Following almost annihilating our world, the families are friends’: a gripping podcast featuring JFK & Khrushchev’s descendants.

In the month of October 1962, the planet came closer to ruin than at any other point in the contemporary era. This transpired after an American reconnaissance plane found the fact that Soviet nuclear missile sites were being built in the island of Cuba, less than 100 miles off the coast of American soil. Reacting to this, President John F Kennedy commanded the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to establish a maritime quarantine around the island. What followed was almost 14 days filled with unbearable stress.

The Catastrophic Danger

The peril remained palpable. Should President Kennedy, or his Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, were to fire against their enemy, a cascade of worldwide nuclear strikes and counterstrikes could have ensued, casting mankind into total ruination.

The Cuban missile crisis has been examined repeatedly, in volumes, movies, as well as television programmes. However, in its latest installment, the audio documentary series The Bomb presents an unprecedented dimension into this historical narrative. It is co-presented by Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva, relatives belonging to the figures who, for 13 days, held the fate of the planet in their hands.

"What was the Kremlin considering? What was Washington considering?" questions Nina Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter who is also a professor of international affairs.

For her, the beauty of the podcast lies in its attempt to explore: "How can individuals detest one another and oppose one another?"

"It was not lost on me how remarkable the fact that humans can be friends or else can become total adversaries," states Max Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy, related to the late president and currently an author as well as lawyer. "History shows this repeatedly when countries enter into conflict, demonstrating how unbelievably stupid it is to fight."

A Brink of Disaster

What is notable regarding the Cuban missile crisis was that, because it unfolded so publicly, people worldwide could watch almost in real time as it crept closer to disaster. However, the threat of annihilation was more imminent than anybody understood at the time.

"Virtually everyone in the White House wanted an airstrike followed by a ground invasion," explains Max Kennedy. "Had the U.S. attacked Cuba with the naval blockade, there is no question Soviet forces stationed there would have fired a tactical nuclear weapon against the US Sixth Fleet, and that would have sunk the naval vessels and destroyed America's largest and most important fleet. And, the U.S. would have responded with massive retaliation that would have eradicated most life on Earth."

The reality this did not occur stands as credit to Kennedy and Khrushchev, who managed to remain calm while engaging in diplomacy at a time when everyone in their governments was pushing for military action. As a result, The Soviet premier agreed to withdraw the nuclear weapons from Cuba and Kennedy (although not reported then) withdrew American similar weapons based in NATO ally Turkey. The relief was immense, as was the sense of optimism.

The Divergent Viewpoint

Yet, during those two weeks in October, the anxiety was palpable by everyone. The Bomb’s presenters were born in the years following these events, with Khrushcheva learned about it through the USSR's school curriculum, which portrayed an alternative narrative of what happened.

"As you mentioned your parent remembers it, describing it as a scary time," Khrushcheva notes. "However for Soviet citizens, the public really didn’t know a great deal regarding the crisis, since it was a tense situation, whereas under the Soviet system the official line was that everything was always wonderful or sunny."

Within the Khrushchev household, though, it was different. "They told me that it was a triumphant moment it was, because it represented a direct confrontation. They were able to resolve it, thus didn’t start a global war, seen as a positive outcome," she continues. Later on, though, that interpretation would not be shared by everybody. "For decades in Russian politics, the crisis was viewed as a failure for the Soviet leader, because he refrained from destroying the United States."

An Unprecedented Collaboration

The Bomb is remarkably even-handed and expertly crafted so much so that Nina jokes she nearly forgot the known outcome. This effect is, partly, due to the participation of historians. But, truly, the most significant aspect is the involvement of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it would be inconceivable that descendants of the leaders of the United States and the USSR to appear side by side. That Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva can do that, and be so warm toward one another, must be seen as a symbol of optimism.

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

"But we were strangers before the podcast," clarifies Kennedy. "That is a shame since we got along immediately and we are friends, something that is really great. Finally, after nearly six decades of almost destroying the world, our families are now allies, suggesting the world is more secure, somewhat."

Modern Parallels with Present Dangers

Is that truly the case? One reason the reason this series seems so urgent is because we now are living living through dark times. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to midnight than ever before, in part because world leaders appear not to be able to learn