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

In October 1962, the world veered closer to annihilation than at any other point during recent history. This transpired following the discovery that an American reconnaissance plane found that Russian atomic missile installations were being assembled on Cuba, less than 160 kilometers off the coast of American soil. Reacting to this, President JFK commanded a naval task force to enact a maritime quarantine around Cuba. What followed was nearly 14 days filled with extreme anxiety.

An Unthinkable Threat

The peril remained obvious. If Kennedy, or else his Soviet counterpart, Premier Khrushchev, had fired against the other side, a series involving worldwide atomic strikes and retaliatory strikes would have ensued, plunging mankind into all-out destruction.

The October crisis has been examined extensively, in books, movies, and television programmes. However, in its latest installment, the BBC World Service podcast titled "The Bomb" introduces a completely new element into this historical narrative. It is jointly hosted featuring Kennedy's relative and Nina Khrushcheva, family members belonging to the leaders who, over 13 days, held the destiny of humanity in their hands.

"What was the Kremlin considering? What were the United States planning?" asks Nina Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's descendant who is also a professor specializing in global relations.

For her, the strength of the podcast is its endeavor to objectively ask: "Why do people detest one another and confront each other?"

"I am acutely aware how spectacular the fact that people have the potential to be allies or else have the potential to be complete enemies," states Max Kennedy, the son of RFK, related to the late president and currently an author and attorney. "History shows this dynamic over and over when countries enter into conflict, highlighting the profound irrationality involved to fight."

The Brink Towards Catastrophe

What’s remarkable about this event was that, because it transpired in the global spotlight, citizens worldwide could watch almost in real time while it edged closer to armageddon. Nonetheless, the threat of destruction was more imminent than what most people realised.

"The overwhelming majority in the White House wanted an airstrike followed by an invasion," explains Kennedy. "If we had attacked Cuba with the naval blockade, undoubtedly the Russians on the ground would've fired a nuclear warhead against the US Sixth Fleet, which would have obliterated our aircraft carriers and destroyed our largest and most important naval force. And, the U.S. would have retaliated with an overwhelming counterattack that would have ended all life on the planet."

The reality it didn’t stands as credit to Kennedy and Khrushchev, they managed to keep their heads while calmly negotiate at a time when hawkish elements around them were advocating military action. As a result, Khrushchev removed the nuclear weapons in Cuba while President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) removed American similar weapons based in NATO ally Turkey. The relief was immense, matched by a feeling of optimism.

The Divergent Perspective

Yet, for those 13 days of October 1962, the fear was palpable by everyone. The Bomb’s co-hosts were born shortly after these events, with Khrushcheva learned about it via the USSR's education system, which painted an alternative version of events.

"As you mentioned your father recalls it, and it was a frightening time," Khrushcheva notes. "But for Soviet citizens, the public were largely unaware that much about it, because it was a tense situation, and under the Soviet system the official line was that things are always fine and positive."

Within Khrushchev’s family, however, it was different. "I was informed that it was a triumphant moment for the USSR, as it represented eyeball to eyeball. They were able to find a solution, thus avoided the war, seen as a wonderful thing," she adds. In the years to come, however, that interpretation was not held by all Russians. "For a long time in Russian politics, it was considered a failure for the Soviet leader, simply he refrained from destroying America."

A Unlikely Partnership

The Bomb is remarkably balanced , expertly crafted so much so that Khrushcheva jokes she nearly forgot she already knew the ending. This effect is, in part, due to contributions from historians. But, really, the most groundbreaking thing remains the involvement of the hosts themselves. Not so long ago, it would be unthinkable that relatives of the leaders of America and the Soviet Union would appear together publicly. The fact that Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva can do that, and be so warm toward one another, has to be a sign of hope.

"We are not the first," smiles Nina. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, my uncle moved to America and formed a close bond with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"However we had never met prior to this project," adds Kennedy. "Which is a shame since we got along immediately and we’re friends, which is wonderful. Finally, following almost 60 years since nearly annihilating the planet, our lineages are now friends, suggesting the world is safer, a little bit."

Contemporary Parallels and Current Dangers

Or is it? Part of why The Bomb feels so necessary is that we now are living living through dark times. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to catastrophe than ever before, partly since world leaders appear not to be able to comprehend