‘After nearly annihilating our planet, our families are friends’: a thrilling audio series from John F. Kennedy & Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

During October 1962, the world came nearer toward annihilation than at any other point in modern times. This occurred following the discovery that a US surveillance aircraft identified that Russian nuclear weapon installations were being built in Cuba, less than 100 miles off the coast of the United States. Reacting to this, President JFK ordered a naval task force to enact a maritime quarantine around the island. What followed was almost a fortnight filled with unbearable tension.

The Catastrophic Danger

The peril was palpable. Should Kennedy, or the Russian opposite, Nikita Khrushchev, were to fire against the other side, a chain reaction of worldwide nuclear attacks followed by counterstrikes might have ensued, casting humanity into all-out destruction.

The October crisis has been covered endlessly, in volumes, movies, as well as TV documentaries. However, for its third season, a prominent audio documentary series The Bomb presents a completely new perspective into the story. The series is co-presented by Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva, family members of the figures who, for two tense weeks, grasped the destiny of the planet in their hands.

"What were the Russians planning? What was Washington thinking?" ponders Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter who is also a professor specializing in global relations.

For her, the strength of the podcast is its attempt to explore: "How can nations detest each other to the point they oppose each other?"

"I am acutely aware how spectacular the fact that individuals have the potential to be allies or else have the potential to be total enemies," adds Max Kennedy, son of RFK, related to the late president and currently an author as well as lawyer. "We see this repeatedly when countries have gone to war, demonstrating how unbelievably stupid involved to engage in warfare."

The Brink Towards Catastrophe

What is remarkable regarding the Cuban missile crisis was that, because it transpired in the global spotlight, individuals globally could watch almost as it happened as it edged closer to catastrophe. Nonetheless, the threat of destruction was more imminent than anybody realised.

"The overwhelming majority in the White House wanted an airstrike followed by an invasion," explains Kennedy. "Had the U.S. struck Cuba using the Sixth Fleet, undoubtedly the Russians stationed there would've launched a tactical nuclear weapon against the US Sixth Fleet, which would have destroyed our aircraft carriers as well as sunk our largest and most important naval force. In turn, the U.S. would have responded through an overwhelming counterattack which would have eradicated most life on the planet."

The reality it didn’t stands as credit to both leaders, who managed to keep their heads and engaging in diplomacy at a time when many advisors around them was pushing for military action. As a result, Khrushchev removed the nuclear weapons in the Caribbean island while President Kennedy (although not reported at the time) removed American missiles from NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was worldwide, as was a feeling of hope.

A Divergent Viewpoint

Yet, for those 13 days of October 1962, the anxiety was palpable by everyone. The podcast's co-hosts came into the world in the years following the crisis, and Nina learned about it through the USSR's education system, which presented a slightly different picture of events.

"You said your parent remembers it, describing it as a scary time," Khrushcheva notes. "However in the Soviet Union, people were largely unaware a great deal about it, since it was a crisis, and under the Soviet system we were told that everything was always fine or sunny."

Within the Khrushchev household, however, the perspective was different. "They told me what a great moment for the USSR, because it was eyeball to eyeball. They were able to find a solution, and avoided a global war, which was a wonderful thing," she adds. Later on, though, that perspective 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."

A Unprecedented Collaboration

The Bomb is remarkably even-handed and expertly crafted so much so that Nina jokes it almost made her forget she already knew the ending. This effect is, partly, due to the participation of historians. But, really, the most groundbreaking aspect remains the involvement of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it would be unthinkable that relatives of the heads of state of America and Soviet Union would appear side by side. The fact that these two individuals are able to do so, and be so warm with each other, must be seen as a symbol of progress.

"We aren't the first," notes Khrushcheva. "Following 1991, a relative moved to America and formed a close bond with the former president's family."

"However we had never met prior to this project," adds Kennedy. "That is unfortunate because we connected immediately and we’re friends, which is really great. Ultimately, after nearly six decades of almost destroying the world, our families have become friends, suggesting global relations is more secure, somewhat."

Contemporary Parallels and Current Perils

Is that truly the case? Part of why The Bomb seems so urgent 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 have the capacity to learn