Following almost annihilating our world, our relatives have become friends’: a gripping podcast featuring John F. Kennedy & Nikita Khrushchev’s descendants.

In the month of October 1962, the world veered closer toward ruin more so than ever in the contemporary era. This transpired following the discovery that a US reconnaissance aircraft discovered that Soviet nuclear missile bases were being built in the island of Cuba, less than 100 miles from the United States. Reacting to this, U.S. President John F Kennedy ordered a naval task force to establish a naval quarantine encircling the island. The next phase was almost 14 days filled with impossible stress.

The Catastrophic Threat

The threat remained palpable. Should Kennedy, or his Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, had fired against the other side, a series of worldwide nuclear attacks followed by counterstrikes would have ensued, plunging mankind toward all-out destruction.

This pivotal 1962 event has been documented repeatedly, through books, films, and television programmes. But, for its third season, the BBC World Service podcast titled "The Bomb" presents a completely new perspective into the story. It is jointly hosted featuring Kennedy's relative alongside Khrushchev's descendant, relatives belonging to the leaders that, over two tense weeks, grasped the fate of the planet within their grasp.

"What was the Kremlin thinking? What were Washington thinking?" ponders Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's descendant and an academic specializing in global relations.

In her view, the strength of the podcast lies in its attempt to question: "Why do individuals hate one another to the point they go against one another?"

"I am acutely aware how profound the fact that people can be friends or have the potential to be total adversaries," remarks Kennedy, son of RFK, nephew of the late president and now a writer and lawyer. "We see this dynamic repeatedly when countries have gone to war, demonstrating the sheer folly it is to fight."

The Brink of Disaster

What’s remarkable regarding this event was that, since it unfolded in the global spotlight, individuals worldwide were able to observe almost as it happened while it edged towards disaster. Even so, the danger of annihilation was more imminent than most people realised.

"Almost all officials among Kennedy's advisors wanted a military strike and a ground invasion," explains Max Kennedy. "Had the U.S. attacked the Cubans with the naval blockade, there is no question Soviet forces on the ground would've fired a tactical nuclear weapon at the US Sixth Fleet, and that would have obliterated the aircraft carriers as well as destroyed our primary naval force. In turn, we would have responded with massive retaliation which would have eradicated all life on Earth."

The reality it didn’t highlights the composure of Kennedy and Khrushchev, they succeeded in exercise restraint while engaging in diplomacy when everyone around them was pushing for military action. As a result, Khrushchev removed the nuclear weapons in the Caribbean island and Kennedy (although not reported then) withdrew his missiles based in NATO ally Turkey. The relief was worldwide, as was a feeling of optimism.

A Different Perspective

Yet, for those 13 days in October, the anxiety was palpable globally. The Bomb’s presenters came into the world in the years following the crisis, and Nina being taught about it via the USSR's education system, which painted an alternative narrative of events.

"As you mentioned your father recalls it, describing it as a scary day," Khrushcheva notes. "But in the Soviet Union, the public really didn’t know a great deal regarding the crisis, since it was a tense situation, and in the Soviet Union the official line was that things are constantly wonderful or positive."

Inside Khrushchev’s family, however, it was different. "They told me that it was a triumphant moment it was, as it represented eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to resolve it, thus avoided the war, seen as a wonderful outcome," she continues. Subsequently, though, that view would not be shared by all Russians. "For a long time within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a defeat for Khrushchev, simply he didn’t blow up America."

An Unprecedented Collaboration

The Bomb is remarkably even-handed and well produced so much so that Nina quips she nearly forgot she already knew outcome. This effect is, in part, due to the participation of renowned scholars. But, truly, the most momentous thing is the involvement of the descendants. Even within living memory, it was unthinkable for descendants of the heads of state of America and the Soviet Union to appear together publicly. The fact that Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva are able to do so, and be so warm with each other, has to be a sign of hope.

"We aren't the first," notes Nina. "Following 1991, my uncle moved to America where he became great friends with the former president's family."

"However we were strangers before the podcast," adds Kennedy. "Which is unfortunate because we connected immediately and we are friends, something that is really great. Finally, following almost 60 years of almost destroying the planet, our lineages are now allies, so I think the world is more secure, somewhat."

Modern Parallels with Present Dangers

Is that truly the case? One reason the reason The Bomb seems so urgent is that we once again find ourselves living through a perilous era. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to catastrophe than ever before, partly since world leaders appear not to be able to comprehend