‘After almost annihilating our planet, our families are allies’: the gripping podcast featuring John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev’s descendants.

In October 1962, the planet came nearer to destruction more so than ever in recent history. This transpired following the discovery that an American reconnaissance aircraft identified the fact that Russian nuclear missile sites were being built in Cuba, a mere 100 miles off the coast of the United States. In response, U.S. President John F Kennedy directed the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to enact a maritime blockade around the island. What followed constituted nearly two weeks filled with impossible stress.

The Unthinkable Threat

The peril was clear. If President Kennedy, or the Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, were to fire on the other side, a cascade of worldwide nuclear attacks and retaliatory strikes might have ensued, plunging humanity toward all-out oblivion.

This pivotal 1962 event has been examined repeatedly, through books, films, as well as television programmes. However, in its latest installment, the BBC World Service podcast The Bomb presents a completely new perspective to this historical narrative. It is jointly hosted featuring Kennedy's relative alongside Khrushchev's descendant, relatives of the men who, for two tense weeks, held the fate of the planet in their hands.

"What was the Soviet side thinking? What were the United States planning?" questions Nina Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter and a professor of international affairs.

For her, the strength of the show is its attempt to objectively ask: "How can individuals hate each other to the point they confront each other?"

"It was not lost on me how spectacular the fact that people have the potential to be allies or can become total enemies," states Kennedy, the son of RFK, related to the late president and currently an author and attorney. "We see this dynamic repeatedly in instances where countries enter into conflict, and it just illustrates the profound irrationality it is to fight."

The Brink of Disaster

What’s remarkable about this event is that, because it unfolded in the global spotlight, people worldwide were able to observe nearly in real time as it moved closer to disaster. However, the danger of destruction came closer than what most people understood at the time.

"Almost all officials in the White House wanted an airstrike followed by a ground invasion," explains Max Kennedy. "If we had struck the Cubans with the naval blockade, it is certain the Russians on the ground would've launched a tactical nuclear weapon against the US Sixth Fleet, which would've destroyed the aircraft carriers as well as destroyed our largest and most important naval force. And, the U.S. would have responded with massive retaliation which would have eradicated all life on the planet."

The reality this did not occur stands as credit to both leaders, who succeeded in exercise restraint while engaging in diplomacy at a time when many advisors around them was pushing for military action. As a result, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the missiles from the Caribbean island and President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) withdrew his missiles based in NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was worldwide, matched by a feeling of hope.

A Different Perspective

Still, for those 13 days in October, the tension was felt by everyone. The podcast's presenters came into the world shortly after these events, and Nina being taught about the crisis through the USSR's school curriculum, which painted a slightly different version of events.

"As you mentioned your parent recalls it, describing it as a frightening time," she says. "However for Soviet citizens, the public were largely unaware a great deal about it, since it was a crisis, whereas under the Soviet system the official line was that everything was constantly fine and sunny."

Inside Khrushchev’s family, however, it was distinct. "They told me that it was a triumphant moment it was, as it was eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to resolve it, thus avoided a global war, which was a positive thing," she continues. In the years to come, though, that interpretation was not shared by everybody. "For a long time in Russian politics, the crisis was viewed as a setback for Khrushchev, simply he didn’t blow up the United States."

A Unlikely Partnership

This podcast is so even-handed and expertly crafted that Nina quips it almost made her forget she already knew the ending. This effect is, in part, due to the participation of renowned scholars. But, truly, the most momentous thing remains the participation of the hosts themselves. Not so long ago, it was unthinkable for relatives of the heads of state of the United States and Soviet Union to appear side by side. That these two individuals are able to do so, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, has to be a sign of progress.

"Max and I aren't the first," notes Khrushcheva. "Following 1991, a relative moved to America and became great friends with the former president's family."

"But we were strangers before the podcast," clarifies Max. "That is unfortunate because we connected immediately and now we’re friends, something that is really great. Ultimately, following nearly six decades of almost destroying the planet, our lineages have become friends, suggesting global relations is more secure, somewhat."

Contemporary Echoes and Current Dangers

Or is it? Part of why this series seems so urgent is because we now are living in a perilous era. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to midnight in its history, in part because world leaders don’t seem to be able to comprehend