‘After almost annihilating our planet, our families are friends’: a gripping podcast featuring John F. Kennedy and Khrushchev’s relatives.

In the month of October 1962, the planet veered nearer toward destruction more so than ever in modern times. This transpired when a US surveillance aircraft discovered that Soviet nuclear missile installations were being built on the island of Cuba, a mere 100 miles off the coast of the US mainland. Reacting to this, President JFK ordered a naval task force to establish a naval quarantine encircling the island. What followed was almost 14 days of extreme stress.

The Unthinkable Threat

The danger remained obvious. If President Kennedy, or else the Soviet counterpart, Premier Khrushchev, were to fire on the other side, a cascade involving worldwide atomic strikes followed by counterstrikes might have ensued, plunging mankind toward total ruination.

The October crisis has been examined repeatedly, through books, movies, and television programmes. However, for its third season, a prominent audio documentary series The Bomb has brought an unprecedented dimension to this historical narrative. The series is co-presented by Max Kennedy and Khrushchev's descendant, relatives belonging to the men that, for 13 days, controlled the destiny of the planet within their grasp.

"What were the Kremlin considering? What were the American side thinking?" questions Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s descendant and an academic of global relations.

For her, the strength of the show lies in its endeavor to explore: "How can nations detest each other to the point they confront each other?"

"It was not lost on me how spectacular it is that individuals have the potential to be friends or can become complete adversaries," remarks Max Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy, related to JFK and now a writer and attorney. "History shows this dynamic repeatedly in instances where countries enter into conflict, demonstrating the sheer folly involved to fight."

A Brink of Disaster

What is striking about this event is that, because it unfolded so publicly, citizens worldwide were able to observe almost in real time as it crept towards catastrophe. Nonetheless, the danger of destruction was more imminent than most people understood at the time.

"Virtually everyone in the White House wanted an airstrike and an invasion," explains Max Kennedy. "If we had attacked the Cubans with the Sixth Fleet, undoubtedly the Russians stationed there would have deployed a nuclear warhead against the American ships, and that would've obliterated the aircraft carriers as well as sunk our primary fleet. In turn, the U.S. would have retaliated with massive retaliation that would have ended most life on Earth."

The reality it didn’t stands as credit to both leaders, they managed to remain calm while engaging in diplomacy when many advisors around them demanded action. As a result, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the nuclear weapons from the Caribbean island and Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) removed American missiles from Turkey. The sense of relief was palpable, matched by a feeling of optimism.

A Divergent Perspective

Still, during those two weeks of October 1962, the fear was felt globally. The podcast's co-hosts came into the world shortly after the crisis, and Khrushcheva learned about it through the USSR's school curriculum, which presented a slightly different picture of what happened.

"You said your parent recalls it, and it was a scary day," Khrushcheva notes. "But in the Soviet Union, the public really didn’t know a great deal about it, since it was a crisis, and under the Soviet system the official line was that things are constantly fine or positive."

Inside Khrushchev’s family, though, it was different. "They told me what a great occasion for the USSR, as it represented eyeball to eyeball. They were able to find a solution, and avoided the war, seen as a wonderful outcome," she adds. Later on, though, that interpretation was not held by everybody. "For a long time within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a defeat for the Soviet leader, because he refrained from destroying America."

An Unprecedented Partnership

The Bomb is remarkably even-handed , expertly crafted that Nina quips it almost made her forget the known the ending. This effect is, in part, thanks to contributions from renowned scholars. But, truly, the most groundbreaking thing is the participation of the hosts themselves. Not so long ago, it was unthinkable that descendants of the heads of state of the United States and USSR would appear side by side. That these two individuals are able to do so, and be so warm with each other, must be seen as a sign of optimism.

"Max and I are not the first," notes Nina. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, my uncle moved to America where he became great friends with the former president's family."

"However we had never met before the podcast," clarifies Max. "Which is unfortunate because we got along really well and now we are friends, something that is really great. Finally, after almost 60 years since almost destroying the world, our families are now allies, suggesting global relations is safer, a little bit."

Contemporary Parallels and Current Dangers

Or is it? Part of why this series seems so urgent is because we once again find ourselves living through a perilous era. The Doomsday Clock is closer to midnight in its history, in part because world leaders appear not to have the capacity to grasp