‘After nearly destroying our world, our families have become allies’: a gripping audio series from JFK and Khrushchev’s descendants.

In the month of October 1962, the planet edged closer toward destruction more so than ever during recent history. This transpired following the discovery that an American reconnaissance plane discovered that Soviet nuclear missile sites were being assembled in the island of Cuba, a mere 100 miles from the US mainland. In response, President John F Kennedy ordered a naval task force to enact a maritime quarantine around the island. The ensuing period was nearly two weeks filled with extreme anxiety.

An Catastrophic Danger

The threat remained palpable. If Kennedy, or his Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, initiated an attack on the other side, a cascade of global nuclear attacks and retaliatory strikes would have ensued, plunging civilization into all-out oblivion.

The Cuban missile crisis has been documented endlessly, in books, movies, and TV documentaries. But, for its third season, the audio documentary series The Bomb has brought a completely new dimension to the story. The series is co-presented by Kennedy's relative and Khrushchev's descendant, relatives belonging to the leaders who, for two tense weeks, grasped the destiny of the planet in their hands.

"What was the Russians considering? What was the American side planning?" ponders Nina Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter who is also an academic of international affairs.

For her, the unique appeal of the podcast is its endeavor to objectively ask: "How can nations hate each other to the point they go against each other?"

"I am acutely aware how remarkable the fact that people can be friends or have the potential to be total adversaries," states Max Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, related to JFK and now a writer and lawyer. "We see this repeatedly in instances where nations enter into conflict, highlighting how unbelievably stupid involved to fight."

The Brink of Catastrophe

What’s notable regarding the Cuban missile crisis was that, because it transpired in the global spotlight, individuals around the world could watch nearly as it happened while it edged closer to catastrophe. However, the threat of destruction was more imminent than what anybody understood at the time.

"Virtually everyone among Kennedy's advisors wanted a military strike and a ground invasion," notes Kennedy. "If we had struck the Cubans using the naval blockade, undoubtedly Soviet forces stationed there would've fired a tactical nuclear weapon against the US Sixth Fleet, and that would have destroyed our naval vessels and destroyed our primary fleet. In turn, we would have responded through massive retaliation that would have ended all life on Earth."

The fact this did not occur stands as credit to both leaders, who managed to remain calm while calmly negotiate when hawkish elements in their governments was pushing for military action. Consequently, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the nuclear weapons in the Caribbean island while President Kennedy (although not reported at the time) removed American missiles from NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was immense, matched by the sense of optimism.

The Divergent Viewpoint

Still, for those two weeks in October, the fear was palpable globally. The Bomb’s presenters came into the world shortly after the crisis, and Khrushcheva learned about it via the Soviet education system, which presented an alternative version of what happened.

"You said your parent recalls it, and it was a frightening time," she says. "However in the Soviet Union, the public were largely unaware a great deal about it, because it was a crisis, and under the Soviet system we were told that everything was constantly wonderful and positive."

Within the Khrushchev household, though, the perspective was different. "I was informed what a great moment it was, as it was eyeball to eyeball. They were able to resolve it, thus avoided a global war, seen as a positive thing," she continues. Later on, however, that perspective was not held by everybody. "For decades in Russian politics, the crisis was viewed as a failure for the Soviet leader, because he refrained from destroying America."

A Unlikely Collaboration

The Bomb is remarkably balanced and well produced so much so that Nina quips she nearly forgot the known the ending. This is, in part, thanks to contributions from historians. Yet, really, the most momentous aspect is the involvement of the descendants. Even within living memory, it would be unthinkable that descendants of the leaders of the United States and Soviet Union 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 sign of optimism.

"Max and I are not the pioneers," smiles Khrushcheva. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, my uncle moved to America and became great friends with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"However we had never met before the podcast," adds Kennedy. "Which is a shame because we got along really well and now we are friends, something that is really great. Finally, following almost six decades of nearly annihilating the world, our lineages have become allies, suggesting the world is safer, a little bit."

Contemporary Parallels with Current Dangers

Or is it? Part of why The Bomb seems so urgent is because we once again 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 have the capacity to comprehend