Following almost destroying our planet, our families are friends’: the gripping audio series featuring John F. Kennedy & Nikita Khrushchev’s descendants.

In the month of October 1962, the planet came closer toward ruin than at any other point in the contemporary era. This happened after a US surveillance aircraft found that Russian nuclear missile bases were being assembled in Cuba, less than 160 kilometers from American soil. Reacting to this, U.S. President John F Kennedy commanded the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to impose a naval quarantine around Cuba. What followed constituted nearly 14 days filled with impossible tension.

An Catastrophic Danger

The peril remained palpable. If Kennedy, or else his Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, had fired against the other side, a series of global nuclear attacks followed by retaliatory strikes might have ensued, plunging mankind into all-out oblivion.

This pivotal 1962 event has been documented extensively, in books, films, as well as television programmes. However, for its third season, a prominent BBC World Service podcast titled "The Bomb" presents an unprecedented element to this historical narrative. The series is co-presented featuring Max Kennedy alongside Khrushchev's descendant, relatives of the men that, over two tense weeks, held the destiny of humanity within their grasp.

"What were the Soviet side thinking? What was Washington considering?" ponders Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter who is also an academic of global relations.

For her, the strength of the podcast lies in its endeavor to objectively ask: "How can nations detest one another to the point they oppose one another?"

"It was not lost on me how remarkable the fact that humans have the potential to be friends or else can become total adversaries," adds Max Kennedy, son of RFK, related to the late president and now a writer as well as attorney. "History shows this dynamic repeatedly in instances where nations enter into conflict, highlighting the sheer folly involved to fight."

The Precipice of Disaster

What’s striking regarding the Cuban missile crisis is that, since it unfolded in the global spotlight, individuals worldwide could watch nearly in real time while it crept towards catastrophe. However, the risk of annihilation came closer than most people understood at the time.

"Almost all officials in the White House wanted an airstrike followed by a ground invasion," notes Kennedy. "Had the U.S. struck Cuba with the naval blockade, it is certain the Russians stationed there would've launched a tactical nuclear weapon against the American ships, which would've destroyed our naval vessels as well as destroyed America's largest and most important fleet. And, the U.S. would have responded with an overwhelming counterattack that would have eradicated most life on Earth."

The fact it didn’t is a testament to Kennedy and Khrushchev, who managed to remain calm while engaging in diplomacy when many advisors in their governments were advocating action. Consequently, The Soviet premier removed the missiles from the Caribbean island and President Kennedy (although not reported then) withdrew American missiles based in NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was immense, as was a feeling of optimism.

A Different Perspective

Still, during those 13 days in October, the anxiety was felt by everyone. The Bomb’s presenters came into the world in the years following the crisis, and Khrushcheva being taught about it via the Soviet school curriculum, which presented a slightly different narrative of events.

"As you mentioned your father remembers it, describing it as a scary time," Khrushcheva notes. "But for Soviet citizens, the public really didn’t know that much about it, because it was a crisis, whereas under the Soviet system the official line was that things are constantly wonderful and positive."

Within the Khrushchev household, however, it was different. "They told me that it was a triumphant occasion it was, as it was a direct confrontation. They were able to resolve it, thus didn’t start the war, seen as a wonderful outcome," she adds. In the years to come, however, that interpretation was not held by everybody. "For decades in Russian politics, the crisis was viewed as a failure for the Soviet leader, because he didn’t blow up the United States."

An Unprecedented Partnership

The Bomb is so even-handed and expertly crafted so much so that Khrushcheva jokes it almost made her forget she already knew the ending. This is, in part, due to contributions from renowned scholars. But, truly, the most significant thing remains the involvement of the descendants. Not so long ago, it would be inconceivable for descendants of the leaders of America and USSR to appear side by side. That Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva can do that, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, has to be a symbol of hope.

"Max and I are not the first," notes Nina. "After 1991, my uncle Sergey Khrushchev’s son and became great friends with the former president's family."

"But we were strangers before the podcast," adds Max. "That is a shame since we got along really well and now we’re friends, which is wonderful. Ultimately, following nearly six decades of nearly annihilating the planet, our families have become allies, suggesting global relations is safer, a little bit."

Modern Echoes and Present Dangers

Is that truly the case? One reason the reason The Bomb feels so necessary is that we now find ourselves living through dark times. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to midnight in its history, in part because today's statesmen don’t seem to be able to grasp