‘After almost annihilating our world, our families are friends’: the gripping podcast featuring John F. Kennedy & Nikita Khrushchev’s descendants.

During October 1962, the planet veered closer to ruin than at any other point in recent history. This happened after a US reconnaissance plane found that Russian nuclear weapon sites were under construction on the island of Cuba, a mere 100 miles off the coast of the United States. Reacting to this, President John F Kennedy ordered a naval task force to impose a maritime quarantine around Cuba. The next phase constituted nearly a fortnight of unbearable stress.

An Unthinkable Threat

The threat remained obvious. Should President Kennedy, or else the Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, had fired against the other side, a series of global nuclear strikes followed by counterstrikes would have followed, plunging humanity into total destruction.

This pivotal 1962 event has been covered extensively, in volumes, films, as well as television programmes. However, in its latest installment, a prominent BBC World Service podcast titled "The Bomb" has brought a novel dimension to the story. The series is jointly hosted by Kennedy's relative and Nina Khrushcheva, family members of the men who, for 13 days, held the fate of the world in their hands.

"What was the Russians planning? What were Washington thinking?" questions Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s descendant and a professor specializing in global relations.

For her, the strength of the podcast is its attempt to objectively ask: "How can individuals detest one another and oppose each other?"

"I am acutely aware how profound it is that people can be friends or have the potential to be complete adversaries," adds Max Kennedy, son of RFK, related to the late president and currently a writer as well as lawyer. "We see this dynamic over and over when countries enter into conflict, highlighting the sheer folly involved to fight."

A Precipice Towards Catastrophe

What’s striking about the Cuban missile crisis was that, because it transpired in the global spotlight, individuals globally were able to observe nearly in real time as it edged closer to catastrophe. Even so, the danger of destruction was more imminent than anybody understood at the time.

"The overwhelming majority among Kennedy's advisors wanted a military strike and an invasion," says Kennedy. "If we had struck the Cubans using the naval blockade, it is certain the Russians on the ground would have fired a nuclear warhead at the US Sixth Fleet, and that would have obliterated the naval vessels and destroyed our largest and most important fleet. And, we would have retaliated with an overwhelming counterattack which would have ended most life on Earth."

The fact this did not occur highlights the composure of Kennedy and Khrushchev, who managed to remain calm and calmly negotiate when many advisors around them were advocating action. Consequently, The Soviet premier removed the missiles in Cuba while Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) withdrew his missiles based in NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was worldwide, matched by the sense of optimism.

A Divergent Viewpoint

Still, for those two weeks in October, the anxiety was felt globally. The podcast's presenters came into the world in the years following the crisis, and Nina learned about it via the Soviet school curriculum, which presented an alternative version of what happened.

"You said your father recalls it, and it was a scary time," Khrushcheva notes. "However in the Soviet Union, people really didn’t know that much about it, since it was a tense situation, whereas in the Soviet Union the official line was that things are constantly fine or sunny."

Within Khrushchev’s family, however, the perspective was different. "They told me what a great occasion for the USSR, because it represented eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to find a solution, thus didn’t start the war, which was a wonderful thing," she continues. Subsequently, though, that interpretation would not be held by all Russians. "For a long time in Russian politics, the crisis was viewed as a defeat for the Soviet leader, simply he refrained from destroying the United States."

An Unlikely Partnership

The Bomb is remarkably even-handed , well produced so much so that Khrushcheva quips it almost made her forget the known the ending. This is, in part, thanks to the participation of renowned scholars. Yet, really, the most groundbreaking aspect is the participation of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it would be inconceivable for descendants of the heads of state of the United States and USSR would appear side by side. That these two individuals can do that, and exhibit such warmth with each other, has to be a symbol of hope.

"Max and I aren't the pioneers," notes Nina. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, my uncle moved to America where he formed a close bond with the former president's family."

"However we were strangers prior to this project," adds Max. "Which is a shame since we connected immediately and now we are friends, something that is really great. Ultimately, following nearly 60 years since almost destroying the world, our families have become friends, suggesting the world is more secure, a little bit."

Modern Echoes and Present Dangers

Or is it? One reason why this series feels so necessary is because we once again are living living through dark times. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to midnight in its history, partly since world leaders don’t seem to be able to comprehend