‘After nearly annihilating the planet, the relatives have become allies’: the gripping podcast from John F. Kennedy & Nikita Khrushchev’s descendants.

During October 1962, the world came closer to ruin than at any other point during modern times. This happened following the discovery that an American reconnaissance plane found that Soviet atomic weapon installations were under construction on the island of Cuba, less than 160 kilometers off the coast of American soil. In response, President John F Kennedy directed the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to impose a naval quarantine around the island. The next phase constituted nearly two weeks filled with impossible tension.

An Unthinkable Threat

The danger was obvious. Should Kennedy, or else the Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, had fired against their enemy, a cascade of global nuclear strikes followed by counterstrikes might have followed, casting mankind into all-out ruination.

The October crisis has been covered endlessly, through volumes, movies, as well as television programmes. However, for its third season, the BBC World Service podcast titled "The Bomb" introduces a novel perspective into the story. The series is co-presented by Kennedy's relative and Khrushchev's descendant, relatives belonging to the figures that, for 13 days, grasped the fate of humanity within their grasp.

"What were the Kremlin considering? What were Washington considering?" ponders Nina Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's descendant and an academic specializing in global relations.

In her view, the beauty of the show is its attempt to question: "Why do nations detest one another and confront each other?"

"It was not lost on me how remarkable it is that humans can be friends or have the potential to be total adversaries," adds Kennedy, the son of RFK, nephew of JFK and now a writer and attorney. "We see this repeatedly in instances where countries enter into conflict, and it just illustrates how unbelievably stupid involved to fight."

A Precipice Towards Catastrophe

What is remarkable regarding this event was that, because it unfolded so publicly, individuals around the world could watch nearly in real time as it crept towards disaster. Nonetheless, the risk of destruction came closer than anybody realised.

"Virtually everyone among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for an airstrike followed by an invasion," notes Kennedy. "If we had attacked the Cubans with the Sixth Fleet, undoubtedly the Russians stationed there would have deployed a tactical nuclear weapon against the American ships, which would've sunk the aircraft carriers as well as sunk America's primary fleet. In turn, the U.S. would have responded through massive retaliation which would have ended all life on the planet."

The fact it didn’t stands as credit to both leaders, they managed to remain calm and calmly negotiate when everyone around them were advocating action. Consequently, The Soviet premier agreed to withdraw the missiles from Cuba while President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) removed his missiles from NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was immense, as was a feeling of optimism.

A Divergent Perspective

Still, for those two weeks of October 1962, the fear was felt by everyone. The Bomb’s co-hosts came into the world shortly after the crisis, and Khrushcheva learned about the crisis via the Soviet education system, which painted a slightly different narrative of what happened.

"You said your father remembers it, describing it as a scary day," she says. "However for Soviet citizens, the public really didn’t know that much about it, because it was a crisis, and under the Soviet system we were told that things are always fine or positive."

Within the Khrushchev household, though, the perspective was different. "I was informed that it was a triumphant moment it was, as it represented eyeball to eyeball. They were able to resolve it, thus didn’t start a global war, seen as a positive outcome," she adds. Subsequently, though, that perspective would not be held by everybody. "For decades within Russian historical analysis, it was considered a setback for Khrushchev, because he refrained from destroying the United States."

An Unlikely Partnership

This podcast is so balanced and expertly crafted that Khrushcheva jokes it almost made her forget the known outcome. This effect is, partly, thanks to the participation of historians. But, truly, the most significant aspect remains the involvement of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it would be inconceivable for descendants of the leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union would appear together publicly. That Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva are able to do so, and exhibit such warmth with each other, has to be a sign of progress.

"We aren't the first," notes Khrushcheva. "After the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, a relative Sergey Khrushchev’s son and formed a close bond with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"But we were strangers before the podcast," adds Max. "That is a shame since we got along really well and we are friends, which is really great. Ultimately, following almost 60 years of nearly annihilating the planet, our lineages are now friends, suggesting global relations is safer, a little bit."

Contemporary Parallels and Current Dangers

Is that truly the case? Part of the reason this series seems so urgent is that we now are living in dark times. The Doomsday Clock stands nearer to midnight in its history, partly since today's statesmen don’t seem to have the capacity to learn