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

In the month of October 1962, the planet came nearer to ruin more so than ever in recent history. This transpired following the discovery that a US reconnaissance plane found that Russian atomic missile sites were being assembled on Cuba, less than 160 kilometers off the coast of the US mainland. In response, President John F Kennedy directed a naval task force to establish a naval blockade around the island. What followed constituted nearly two weeks filled with impossible anxiety.

The Catastrophic Threat

The peril remained obvious. Should President Kennedy, or else the Soviet counterpart, Premier Khrushchev, initiated an attack on the other side, a series of worldwide nuclear strikes followed by counterstrikes could have followed, thrusting humanity into total ruination.

This pivotal 1962 event has been covered extensively, in books, movies, as well as TV documentaries. But, in its latest installment, a prominent audio documentary series The Bomb presents an unprecedented dimension into this historical narrative. It is jointly hosted featuring Max Kennedy alongside Khrushchev's descendant, relatives of the figures that, for 13 days, grasped the fate of the planet within their grasp.

"What was the Russians considering? What were the United States planning?" questions Nina Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's descendant and a professor of global relations.

In her view, the beauty of the podcast is its attempt to explore: "Why do individuals detest each other to the point they confront one another?"

"It was not lost on me how profound it is that individuals have the potential to be allies or else can become complete adversaries," remarks Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, related to JFK and now a writer and lawyer. "History shows this over and over when nations enter into conflict, and it just illustrates how unbelievably stupid involved to fight."

A Brink of Catastrophe

What is notable about the Cuban missile crisis was that, since it transpired in the global spotlight, people around the world were able to observe nearly in real time as it crept closer to disaster. Even so, the danger of destruction was more imminent than anybody realised.

"Almost all officials in the White House wanted a military strike and an invasion," says Kennedy. "Had the U.S. attacked the Cubans with the Sixth Fleet, there is no question Soviet forces stationed there would've deployed a tactical nuclear weapon at the American ships, and that would've obliterated the naval vessels as well as destroyed our primary fleet. In turn, the U.S. would have retaliated through massive retaliation which would have ended most life on the planet."

The fact this did not occur is a testament to Kennedy and Khrushchev, who succeeded in exercise restraint while calmly negotiate when everyone around them were advocating action. As a result, The Soviet premier agreed to withdraw the nuclear weapons from the Caribbean island and Kennedy (although not reported then) withdrew his similar weapons from Turkey. The sense of relief was palpable, matched by a feeling of optimism.

The Divergent Viewpoint

Still, for those two weeks of October 1962, the fear was palpable globally. The podcast's co-hosts were born in the years following these events, with Khrushcheva being taught about the crisis via the USSR's school curriculum, which presented an alternative narrative of what happened.

"You said your parent remembers it, and it was a scary day," she says. "But in the Soviet Union, the public were largely unaware a great deal regarding the crisis, because it was a tense situation, and in the Soviet Union we were told that everything was always fine and positive."

Inside the Khrushchev household, however, the perspective was different. "They told me what a great moment for the USSR, as it represented eyeball to eyeball. They were able to find a solution, thus avoided a global war, seen as a positive outcome," she adds. In the years to come, however, that interpretation would not be shared by all Russians. "For decades in Russian politics, it was considered a defeat for Khrushchev, simply he refrained from destroying America."

A Unprecedented Collaboration

This podcast is remarkably even-handed and well produced so much so that Nina jokes she nearly forgot she already knew the ending. This is, in part, due to contributions from renowned scholars. Yet, truly, the most momentous thing is the participation of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it was inconceivable that descendants of the heads of state of the United States and USSR to 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 hope.

"Max and I aren't the first," smiles Khrushcheva. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, a relative moved to America where he formed a close bond with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"However we were strangers prior to this project," adds Kennedy. "That is a shame since we got along really well and now we are friends, which is wonderful. Ultimately, following nearly six decades of almost destroying the world, our lineages are now friends, so I think the world is safer, a little bit."

Contemporary Parallels and Present Perils

Is that truly the case? Part of the reason The Bomb seems so urgent is because we now are living living through a perilous era. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to midnight in its history, in part because today's statesmen appear not to be able to comprehend