‘After almost annihilating the planet, the families are friends’: a thrilling podcast featuring JFK & Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

In the month of October 1962, the planet came closer to annihilation than at any other point in the contemporary era. This occurred after a US reconnaissance plane discovered that Soviet atomic missile sites were being built on the island of Cuba, less than 100 miles from the United States. Reacting to this, President John F Kennedy ordered the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to impose a maritime blockade encircling Cuba. The next phase was almost 14 days of unbearable anxiety.

The Catastrophic Threat

The threat remained clear. If President Kennedy, or else the Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, were to fire on their enemy, a cascade involving global atomic attacks and retaliatory strikes would have ensued, thrusting humanity toward all-out oblivion.

This pivotal 1962 event has been examined extensively, through volumes, films, as well as TV documentaries. However, for its third season, a prominent audio documentary series The Bomb presents a novel element into this historical narrative. The series is co-presented by Kennedy's relative and Nina Khrushcheva, relatives of the men that, over two tense weeks, held the fate of the world in their hands.

"What was the Kremlin thinking? What were the United States planning?" questions Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's descendant and an academic of international affairs.

In her view, the strength of the podcast is its endeavor to explore: "Why do individuals detest each other and go against one another?"

"I am acutely aware how spectacular it is that people have the potential to be friends or can become total enemies," remarks Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy, related to the late president and now a writer and attorney. "We see this dynamic repeatedly when countries have gone to war, highlighting the profound irrationality involved to engage in warfare."

A Brink Towards Disaster

What’s notable about this event was that, since it unfolded in the global spotlight, individuals worldwide were able to observe almost as it happened as it crept closer to catastrophe. Nonetheless, the danger of annihilation was more imminent than anybody understood at the time.

"Virtually everyone in the White House wanted a military strike and an invasion," explains Max Kennedy. "If we had struck the Cubans using the Sixth Fleet, it is certain Soviet forces stationed there would have deployed a tactical nuclear weapon at the American ships, and that would've sunk the aircraft carriers as well as sunk America's largest and most important naval force. In turn, we would have retaliated with an overwhelming counterattack that would have ended all life on the planet."

The reality this did not occur is a testament to Kennedy and Khrushchev, they managed to keep their heads while calmly negotiate when hawkish elements around them were advocating military action. As a result, Khrushchev removed the nuclear weapons in Cuba and President Kennedy (although not reported then) removed American similar weapons from NATO ally Turkey. The relief was palpable, as was a feeling of hope.

A Different Viewpoint

Still, during those 13 days in October, the tension was felt globally. The Bomb’s presenters came into the world shortly after these events, with Nina learned about it through the USSR's education system, which portrayed a slightly different version of events.

"As you mentioned your father recalls it, describing it as a scary time," Khrushcheva notes. "But in the Soviet Union, the public really didn’t know a great deal about it, because it was a crisis, whereas under the Soviet system the official line was that things are always wonderful and positive."

Within Khrushchev’s family, though, it was distinct. "I was informed that it was a triumphant occasion for the USSR, as it represented a direct confrontation. They were able to find a solution, and didn’t start a global war, seen as a wonderful thing," she continues. Later on, though, that interpretation would not be held by everybody. "For a long time within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a defeat for the Soviet leader, simply he didn’t blow up the United States."

A Unprecedented Partnership

The Bomb is so even-handed and well produced that Khrushcheva quips it almost made her forget the known outcome. This is, in part, due to contributions from historians. But, really, the most groundbreaking thing remains the involvement of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it was unthinkable that descendants of the heads of state of America and the USSR would appear together publicly. That these two individuals are able to do so, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, has to be a symbol of hope.

"Max and I aren't the first," smiles Khrushcheva. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, a relative moved to America and formed a close bond with the former president's family."

"But we were strangers prior to this project," adds Kennedy. "Which is unfortunate because we got along really well and now we’re friends, something that is really great. Ultimately, following almost six decades of almost destroying the world, our lineages have become friends, suggesting the world is safer, somewhat."

Modern Parallels and Present Dangers

Is that truly the case? One reason why The Bomb feels so necessary is that we now are living living through dark times. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to catastrophe in its history, in part because world leaders appear not to have the capacity to grasp