Following almost destroying the world, the relatives have become friends’: the gripping audio series featuring JFK & Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

During the month of October 1962, humanity came nearer to annihilation than at any other point during modern times. This transpired after a US surveillance aircraft identified that Soviet nuclear missile installations were under construction in the island of Cuba, a mere 100 miles from the US mainland. In response, President John F Kennedy ordered the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to establish a naval blockade encircling Cuba. What followed was almost a fortnight of impossible stress.

The Catastrophic Danger

The danger was obvious. If Kennedy, or his Russian opposite, Nikita Khrushchev, had fired on their enemy, a series of global atomic attacks and retaliatory strikes might have ensued, plunging humanity toward all-out ruination.

This pivotal 1962 event has been documented repeatedly, in volumes, movies, as well as TV documentaries. But, in its latest installment, the audio documentary series The Bomb introduces an unprecedented perspective to the story. It is jointly hosted by Kennedy's relative alongside Nina Khrushcheva, relatives of the figures who, for two tense weeks, held the fate of the planet within their grasp.

"What were the Soviet side considering? What were the United States planning?" ponders Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter who is also an academic specializing in international affairs.

For her, the strength of the podcast is its attempt to question: "How can nations hate each other and oppose one another?"

"It struck me how spectacular the fact that people can be allies or else can become complete adversaries," states Max Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy, nephew of JFK and now an author and lawyer. "History shows this dynamic repeatedly when countries enter into conflict, highlighting the profound irrationality involved to fight."

A Precipice Towards Disaster

What’s notable about the Cuban missile crisis was that, because it transpired so publicly, people worldwide were able to observe almost as it happened while it edged towards armageddon. However, the risk of annihilation was more imminent than most people understood at the time.

"Almost all officials in the White House were advocating for a military strike and an invasion," explains Max Kennedy. "Had the U.S. attacked Cuba using the naval blockade, undoubtedly the Russians stationed there would have deployed a nuclear warhead against the US Sixth Fleet, which would've destroyed the naval vessels and destroyed our largest and most important fleet. And, the U.S. would have responded with massive retaliation which would have eradicated most life on the planet."

The fact it didn’t is a testament to both leaders, they managed to remain calm and calmly negotiate at a time when many advisors in their governments demanded military action. Consequently, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the missiles from the Caribbean island while President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) removed his similar weapons from NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was palpable, as was the sense of optimism.

A Different Viewpoint

Yet, for those two weeks of October 1962, the fear was felt by everyone. The Bomb’s co-hosts were born shortly after the crisis, and Khrushcheva being taught about the crisis through the Soviet education system, which portrayed an alternative version of events.

"You said your father recalls it, and it was a frightening day," she says. "But in the Soviet Union, the public were largely unaware a great deal about it, because it was a crisis, and in the Soviet Union the official line was that everything was constantly wonderful and sunny."

Inside Khrushchev’s family, though, it was distinct. "They told me what a great occasion for the USSR, because it was eyeball to eyeball. They were able to find a solution, and didn’t start the war, seen as a wonderful outcome," she continues. In the years to come, however, that interpretation would not be shared by everybody. "For decades in Russian politics, the crisis was viewed as a setback for the Soviet leader, simply he didn’t blow up America."

An Unlikely Collaboration

This podcast is so balanced , expertly crafted so much so that Nina jokes it almost made her forget the known the ending. This effect is, in part, thanks to the participation of renowned scholars. But, really, the most significant thing is the participation of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it was unthinkable that relatives of the leaders of America and USSR would appear side by side. The fact that these two individuals are able to do so, and exhibit such warmth with each other, has to be a sign of progress.

"We aren't the pioneers," notes Khrushcheva. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, my uncle moved to America where he became great friends with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"However we were strangers prior to this project," adds Kennedy. "That is a shame since we got along immediately and we’re friends, something that is really great. Ultimately, after nearly six decades of almost destroying the world, our families have become friends, suggesting global relations is safer, a little bit."

Contemporary Echoes and Current Dangers

Is that truly the case? One reason the reason The Bomb feels so necessary is that we once again find ourselves in a perilous era. The Doomsday Clock stands nearer to catastrophe in its history, in part because world leaders appear not to have the capacity to comprehend