‘After almost annihilating our planet, our relatives have become friends’: a thrilling audio series from JFK & Khrushchev’s relatives.

During October 1962, the planet edged closer toward ruin more so than ever during modern times. This occurred when an American surveillance plane discovered the fact that Russian nuclear weapon bases were being built in Cuba, a mere 100 miles from the United States. Reacting to this, President John F Kennedy ordered the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to establish a naval blockade encircling Cuba. What followed constituted nearly a fortnight of extreme tension.

The Catastrophic Danger

The danger remained palpable. If President Kennedy, or else his Russian opposite, Nikita Khrushchev, were to fire on the other side, a chain reaction of global nuclear strikes and retaliatory strikes would have ensued, thrusting mankind into all-out oblivion.

The Cuban missile crisis has been covered extensively, through volumes, films, and television programmes. But, for its third season, the BBC World Service podcast The Bomb presents an unprecedented element to the story. It is co-presented featuring Max Kennedy alongside Khrushchev's descendant, relatives of the men who, over 13 days, held the destiny of humanity in their hands.

"What were the Soviet side thinking? What were Washington considering?" asks Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's great-granddaughter who is also a professor of global relations.

In her view, the strength of the show is its attempt to objectively ask: "Why do individuals detest each other and go against each other?"

"It was not lost on me how remarkable the fact that humans have the potential to be allies or have the potential to be complete adversaries," states Max Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, related to the late president and currently an author and lawyer. "We see this over and over in instances where countries have gone to war, and it just illustrates the profound irrationality involved to fight."

The Precipice of Catastrophe

What is striking regarding this event was that, because it unfolded so publicly, citizens globally could watch almost in real time while it moved towards armageddon. Nonetheless, the danger of annihilation came closer than what anybody understood at the time.

"Almost all officials among Kennedy's advisors wanted a military strike followed by an invasion," notes Kennedy. "Had the U.S. struck Cuba using the Sixth Fleet, there is no question the Russians on the ground would have fired a nuclear warhead against the US Sixth Fleet, and that would've sunk our aircraft carriers as well as sunk our largest and most important fleet. And, the U.S. would have responded through massive retaliation that would have ended all life on the planet."

The reality this did not occur stands as credit to Kennedy and Khrushchev, they succeeded in exercise restraint 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 nuclear weapons in the Caribbean island while President Kennedy (although not reported then) withdrew his similar weapons from NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was immense, matched by a feeling of optimism.

The Divergent Viewpoint

Still, for those 13 days in October, the tension was palpable globally. The podcast's presenters came into the world in the years following the crisis, and Nina being taught about it via the Soviet education system, which painted a slightly different picture of events.

"As you mentioned your father remembers it, and it was a scary time," she says. "But for Soviet citizens, people were largely unaware a great deal about it, because it was a crisis, whereas under the Soviet system we were told that everything was always fine and positive."

Within Khrushchev’s family, however, it was distinct. "I was informed what a great occasion it was, as it was eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to find a solution, thus didn’t start the war, seen as a positive outcome," she adds. Later on, though, that interpretation would not be shared by all Russians. "For a long time within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a defeat for Khrushchev, simply he refrained from destroying America."

An Unlikely Collaboration

This podcast is so even-handed and well produced so much so that Khrushcheva jokes she nearly forgot the known outcome. This effect is, partly, due to the participation of historians. Yet, really, the most momentous aspect is the participation of the descendants. Not so long ago, it was unthinkable that relatives of the heads of state of America and USSR would appear together publicly. The fact that these two individuals can do that, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, must be seen as a sign of hope.

"We are not the pioneers," smiles Khrushcheva. "After 1991, my uncle Sergey Khrushchev’s son where he became great friends with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"However we had never met before the podcast," adds Kennedy. "That is unfortunate since we got along really well and now we are friends, which is wonderful. Finally, following almost 60 years since almost destroying the planet, our lineages have become allies, suggesting global relations is safer, a little bit."

Contemporary Parallels with Current Dangers

Is that truly the case? One reason the reason The Bomb feels so necessary is because we now are living in dark times. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to catastrophe than ever before, partly since world leaders don’t seem to have the capacity to learn