Following almost destroying the planet, the relatives are friends’: a gripping podcast from John F. Kennedy & Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

In October 1962, the planet came nearer toward ruin than at any other point during recent history. This transpired following the discovery that a US surveillance plane discovered the fact that Soviet nuclear missile bases were under construction on Cuba, a mere 100 miles off the coast of American soil. Reacting to this, President John F Kennedy commanded a naval task force to establish a naval blockade encircling Cuba. What followed was almost a fortnight filled with impossible tension.

An Unthinkable Threat

The peril remained clear. Should President Kennedy, or the Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, initiated an attack against the other side, a chain reaction of global nuclear attacks and retaliatory strikes could have followed, casting humanity into all-out destruction.

The Cuban missile crisis has been covered extensively, in volumes, movies, and TV documentaries. However, for its third season, the BBC World Service podcast titled "The Bomb" introduces a completely new element into the story. It is co-presented featuring Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva, family members belonging to the leaders that, over two tense weeks, controlled the fate of humanity in their hands.

"What were the Russians planning? What was Washington thinking?" ponders Nina Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's great-granddaughter and an academic of international affairs.

For her, the unique appeal of the podcast is its attempt to question: "Why do nations detest one another and oppose one another?"

"It was not lost on me how spectacular it is that individuals have the potential to be allies or else have the potential to be complete enemies," remarks Max Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy, related to the late president and now a writer and attorney. "History shows this over and over in instances where nations enter into conflict, and it just illustrates the profound irrationality it is to engage in warfare."

The Precipice Towards Disaster

What is remarkable about this event was that, since it unfolded in the global spotlight, people globally were able to observe almost as it happened as it edged closer to armageddon. Even so, the danger of destruction was more imminent than most people realised.

"The overwhelming majority in the White House wanted an airstrike followed by an invasion," explains Kennedy. "Had the U.S. struck Cuba with the naval blockade, there is no question Soviet forces stationed there would've deployed a tactical nuclear weapon at the US Sixth Fleet, which would've sunk our aircraft carriers as well as sunk our primary fleet. And, we would have responded through an overwhelming counterattack that would have ended most life on Earth."

The reality it didn’t highlights the composure of Kennedy and Khrushchev, they succeeded in exercise restraint and calmly negotiate when hawkish elements around them demanded military action. As a result, Khrushchev removed the nuclear weapons in the Caribbean island while Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) withdrew his similar weapons from NATO ally Turkey. The relief was worldwide, as was a feeling of optimism.

A Different Viewpoint

Yet, during those two weeks of October 1962, the anxiety was felt globally. The Bomb’s presenters came into the world in the years following the crisis, with Khrushcheva learned about the crisis via the USSR's education system, which portrayed an alternative narrative of events.

"As you mentioned your father remembers it, and it was a scary time," she says. "However for Soviet citizens, people were largely unaware that much about it, since it was a tense situation, whereas under the Soviet system the official line was that things are always fine or positive."

Within Khrushchev’s family, though, it was distinct. "They told me that it was a triumphant occasion for the USSR, as it was eyeball to eyeball. They were able to find a solution, thus avoided the war, seen as a positive outcome," she adds. In the years to come, however, that view would not be held by everybody. "For decades in Russian politics, the crisis was viewed as a failure for the Soviet leader, simply he didn’t blow up the United States."

An Unlikely Collaboration

This podcast is remarkably even-handed and well produced so much so that Khrushcheva quips she nearly forgot she already knew the ending. This effect is, in part, due to the participation of historians. Yet, truly, the most groundbreaking thing remains the involvement of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it was inconceivable for descendants of the leaders of America and the USSR would appear together publicly. That these two individuals are able to do so, and exhibit such warmth with each other, has to be a symbol of progress.

"Max and I are not the pioneers," notes Nina. "Following 1991, my uncle moved to America where he formed a close bond with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"However we were strangers before the podcast," adds Max. "That is unfortunate because we connected really well and now we are friends, which is really great. Ultimately, following almost 60 years since nearly annihilating the world, our families have become allies, suggesting global relations is more secure, a little bit."

Contemporary Echoes with Current Dangers

Is that truly the case? One reason the reason The Bomb feels so necessary is that we once again find ourselves living through dark times. The Doomsday Clock is closer to catastrophe than ever before, in part because today's statesmen don’t seem to have the capacity to learn