‘After nearly annihilating our world, the families are friends’: a thrilling podcast featuring John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev’s descendants.

During October 1962, the world came nearer toward ruin than at any other point during the contemporary era. This transpired when a US surveillance aircraft identified the fact that Russian nuclear missile installations were being assembled on Cuba, a mere 160 kilometers from American soil. Reacting to this, President John F Kennedy commanded a naval task force to enact a maritime quarantine around Cuba. What followed was almost 14 days filled with unbearable stress.

An Catastrophic Threat

The peril remained palpable. Should Kennedy, or his Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, were to fire against the other side, a chain reaction of worldwide atomic strikes followed by retaliatory strikes might have ensued, casting humanity into all-out oblivion.

The Cuban missile crisis has been documented endlessly, in books, films, as well as television programmes. However, for its third season, a prominent BBC World Service podcast The Bomb introduces a novel dimension to the story. It is jointly hosted by Max Kennedy and Khrushchev's descendant, relatives of the men who, for 13 days, grasped the destiny of the world within their grasp.

"What were the Russians thinking? What were the American side planning?" asks Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s descendant and an academic of international affairs.

For her, the beauty of the show lies in its attempt to objectively ask: "Why do people hate each other to the point they oppose each other?"

"It struck me how profound it is that humans have the potential to be allies or can become total adversaries," remarks Max Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy, related to JFK and currently a writer and attorney. "History shows this dynamic over and over in instances where countries have gone to war, and it just illustrates how unbelievably stupid it is to engage in warfare."

The Brink Towards Catastrophe

What is remarkable about the Cuban missile crisis was that, because it unfolded so publicly, people around the world were able to observe almost as it happened while it moved closer to catastrophe. However, the danger of destruction was more imminent than anybody understood at the time.

"The overwhelming majority among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for an airstrike followed by a ground invasion," says Max Kennedy. "If we had struck the Cubans using the Sixth Fleet, undoubtedly Soviet forces stationed there would have launched a tactical nuclear weapon against the US Sixth Fleet, which would have obliterated the aircraft carriers as well as destroyed our primary naval force. And, the U.S. would have responded through an overwhelming counterattack that would have ended most life on the planet."

The fact this did not occur is a testament to both leaders, they succeeded in remain calm while calmly negotiate at a time when many advisors around them demanded action. Consequently, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the nuclear weapons in Cuba while President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) withdrew American similar weapons from NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was immense, matched by a feeling of optimism.

The Divergent Perspective

Yet, for those 13 days in October, the tension was felt by everyone. The Bomb’s co-hosts came into the world shortly after these events, and Khrushcheva learned about the crisis through the Soviet school curriculum, which portrayed an alternative picture of events.

"As you mentioned your father remembers it, and it was a frightening time," she says. "But for Soviet citizens, people really didn’t know a great deal about it, because it was a tense situation, and in the Soviet Union the official line was that everything was constantly wonderful and sunny."

Inside Khrushchev’s family, though, the perspective was different. "I was informed what a great occasion it was, as it represented a direct confrontation. They were able to resolve it, and avoided the war, seen as a wonderful outcome," she continues. Subsequently, however, that interpretation was not held by everybody. "For a long time in Russian politics, the crisis was viewed as a defeat for Khrushchev, because he refrained from destroying America."

An Unlikely Partnership

The Bomb is so balanced , expertly crafted so much so that Khrushcheva jokes she nearly forgot the known the ending. This effect is, in part, thanks to contributions from historians. But, really, the most momentous aspect remains the involvement of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it was unthinkable that descendants of the leaders of the United States and Soviet Union would appear together publicly. That these two individuals can do that, and be so warm toward one another, has to be a sign of progress.

"We aren't the pioneers," notes Nina. "After the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, my uncle moved to America and formed a close bond with the former president's family."

"But we were strangers before the podcast," clarifies Max. "That is a shame since we got along really well and we’re friends, something that is wonderful. Ultimately, after nearly six decades of nearly annihilating the world, our lineages are now allies, suggesting global relations is more secure, a little bit."

Contemporary Echoes with Current Perils

Is that truly the case? One reason why The Bomb seems so urgent is because we now are living living through dark times. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to catastrophe in its history, in part because today's statesmen appear not to be able to grasp