‘After almost annihilating our world, our relatives have become friends’: a thrilling podcast featuring John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

During the month of October 1962, humanity came closer to ruin than at any other point in modern times. This transpired following the discovery that an American reconnaissance aircraft identified that Soviet nuclear missile bases were being assembled in the island of Cuba, a mere 100 miles off the coast of American soil. Reacting to this, U.S. President JFK ordered the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to establish a naval blockade encircling Cuba. The next phase was almost a fortnight of impossible tension.

An Catastrophic Danger

The peril remained palpable. Should Kennedy, or else his Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, had fired on the other side, a cascade involving worldwide nuclear attacks followed by retaliatory strikes might have followed, thrusting mankind toward total ruination.

This pivotal 1962 event has been documented endlessly, through books, movies, and TV documentaries. But, in its latest installment, the audio documentary series The Bomb presents a novel element into this historical narrative. It is co-presented featuring Kennedy's relative and Khrushchev's descendant, relatives belonging to the figures that, over 13 days, held the fate of the planet in their hands.

"What was the Russians thinking? What was Washington thinking?" asks Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter who is also a professor of international affairs.

In her view, the beauty of the show lies in its attempt to question: "How can individuals hate one another to the point they go against one another?"

"It struck me how spectacular the fact that individuals can be friends or else can become complete enemies," states Max Kennedy, the son of RFK, nephew of JFK and now an author and attorney. "We see this repeatedly when countries enter into conflict, and it just illustrates how unbelievably stupid it is to fight."

The Brink Towards Disaster

What’s striking about the Cuban missile crisis was that, since it transpired so publicly, citizens worldwide were able to observe nearly in real time while it crept closer to catastrophe. However, the danger of destruction was more imminent than what anybody understood at the time.

"Almost all officials among Kennedy's advisors wanted a military strike and a ground invasion," explains Max Kennedy. "If we had attacked Cuba using the naval blockade, undoubtedly the Russians stationed there would have launched a tactical nuclear weapon at the American ships, and that would have destroyed the aircraft carriers as well as destroyed America's primary naval force. In turn, we would have retaliated through an overwhelming counterattack that would have eradicated most life on Earth."

The reality this did not occur highlights the composure of Kennedy and Khrushchev, they managed to exercise restraint and calmly negotiate when many advisors in their governments demanded military action. Consequently, Khrushchev removed the nuclear weapons in Cuba while Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) withdrew American missiles from Turkey. The sense of relief was worldwide, matched by the sense of optimism.

The Different Perspective

Still, during those 13 days in October, the tension was felt by everyone. The Bomb’s presenters came into the world shortly after these events, with Nina being taught about the crisis via the Soviet education system, which portrayed a slightly different picture of events.

"As you mentioned your father remembers it, and it was a scary day," Khrushcheva notes. "But in the Soviet Union, the public were largely unaware a great deal regarding the crisis, because it was a tense situation, whereas in the Soviet Union the official line was that things are always wonderful or positive."

Inside Khrushchev’s family, however, the perspective was distinct. "I was informed that it was a triumphant occasion it was, because it represented eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to resolve it, thus didn’t start the war, seen as a positive thing," she continues. Subsequently, however, that view would not be held by everybody. "For a long time in Russian politics, it was considered a setback for the Soviet leader, because he refrained from destroying the United States."

An Unlikely Collaboration

This podcast is remarkably balanced and well produced that Khrushcheva jokes she nearly forgot the known the ending. This is, partly, thanks to the participation of historians. But, truly, the most groundbreaking thing remains the participation of the descendants. Even within living memory, it would be unthinkable for relatives of the heads of state of America and the USSR to 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.

"Max and I are not the pioneers," smiles Nina. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, my uncle moved to America and formed a close bond with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"But we were strangers before the podcast," clarifies Kennedy. "Which is a shame because we connected immediately and now we are friends, something that is wonderful. Finally, after nearly six decades since nearly annihilating the planet, our families are now friends, so I think the world is more secure, somewhat."

Contemporary Parallels with Current Dangers

Or is it? One reason the reason this series seems so urgent is because we now are living in a perilous era. The Doomsday Clock is closer to catastrophe than ever before, in part because world leaders don’t seem to have the capacity to learn