‘After almost annihilating our planet, our relatives have become friends’: a thrilling podcast featuring John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

In October 1962, humanity came nearer toward ruin more so than ever in recent history. This transpired following the discovery that a US surveillance aircraft identified that Russian nuclear missile bases were under construction in Cuba, less than 100 miles off the coast of the United States. In response, President John F Kennedy ordered a naval task force to impose a maritime blockade encircling the island. What followed was nearly two weeks filled with extreme anxiety.

The Unthinkable Threat

The peril remained palpable. If President Kennedy, or his Soviet counterpart, Premier Khrushchev, had fired on their enemy, a chain reaction of global atomic attacks and retaliatory strikes would have followed, thrusting humanity toward all-out oblivion.

This pivotal 1962 event has been covered extensively, through books, movies, as well as TV documentaries. However, in its latest installment, a prominent audio documentary series The Bomb introduces an unprecedented perspective to the story. The series is jointly hosted by Kennedy's relative alongside Nina Khrushcheva, family members belonging to the men that, for two tense weeks, grasped the fate of the world within their grasp.

"What was the Russians thinking? What was the American side thinking?" asks Nina Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's descendant who is also a professor of global relations.

For her, the unique appeal of the show lies in its attempt to objectively ask: "How can nations detest each other to the point they go against one another?"

"It was not lost on me how spectacular the fact that individuals can be friends or can become total adversaries," states Kennedy, the son of RFK, nephew of the late president and currently a writer as well as lawyer. "History shows this dynamic over and over in instances where nations enter into conflict, demonstrating the profound irrationality it is to engage in warfare."

A Brink of Catastrophe

What’s notable regarding this event was that, since it transpired so publicly, individuals worldwide could watch nearly in real time while it edged towards armageddon. Even so, the threat of annihilation came closer than what most people understood at the time.

"The overwhelming majority among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for a military strike followed by an invasion," explains Max Kennedy. "If we had attacked the Cubans with the naval blockade, it is certain the Russians stationed there would have deployed a nuclear warhead against the American ships, and that would have obliterated the aircraft carriers and sunk America's largest and most important fleet. And, we would have retaliated through an overwhelming counterattack which would have ended all life on the planet."

The fact it didn’t stands as credit to both leaders, they succeeded in keep their heads and calmly negotiate at a time when many advisors around them were advocating military action. Consequently, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the nuclear weapons from the Caribbean island while President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) withdrew American similar weapons based in NATO ally Turkey. The relief was worldwide, matched by a feeling of hope.

A Different Viewpoint

Yet, during those two weeks in October, the anxiety was felt by everyone. The podcast's presenters came into the world in the years following these events, with Nina learned about the crisis through the Soviet education system, which presented an alternative narrative of what happened.

"You said your parent recalls it, describing it as a frightening day," she says. "However in the Soviet Union, people were largely unaware that much about it, because it was a crisis, and under the Soviet system the official line was that everything was constantly wonderful and sunny."

Inside the Khrushchev household, however, the perspective was different. "They told me that it was a triumphant occasion it was, as it was eyeball to eyeball. They were able to resolve it, and avoided a global war, seen as a wonderful outcome," she continues. In the years to come, however, that perspective was not held by all Russians. "For decades within Russian historical analysis, it was considered a setback for the Soviet leader, simply he refrained from destroying the United States."

An Unprecedented Partnership

This podcast is remarkably even-handed , well produced that Nina jokes it almost made her forget she already knew outcome. This effect is, partly, thanks to contributions from historians. Yet, truly, the most groundbreaking thing is the participation of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it was unthinkable that relatives of the heads of state of America and the USSR would appear together publicly. The fact that these two individuals are able to do so, and exhibit such warmth with each other, must be seen as a sign of progress.

"Max and I aren't the first," smiles Nina. "After 1991, my uncle Sergey Khrushchev’s son and became great friends with the former president's family."

"But we had never met before the podcast," clarifies Kennedy. "That is a shame because we connected immediately and now we are friends, something that is really great. Ultimately, following almost six decades since nearly annihilating the planet, our lineages have become friends, so I think the world is more secure, somewhat."

Contemporary Parallels and Present Perils

Is that truly the case? One reason the reason this series feels so necessary is that we now find ourselves in dark times. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to catastrophe than ever before, in part because today's statesmen don’t seem to have the capacity to comprehend