‘After almost annihilating our world, the relatives are friends’: the thrilling audio series from JFK & Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

During October 1962, the world edged nearer to ruin than at any other point in modern times. This happened when an American surveillance aircraft identified the fact that Soviet atomic missile installations were being built on the island of Cuba, less than 160 kilometers off the coast of American soil. Reacting to this, U.S. President John F Kennedy commanded a naval task force to impose a maritime quarantine around Cuba. The ensuing period constituted nearly 14 days filled with impossible stress.

An Catastrophic Threat

The peril remained clear. Should Kennedy, or else his Russian opposite, Nikita Khrushchev, had fired on their enemy, a cascade of global atomic attacks followed by counterstrikes might have followed, casting mankind into total oblivion.

The October crisis has been examined repeatedly, in volumes, movies, and TV documentaries. But, for its third season, a prominent BBC World Service podcast The Bomb presents an unprecedented dimension to the story. The series is jointly hosted featuring Max Kennedy and Khrushchev's descendant, family members of the men that, for two tense weeks, held the fate of the world within their grasp.

"What was the Russians thinking? What were the United States thinking?" asks Nina Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter who is also a professor of international affairs.

In her view, the beauty of the show is its endeavor to explore: "How can individuals hate one another and confront one another?"

"It was not lost on me how spectacular it is that individuals have the potential to be allies or have the potential to be total enemies," states Max Kennedy, son of RFK, nephew of the late president and currently an author as well as attorney. "History shows this repeatedly in instances where nations enter into conflict, demonstrating the profound irrationality involved to fight."

The Precipice Towards Catastrophe

What’s remarkable about the Cuban missile crisis is that, because it transpired in the global spotlight, individuals around the world were able to observe nearly in real time as it crept towards disaster. Even so, the risk of annihilation came closer than most people understood at the time.

"The overwhelming majority among Kennedy's advisors wanted an airstrike and a ground invasion," notes Max Kennedy. "If we had struck the Cubans using the Sixth Fleet, there is no question Soviet forces stationed there would have launched a nuclear warhead at the US Sixth Fleet, which would've sunk the aircraft carriers and sunk our primary fleet. In turn, we would have responded with massive retaliation that would have ended most life on Earth."

The fact it didn’t highlights the composure of Kennedy and Khrushchev, who managed to remain calm while calmly negotiate when hawkish elements in their governments were advocating action. Consequently, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the nuclear weapons from the Caribbean island while Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) withdrew his missiles from NATO ally Turkey. The relief was palpable, as was a feeling of hope.

The Different Perspective

Still, during those two weeks in October, the fear was palpable globally. The Bomb’s presenters were born shortly after the crisis, and Khrushcheva learned about the crisis through the Soviet education system, which presented a slightly different picture of what happened.

"As you mentioned your father recalls it, and it was a scary time," she says. "However in the Soviet Union, people really didn’t know that much about it, because it was a crisis, whereas in the Soviet Union the official line was that things are constantly wonderful or positive."

Inside Khrushchev’s family, though, the perspective was different. "I was informed that it was a triumphant moment it was, as it was eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to find a solution, and didn’t start the war, seen as a positive thing," she adds. Later on, however, that interpretation was not held by everybody. "For decades within Russian historical analysis, it was considered a failure for the Soviet leader, simply he didn’t blow up the United States."

An Unprecedented Collaboration

The Bomb is remarkably balanced and well produced so much so that Nina quips she nearly forgot she already knew the ending. This effect is, partly, thanks to the participation of historians. But, really, the most momentous aspect remains the participation of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it would be inconceivable for relatives of the heads of state of the United States and the Soviet Union to appear together publicly. That Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva are able to do so, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, must be seen as a sign of optimism.

"Max and I are not the pioneers," smiles Nina. "After 1991, my uncle Sergey Khrushchev’s son and became great friends with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"But we had never met before the podcast," adds Max. "Which is unfortunate since we got along immediately and now we are friends, something that is wonderful. Finally, after almost six decades since nearly annihilating the planet, our families have become allies, suggesting global relations is more secure, somewhat."

Modern Echoes with Current Perils

Is that truly the case? One reason the reason The Bomb seems so urgent is that we once again find ourselves living through dark times. The Doomsday Clock stands nearer to midnight than ever before, in part because world leaders appear not to have the capacity to learn