrike followed by a ground invasion," notes Kennedy. "Had the U.S. struck the Cubans with the Sixth Fleet, there is no question Soviet forces on the ground would have launched a tactical nuclear weapon against the American ships, which would've obliterated our naval vessels as well as destroyed our largest and most important naval force. In turn, we would have responded through an overwhelming counterattack which would have ended most life on Earth."

The reality it didn’t highlights the composure of Kennedy and Khrushchev, they succeeded in remain calm while calmly negotiate at a time when everyone in their governments demanded military action. Consequently, The Soviet premier agreed to withdraw the nuclear weapons from Cuba while President Kennedy (although not reported at the time) removed American missiles based in Turkey. The sense of relief was palpable, as was a feeling of hope.

A Divergent Perspective

Yet, for those 13 days in October, the fear was palpable by everyone. The Bomb’s presenters came into the world shortly after these events, and Nina learned about the crisis through the USSR's school curriculum, which portrayed an alternative picture of what happened.

"As you mentioned your parent remembers it, describing it as a frightening time," Khrushcheva notes. "But for Soviet citizens, people really didn’t know that much about it, because it was a crisis, and in the Soviet Union the official line was that everything was always wonderful or sunny."

Inside the Khrushchev household, though, the perspective was distinct. "I was informed what a great occasion it was, because it represented eyeball to eyeball. They were able to resolve it, and didn’t start the war, which was a positive outcome," she continues. In the years to come, however, that interpretation would not be held by all Russians. "For decades in Russian politics, the crisis was viewed as a setback for Khrushchev, because he didn’t blow up America."

An Unprecedented Partnership

The Bomb is so balanced and well produced so much so that Khrushcheva jokes she nearly forgot the known outcome. This effect is, in part, thanks to the participation of renowned scholars. Yet, really, the most momentous aspect remains the involvement of the descendants. Even within living memory, it was unthinkable that descendants of the heads of state of America and USSR to appear together publicly. That Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva can do that, and exhibit such warmth with each other, must be seen as a symbol of progress.

"We are not the pioneers," smiles Nina. "After 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 before the podcast," clarifies Max. "That is a shame since we connected really well and now we are friends, something that is wonderful. Ultimately, following almost six decades of nearly annihilating the planet, our families have become allies, so I think the world is safer, somewhat."

Modern Echoes and Current Dangers

Or is it? Part of why this series seems so urgent is because we now find ourselves in dark times. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to catastrophe in its history, in part because today's statesmen appear not to have the capacity to learn