‘After almost destroying our planet, the relatives have become friends’: a gripping audio series from JFK and Khrushchev’s descendants.

In October 1962, the planet veered closer toward annihilation than at any other point during the contemporary era. This transpired after an American surveillance plane discovered the fact that Soviet atomic weapon bases were under construction on the island of Cuba, a mere 100 miles off the coast of the US mainland. Reacting to this, President John F Kennedy directed the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to enact a maritime quarantine around the island. The ensuing period constituted almost 14 days filled with impossible anxiety.

The Unthinkable Danger

The peril was obvious. Should President Kennedy, or the Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, initiated an attack against the other side, a series involving worldwide nuclear strikes and retaliatory strikes would have followed, casting mankind into total oblivion.

The Cuban missile crisis has been examined extensively, through books, movies, and TV documentaries. However, for its third season, a prominent audio documentary series titled "The Bomb" has brought a completely new perspective into the story. The series is jointly hosted featuring Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva, relatives of the figures that, over 13 days, held the destiny of the world within their grasp.

"What were the Russians planning? What were the United States planning?" asks Nina Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s descendant and an academic of global relations.

For her, the strength of the show lies in its attempt to objectively ask: "Why do nations detest each other to the point they go against one another?"

"It was not lost on me how remarkable the fact that people can be allies or else have the potential to be total enemies," remarks Max Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, related to the late president and currently an author as well as attorney. "We see this dynamic over and over in instances where countries have gone to war, highlighting how unbelievably stupid involved to fight."

The Precipice of Disaster

What is striking about the Cuban missile crisis is that, because it unfolded in the global spotlight, citizens around the world were able to observe almost in real time as it crept closer to catastrophe. However, the threat of destruction came closer than anybody realised.

"The overwhelming majority in the White House wanted an airstrike followed by a ground invasion," notes Kennedy. "Had the U.S. struck the Cubans using the naval blockade, it is certain Soviet forces stationed there would have launched a nuclear warhead against the US Sixth Fleet, and that would have destroyed the aircraft carriers and sunk America's largest and most important fleet. And, the U.S. would have retaliated through massive retaliation which would have eradicated all life on Earth."

The reality it didn’t is a testament to both leaders, who succeeded in remain calm and engaging in diplomacy at a time when hawkish elements in their governments demanded military action. As a result, The Soviet premier agreed to withdraw the missiles from the Caribbean island while Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) removed American missiles based in Turkey. The sense of relief was palpable, matched by the sense of optimism.

A Divergent Viewpoint

Still, during those two weeks in October, the anxiety was palpable by everyone. The podcast's presenters came into the world shortly after the crisis, with Nina learned about it through the USSR's school curriculum, which presented a slightly different narrative of what happened.

"You said your father recalls it, and it was a frightening day," she says. "However for Soviet citizens, people really didn’t know a great deal about it, since it was a crisis, and in the Soviet Union the official line was that things are constantly wonderful or positive."

Within the Khrushchev household, though, the perspective was distinct. "They told me what a great occasion for the USSR, because it was eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to resolve it, thus didn’t start a global war, seen as a wonderful thing," she continues. In the years to come, though, that view would not be shared by everybody. "For a long time in Russian politics, the crisis was viewed as a failure for Khrushchev, because he didn’t blow up the United States."

An Unlikely Collaboration

The Bomb is remarkably even-handed , well produced that Nina jokes it almost made her forget the known outcome. This effect is, in part, due to contributions from renowned scholars. But, truly, the most momentous thing is the participation of the descendants. Even within living memory, it would be unthinkable for relatives of the heads of state of the United States and Soviet Union to appear side by side. The fact that Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva can do that, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, has to be a sign of optimism.

"Max and I are not the pioneers," smiles Nina. "After 1991, a relative moved to America and formed a close bond with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"But we had never met before the podcast," clarifies Kennedy. "That is unfortunate because we connected immediately and now we’re friends, something that is really great. Ultimately, after almost 60 years of nearly annihilating the world, our lineages are now allies, suggesting the world is more secure, somewhat."

Modern Echoes and Present Dangers

Or is it? One reason the reason The Bomb feels so necessary is because we now are living living through dark times. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to midnight than ever before, in part because today's statesmen appear not to be able to learn