Following nearly annihilating the world, our families are allies’: a gripping audio series featuring John F. Kennedy & Khrushchev’s relatives.

During the month of October 1962, humanity came nearer toward ruin more so than ever during modern times. This happened when an American reconnaissance aircraft found the fact that Russian atomic missile installations were being built on Cuba, less than 100 miles off the coast of American soil. In response, U.S. President John F Kennedy directed the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to enact a naval quarantine encircling the island. The ensuing period was nearly two weeks of impossible stress.

The Catastrophic Threat

The peril was clear. If President Kennedy, or else the Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, were to fire against the other side, a chain reaction involving global nuclear strikes followed by counterstrikes would have followed, plunging civilization into total destruction.

The October crisis has been examined endlessly, in books, movies, as well as television programmes. However, in its latest installment, the audio documentary series The Bomb presents an unprecedented element to the story. The series is co-presented featuring Kennedy's relative and Khrushchev's descendant, family members belonging to the figures that, for two tense weeks, controlled the destiny of humanity within their grasp.

"What was the Kremlin thinking? What was the United States considering?" ponders Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s descendant who is also a professor specializing in international affairs.

For her, the beauty of the show is its attempt to explore: "Why do people hate each other to the point they go against each other?"

"I am acutely aware how spectacular it is that individuals can be friends or have the potential to be complete adversaries," adds Max Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, nephew of the late president and now a writer as well as lawyer. "We see this dynamic repeatedly in instances where nations have gone to war, demonstrating how unbelievably stupid it is to fight."

A Precipice Towards Disaster

What’s striking regarding the Cuban missile crisis is that, since it transpired so publicly, citizens globally could watch almost as it happened as it crept closer to armageddon. Even so, the risk of annihilation came closer than what most people understood at the time.

"Almost all officials in the White House wanted an airstrike and an invasion," explains Max Kennedy. "If we had attacked the Cubans with the Sixth Fleet, it is certain the Russians stationed there would have deployed a tactical nuclear weapon at the American ships, and that would've destroyed the aircraft carriers and destroyed our largest and most important fleet. And, the U.S. would have retaliated with an overwhelming counterattack that would have ended all life on Earth."

The reality it didn’t highlights the composure of both leaders, who succeeded in keep their heads while calmly negotiate at a time when hawkish elements in their governments were advocating military action. Consequently, The Soviet premier agreed to withdraw the missiles in the Caribbean island while President Kennedy (although not reported then) withdrew his missiles based in Turkey. The sense of relief was worldwide, as was a feeling of hope.

The Different Viewpoint

Still, for those 13 days in October, the tension was palpable by everyone. The Bomb’s presenters were born in the years following these events, with Nina learned about the crisis through the USSR's school curriculum, which painted an alternative picture of what happened.

"As you mentioned your father remembers it, and it was a scary time," Khrushcheva notes. "But in the Soviet Union, people were largely unaware that much about it, since it was a crisis, whereas under the Soviet system the official line was that things are always fine and sunny."

Within the Khrushchev household, however, the perspective was distinct. "They told me that it was a triumphant occasion for the USSR, because it was a direct confrontation. The leaders managed to resolve it, thus avoided a global war, which was a positive thing," she adds. In the years to come, however, that perspective would not be held by all Russians. "For a long time in Russian politics, the crisis was viewed as a setback for Khrushchev, simply he refrained from destroying the United States."

A Unlikely Collaboration

This podcast is so even-handed and well produced so much so that Khrushcheva quips she nearly forgot she already knew the ending. This is, in part, due to the participation of historians. Yet, really, the most momentous thing is the involvement of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it was unthinkable that relatives of the leaders of America and USSR would appear together publicly. That Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva are able to do so, and be so warm toward one another, has to be a sign of hope.

"We aren't the first," smiles Nina. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, a relative Sergey Khrushchev’s son and became great friends with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"However we were strangers before the podcast," clarifies Kennedy. "That is a shame because we connected really well and now we’re friends, which is really great. Finally, after nearly six decades since almost destroying the planet, our lineages are now allies, so I think the world is more secure, a little bit."

Modern Parallels with Current Perils

Or is it? One reason the reason this series seems so urgent is that we once again find ourselves in a perilous era. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to midnight in its history, in part because world leaders don’t seem to have the capacity to learn