Following nearly annihilating our planet, our families are allies’: a gripping podcast featuring John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

During October 1962, humanity came closer toward ruin than at any other point in modern times. This occurred following the discovery that a US reconnaissance plane discovered the fact that Soviet atomic missile sites were under construction on Cuba, less than 100 miles from the United States. In response, President JFK commanded the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to enact a maritime quarantine encircling Cuba. The ensuing period was nearly a fortnight filled with impossible tension.

An Unthinkable Danger

The peril was palpable. Should President Kennedy, or the Russian opposite, Nikita Khrushchev, were to fire on their enemy, a chain reaction involving global atomic strikes and retaliatory strikes would have followed, thrusting mankind into all-out ruination.

The October crisis has been documented extensively, through books, films, and TV documentaries. However, in its latest installment, a prominent audio documentary series The Bomb has brought a completely new dimension into the story. The series is jointly hosted featuring Max Kennedy alongside Nina Khrushcheva, relatives belonging to the figures that, for two tense weeks, held the destiny of humanity in their hands.

"What were the Soviet side planning? What was Washington considering?" asks Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's great-granddaughter and an academic specializing in international affairs.

In her view, the strength of the show lies in its attempt to question: "Why do nations hate each other and go against one another?"

"It was not lost on me how profound it is that people have the potential to be friends or can become total adversaries," remarks Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, related to the late president and currently an author and lawyer. "History shows this over and over in instances where nations enter into conflict, demonstrating the profound irrationality involved to fight."

A Precipice of Disaster

What is remarkable about the Cuban missile crisis is that, because it transpired so publicly, people globally were able to observe nearly in real time while it edged towards armageddon. However, the danger of annihilation came closer than anybody realised.

"Almost all officials among Kennedy's advisors wanted a military strike and an invasion," says Max Kennedy. "Had the U.S. attacked Cuba using the naval blockade, there is no question the Russians on the ground would've fired a tactical nuclear weapon against the US Sixth Fleet, and that would've sunk our naval vessels as well as destroyed our largest and most important naval force. In turn, we would have retaliated with massive retaliation that would have eradicated most life on the planet."

The fact it didn’t stands as credit to Kennedy and Khrushchev, who managed to keep their heads while engaging in diplomacy at a time when hawkish elements around them were advocating military action. As a result, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the missiles in Cuba while Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) withdrew American similar weapons based in NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was palpable, as was the sense of hope.

The Different Perspective

Yet, for those 13 days in October, the tension was palpable by everyone. The podcast's presenters were born shortly after the crisis, with Khrushcheva learned about the crisis through the Soviet education system, which portrayed a slightly different narrative of events.

"As you mentioned your father remembers it, and it was a scary time," Khrushcheva notes. "But in the Soviet Union, the public were largely unaware a great deal about it, because it was a tense situation, whereas under the Soviet system the official line was that everything was always fine or positive."

Within the Khrushchev household, however, it was different. "I was informed that it was a triumphant moment for the USSR, because it represented eyeball to eyeball. They were able to resolve it, thus avoided the war, seen as a positive thing," she continues. Later on, though, that interpretation was not shared by all Russians. "For decades in Russian politics, the crisis was viewed as a defeat for the Soviet leader, because he didn’t blow up America."

A Unlikely Partnership

This podcast is so even-handed and expertly crafted that Nina quips she nearly forgot she already knew outcome. This is, in part, due to contributions from historians. Yet, really, the most groundbreaking thing is the involvement of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it was unthinkable that descendants of the leaders of America and the Soviet Union would appear side by side. That these two individuals are able to do so, and exhibit such warmth with each other, has to be a sign of progress.

"We aren't the pioneers," smiles Nina. "Following 1991, my uncle Sergey Khrushchev’s son and became great friends with the former president's family."

"However we were strangers before the podcast," clarifies Kennedy. "Which is unfortunate since we connected immediately and now we’re friends, something that is wonderful. Ultimately, following almost six decades since almost destroying the planet, our lineages have become allies, so I think the world is safer, somewhat."

Contemporary Parallels with Current Dangers

Or is it? One reason the reason this series feels so necessary is that we once again are living living through a perilous era. The Doomsday Clock stands nearer to midnight than ever before, in part because today's statesmen don’t seem to be able to learn