Following almost destroying our world, our families are friends’: the gripping audio series from John F. Kennedy & Nikita Khrushchev’s descendants.

During the month of October 1962, the planet veered nearer to annihilation more so than ever during the contemporary era. This transpired after a US surveillance aircraft discovered that Russian nuclear missile installations were being assembled in the island of Cuba, less than 100 miles from the United States. Reacting to this, President JFK commanded a naval task force to enact a maritime quarantine around Cuba. The next phase constituted almost two weeks filled with extreme anxiety.

The Unthinkable Danger

The threat remained clear. Should President Kennedy, or his Russian opposite, Nikita Khrushchev, had fired against their enemy, a chain reaction of worldwide nuclear strikes and retaliatory strikes might have ensued, thrusting humanity toward total ruination.

The Cuban missile crisis has been documented endlessly, in books, movies, as well as television programmes. However, in its latest installment, a prominent audio documentary series The Bomb has brought an unprecedented element into the story. It is jointly hosted by Max Kennedy alongside Nina Khrushcheva, family members belonging to the men who, over 13 days, grasped the fate of humanity within their grasp.

"What was the Russians planning? What were the American side considering?" asks Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's great-granddaughter and a professor of global relations.

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

"It was not lost on me how spectacular the fact that individuals have the potential to be allies or else can become total adversaries," states Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, related to JFK and now a writer and lawyer. "History shows this dynamic repeatedly in instances where nations have gone to war, and it just illustrates how unbelievably stupid involved to fight."

The Precipice Towards Catastrophe

What’s striking regarding this event is that, since it transpired so publicly, people globally were able to observe almost in real time as it crept closer to disaster. Even so, the danger of destruction was more imminent than what anybody understood at the time.

"Virtually everyone in the White House were advocating for an airstrike and an invasion," explains Max Kennedy. "If we had struck the Cubans with the naval blockade, it is certain the Russians stationed there would've launched a tactical nuclear weapon against the American ships, which would've destroyed our naval vessels as well as sunk America's largest and most important fleet. In turn, the U.S. would have responded with massive retaliation that 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 at a time when everyone around them was pushing for action. As a result, Khrushchev removed the nuclear weapons from the Caribbean island while President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) withdrew his similar weapons based in Turkey. The relief was immense, matched by the sense of optimism.

The Different Perspective

Still, for those 13 days of October 1962, the fear was felt globally. The podcast's co-hosts came into the world in the years following these events, with Khrushcheva learned about it through the USSR's school curriculum, which painted an alternative narrative of what happened.

"You said your father recalls it, describing it as a frightening day," Khrushcheva notes. "But in the Soviet Union, people really didn’t know a great deal regarding the crisis, since it was a tense situation, whereas in the Soviet Union we were told that things are always fine and positive."

Within Khrushchev’s family, though, it was different. "They told me what a great occasion for the USSR, as it represented a direct confrontation. They were able to resolve it, thus didn’t start the war, seen as a positive thing," she adds. Later on, however, that view was not held by all Russians. "For a long time in Russian politics, the crisis was viewed as a failure for the Soviet leader, simply he didn’t blow up America."

An Unlikely Collaboration

This podcast is so even-handed and well produced so much so that Nina quips she nearly forgot the known the ending. This is, in part, thanks to contributions from historians. But, truly, the most significant thing is the involvement of the descendants. Even within living memory, it would be inconceivable for descendants of the heads of state of the United States and USSR would appear side by side. The fact that Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva can do that, and be so warm with each other, has to be a symbol of optimism.

"We are not the first," notes Khrushcheva. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, a relative Sergey Khrushchev’s son where he became great friends with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"But we were strangers prior to this project," clarifies Kennedy. "Which is unfortunate since we connected immediately and we are friends, something that is wonderful. Ultimately, after almost six decades of almost destroying the world, our lineages are now friends, suggesting the world is safer, somewhat."

Modern Echoes and Current Perils

Or is it? One reason the reason this series feels so necessary is that we now are living in dark times. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to catastrophe than ever before, partly since today's statesmen don’t seem to have the capacity to grasp