‘After nearly annihilating the planet, our relatives are allies’: a gripping audio series featuring John F. Kennedy and Khrushchev’s relatives.

In the month of October 1962, humanity came closer to annihilation more so than ever in modern times. This happened after a US surveillance plane found the fact that Russian nuclear missile installations were being built on Cuba, less than 160 kilometers off the coast of the United States. In response, President John F Kennedy directed a naval task force to enact a naval quarantine around Cuba. The ensuing period constituted nearly two weeks filled with extreme stress.

The Unthinkable Threat

The peril remained clear. If Kennedy, or else his Russian opposite, Nikita Khrushchev, initiated an attack on their enemy, a cascade of global atomic strikes and retaliatory strikes would have followed, casting civilization into total destruction.

The Cuban missile crisis has been examined extensively, through volumes, films, as well as television programmes. But, in its latest installment, a prominent BBC World Service podcast titled "The Bomb" presents a completely new dimension to this historical narrative. It is co-presented featuring Kennedy's relative alongside Nina Khrushcheva, relatives of the leaders that, for two tense weeks, grasped the fate of humanity in their hands.

"What were the Russians thinking? What were the American side planning?" asks Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s descendant who is also a professor specializing in global relations.

For her, the beauty of the podcast lies in its endeavor to objectively ask: "How can people hate each other and oppose each other?"

"I am acutely aware how spectacular the fact that people have the potential to be friends or else have the potential to be total enemies," remarks Max Kennedy, the son of RFK, related to the late president and currently a writer as well as attorney. "We see this repeatedly when countries enter into conflict, and it just illustrates how unbelievably stupid it is to engage in warfare."

The Brink of Disaster

What’s striking about this event was that, because it unfolded so publicly, people around the world were able to observe nearly as it happened as it crept closer to armageddon. However, the threat of destruction came closer than most people understood at the time.

"Virtually everyone among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for a military strike and a ground invasion," explains Kennedy. "If we had attacked Cuba using the naval blockade, it is certain Soviet forces on the ground would have deployed a tactical nuclear weapon against the American ships, which would have obliterated the aircraft carriers and sunk our largest and most important fleet. In turn, the U.S. would have responded with an overwhelming counterattack that would have ended most life on the planet."

The reality it didn’t is a testament to Kennedy and Khrushchev, they managed to remain calm while calmly negotiate when many advisors around them were advocating military action. As a result, The Soviet premier removed the nuclear weapons in the Caribbean island while President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) withdrew American similar weapons based in Turkey. The sense of relief was palpable, matched by a feeling of optimism.

A Divergent Perspective

Still, during those two weeks of October 1962, the fear was palpable globally. The Bomb’s presenters were born shortly after the crisis, with Nina being taught about the crisis through the USSR's school curriculum, which presented a slightly different narrative of what happened.

"You said your parent remembers it, and it was a scary day," she says. "But for Soviet citizens, people 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 sunny."

Within the Khrushchev household, however, it was different. "I was informed that it was a triumphant occasion for the USSR, as it was eyeball to eyeball. They were able to resolve it, and avoided the war, which was a positive outcome," she adds. Subsequently, however, that perspective would not be shared by all Russians. "For a long time within Russian historical analysis, it was considered a failure for Khrushchev, simply he didn’t blow up the United States."

A Unlikely Collaboration

This podcast is remarkably balanced , well produced so much so that Nina quips she nearly forgot she already knew outcome. This is, partly, thanks to contributions from renowned scholars. But, truly, the most groundbreaking thing remains the participation of the descendants. Even within living memory, it would be inconceivable that relatives of the leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union would appear side by side. That these two individuals can do that, and be so warm toward one another, must be seen as a sign of hope.

"Max and I aren't the first," smiles Nina. "After the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, my uncle moved to America where he became great friends with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"However we were strangers before the podcast," clarifies Kennedy. "That is a shame because we got along really well and now we’re friends, which is really great. Ultimately, after nearly 60 years of nearly annihilating the world, our families are now allies, suggesting the world is safer, a little bit."

Modern Parallels and Present Dangers

Or is it? Part of the reason The Bomb feels so necessary is that we once again find ourselves living through a perilous era. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to catastrophe than ever before, partly since today's statesmen appear not to have the capacity to comprehend