‘After almost destroying our world, our relatives have become allies’: the thrilling podcast featuring JFK & Khrushchev’s descendants.

During the month of October 1962, the planet came closer to annihilation more so than ever in modern times. This transpired when an American surveillance plane discovered the fact that Russian atomic weapon sites were being assembled on the island of Cuba, a mere 100 miles off the coast of the US mainland. In response, U.S. President JFK commanded a naval task force to impose a maritime blockade around Cuba. The next phase was nearly two weeks filled with unbearable anxiety.

The Unthinkable Threat

The threat remained clear. If Kennedy, or else his Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, had fired on their enemy, a series of global atomic strikes and counterstrikes might have followed, thrusting civilization into all-out ruination.

This pivotal 1962 event has been documented extensively, through books, movies, as well as television programmes. However, for its third season, the BBC World Service podcast The Bomb introduces a completely new perspective into the story. It is co-presented by Kennedy's relative and Khrushchev's descendant, relatives belonging to the figures who, over 13 days, held the fate of humanity within their grasp.

"What was the Soviet side considering? What was the United States planning?" asks Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter and a professor of global relations.

For her, the strength of the podcast lies in its endeavor to explore: "Why do people hate each other to the point they go against each other?"

"It struck me how remarkable the fact that humans have the potential to be allies or else can become complete adversaries," remarks Kennedy, the son of RFK, related to the late president and now an author as well as lawyer. "History shows this dynamic over and over when countries enter into conflict, demonstrating the sheer folly involved to engage in warfare."

The Brink Towards Catastrophe

What’s striking about the Cuban missile crisis was that, since it transpired so publicly, citizens worldwide were able to observe nearly as it happened as it edged towards disaster. Even so, the risk of destruction came closer than what anybody understood at the time.

"Virtually everyone in the White House wanted an airstrike and a ground invasion," notes Kennedy. "If we had attacked Cuba using the Sixth Fleet, there is no question the Russians stationed there would have fired a nuclear warhead against the American ships, which would have sunk the aircraft carriers as well as sunk America's largest and most important naval force. In turn, the U.S. would have retaliated through an overwhelming counterattack which would have ended all life on the planet."

The reality it didn’t highlights the composure of Kennedy and Khrushchev, who managed to exercise restraint while calmly negotiate when everyone around them was pushing for action. Consequently, The Soviet premier removed the missiles in the Caribbean island while President Kennedy (although not reported at the time) withdrew his missiles based in NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was palpable, matched by the sense of hope.

The Different Viewpoint

Still, for those 13 days of October 1962, the tension was palpable by everyone. The Bomb’s presenters were born in the years following these events, with Nina learned about it through the USSR's education system, which painted a slightly different version of what happened.

"You said your father recalls it, and it was a frightening day," she says. "But in the Soviet Union, the public really didn’t know that much about it, since it was a crisis, whereas under the Soviet system we were told that everything was constantly wonderful or sunny."

Inside Khrushchev’s family, though, the perspective was different. "They told me what a great moment for the USSR, as it was eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to find a solution, and didn’t start the war, which was a positive thing," she adds. Subsequently, though, that view would not be held by all Russians. "For a long time within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a defeat for the Soviet leader, because he refrained from destroying America."

An Unprecedented Collaboration

This podcast is remarkably even-handed , well produced so much so that Khrushcheva quips it almost made her forget the known the ending. This is, partly, thanks to the participation of historians. Yet, really, the most significant thing is the participation of the descendants. Even within living memory, it would be unthinkable that descendants of the leaders of America and USSR would appear side by side. That these two individuals are able to do so, and be so warm with each other, has to be a symbol of progress.

"Max and I are not the pioneers," notes Nina. "After the dissolution of the USSR in 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," clarifies Kennedy. "That is a shame since we got along immediately and we’re friends, which is really great. Finally, after almost 60 years of nearly annihilating the planet, our lineages are now friends, so I think the world is safer, a little bit."

Contemporary Parallels and Current Perils

Or is it? One reason the reason this series seems so urgent is because we once again are living living through a perilous era. The Doomsday Clock is closer to catastrophe in its history, in part because world leaders appear not to have the capacity to learn