‘After almost destroying the planet, our relatives are friends’: a thrilling audio series featuring John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev’s descendants.

During October 1962, the world came nearer toward annihilation more so than ever during modern times. This occurred when an American surveillance aircraft discovered that Soviet nuclear missile installations were being built on the island of Cuba, less than 100 miles off the coast of the United States. Reacting to this, President John F Kennedy ordered the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to enact a maritime blockade encircling the island. What followed constituted almost a fortnight of unbearable stress.

An Catastrophic Threat

The threat remained obvious. If Kennedy, or the Russian opposite, Nikita Khrushchev, were to fire against the other side, a chain reaction involving global atomic attacks and retaliatory strikes might have followed, thrusting mankind into total oblivion.

The October crisis has been examined endlessly, in volumes, movies, as well as TV documentaries. However, in its latest installment, the BBC World Service podcast The Bomb introduces a novel dimension to this historical narrative. The series is jointly hosted featuring Max Kennedy and Khrushchev's descendant, family members of the figures who, for 13 days, grasped the fate of the world in their hands.

"What were the Soviet side considering? What was Washington thinking?" asks Nina Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's great-granddaughter who is also a professor specializing in international affairs.

In her view, the beauty of the show is its attempt to explore: "How can nations detest each other to the point they go against one another?"

"I am acutely aware how spectacular the fact that people have the potential to be allies or else have the potential to be complete adversaries," states Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy, related to the late president and now a writer and attorney. "History shows this dynamic over and over in instances where countries have gone to war, and it just illustrates the sheer folly involved to engage in warfare."

A Precipice of Disaster

What is striking about the Cuban missile crisis was that, since it unfolded in the global spotlight, citizens around the world were able to observe nearly as it happened while it moved towards catastrophe. Even so, the risk of annihilation was more imminent than anybody realised.

"Virtually everyone in the White House wanted an airstrike followed by a ground invasion," says Max Kennedy. "If we had attacked the Cubans with the Sixth Fleet, undoubtedly Soviet forces on the ground would have deployed a tactical nuclear weapon at the American ships, which would have sunk our aircraft carriers as well as sunk our largest and most important fleet. In turn, we would have retaliated through massive retaliation which would have ended most life on the planet."

The reality this did not occur highlights the composure of both leaders, they managed to remain calm and engaging in diplomacy when hawkish elements in their governments were advocating action. As a result, Khrushchev removed the missiles in Cuba and Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) withdrew American missiles based in NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was palpable, matched by a feeling of hope.

The Different Perspective

Yet, during those two weeks of October 1962, the anxiety was palpable by everyone. The podcast's presenters came into the world in the years following the crisis, and Khrushcheva being taught about it via the Soviet school curriculum, which painted an alternative picture of what happened.

"You said your father remembers it, and it was a scary time," Khrushcheva notes. "But in the Soviet Union, people really didn’t know a great deal about it, because it was a crisis, and under the Soviet system we were told that things are always wonderful and sunny."

Inside the Khrushchev household, however, the perspective was distinct. "They told me that it was a triumphant moment for the USSR, as it was eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to find a solution, and avoided the war, seen as a positive thing," she adds. Later on, though, that interpretation would not be shared by everybody. "For a long time within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a defeat for Khrushchev, because he didn’t blow up the United States."

A Unprecedented Collaboration

This podcast is remarkably even-handed , expertly crafted so much so that Khrushcheva jokes she nearly forgot the known outcome. This is, in part, thanks to the participation of historians. But, really, the most momentous aspect is the participation of the hosts themselves. Not so long ago, it was unthinkable for relatives of the leaders of the United States and Soviet Union to appear side by side. That Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva can do that, and be so warm with each other, has to be a symbol of progress.

"Max and I are not the first," notes Khrushcheva. "Following 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 prior to this project," adds Max. "That is unfortunate because we connected really well and we’re friends, something that is really great. Finally, following almost 60 years since nearly annihilating the planet, our families are now friends, suggesting the world is safer, a little bit."

Contemporary Parallels with Present Dangers

Or is it? Part of why The Bomb feels so necessary is that we now find ourselves living through dark times. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to midnight than ever before, partly since today's statesmen appear not to have the capacity to comprehend