‘After almost destroying our world, our families are friends’: the thrilling audio series featuring JFK and Nikita Khrushchev’s descendants.

During October 1962, humanity edged nearer toward destruction more so than ever in the contemporary era. This happened when an American surveillance plane discovered the fact that Russian atomic missile bases were being built on Cuba, a mere 100 miles from the US mainland. Reacting to this, U.S. President JFK ordered a naval task force to establish a naval quarantine around Cuba. The ensuing period was nearly 14 days filled with extreme tension.

The Unthinkable Threat

The peril remained clear. Should Kennedy, or the Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, had fired against the other side, a series of worldwide nuclear attacks and counterstrikes could have followed, casting mankind toward total destruction.

The Cuban missile crisis has been covered endlessly, in volumes, movies, as well as television programmes. But, for its third season, the audio documentary series The Bomb introduces a completely new perspective into the story. It is co-presented featuring Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva, family members of the leaders who, for 13 days, held the destiny of the planet within their grasp.

"What was the Kremlin thinking? What were Washington thinking?" questions Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader'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 detest each other to the point they go against one another?"

"It was not lost on me how profound the fact that humans can be allies or can become total enemies," states Max Kennedy, the son of RFK, nephew of the late president and now a writer and attorney. "History shows this dynamic over and over in instances where nations have gone to war, highlighting the sheer folly it is to fight."

The Brink Towards Catastrophe

What is remarkable regarding this event is that, since it transpired so publicly, citizens worldwide could watch nearly as it happened as it crept closer to disaster. Nonetheless, the risk of destruction came closer than what most people understood at the time.

"Almost all officials in the White House were advocating for an airstrike and an invasion," says Kennedy. "If we had struck the Cubans using the naval blockade, there is no question the Russians stationed there would've launched a tactical nuclear weapon at the American ships, and that would have obliterated the aircraft carriers and sunk America's primary fleet. And, we would have responded through an overwhelming counterattack which would have ended all life on Earth."

The fact this did not occur stands as credit to both leaders, who managed to keep their heads and calmly negotiate at a time when many advisors around them was pushing for military action. Consequently, Khrushchev removed the missiles in the Caribbean island while President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) removed his similar weapons based in Turkey. The sense of relief was palpable, matched by the sense of hope.

The Divergent Viewpoint

Yet, during those two weeks in October, the anxiety was palpable globally. The Bomb’s co-hosts came into the world in the years following the crisis, and Nina being taught about it through the USSR's school curriculum, which painted an alternative narrative of what happened.

"As you mentioned your father remembers it, describing it as a scary time," she says. "But in the Soviet Union, the public really didn’t know a great deal regarding the crisis, because it was a crisis, and under the Soviet system the official line was that everything was always wonderful or positive."

Within the Khrushchev household, though, the perspective was distinct. "They told me what a great occasion it was, because it represented eyeball to eyeball. They were able to find a solution, and avoided a global war, seen as a wonderful outcome," she adds. Subsequently, however, that view was not held by all Russians. "For decades within Russian historical analysis, it was considered a defeat for the Soviet leader, because he refrained from destroying America."

A Unlikely Partnership

The Bomb is so balanced , well produced so much so that Nina jokes she nearly forgot she already knew outcome. This is, partly, due to contributions from renowned scholars. Yet, truly, the most significant thing is the participation of the descendants. Even within living memory, it was inconceivable that relatives of the leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union would appear side by side. The fact that these two individuals can do that, and be so warm with each other, has to be a sign of hope.

"Max and I are not the pioneers," notes Nina. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, a relative moved to America and formed a close bond with the former president's family."

"However we were strangers before the podcast," adds Max. "That is a shame since we got along immediately and we’re friends, something that is really great. Finally, following nearly six decades since almost destroying the planet, our lineages are now allies, suggesting global relations is more secure, a little bit."

Modern Parallels and Current Dangers

Is that truly the case? Part of why this series feels so necessary is because we now are living living through dark times. The Doomsday Clock is closer to catastrophe in its history, partly since world leaders don’t seem to have the capacity to comprehend