Following nearly destroying our planet, the families are friends’: the thrilling podcast from JFK and Khrushchev’s descendants.

During the month of October 1962, humanity edged closer to annihilation more so than ever in recent history. This transpired after an American reconnaissance aircraft found that Soviet nuclear missile bases were being built on Cuba, less than 100 miles from the United States. In response, President John F Kennedy ordered a naval task force to establish a maritime blockade encircling the island. The next phase constituted nearly 14 days filled with extreme stress.

The Unthinkable Threat

The danger was clear. If President Kennedy, or his Russian opposite, Nikita Khrushchev, had fired against their enemy, a chain reaction of worldwide nuclear attacks and counterstrikes would have ensued, plunging civilization into all-out destruction.

The Cuban missile crisis has been examined endlessly, in volumes, movies, and television programmes. But, in its latest installment, a prominent BBC World Service podcast The Bomb introduces an unprecedented element into this historical narrative. The series is jointly hosted featuring Kennedy's relative and Khrushchev's descendant, family members of the figures who, for two tense weeks, held the fate of the planet in their hands.

"What was the Russians thinking? What was the American side thinking?" ponders Nina Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s descendant and an academic of international affairs.

In her view, the strength of the show is its endeavor to question: "How can people detest one another and confront one another?"

"I am acutely aware how remarkable it is that humans can be friends or else have the potential to be total enemies," adds Max Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy, related to the late president and currently a writer as well as lawyer. "History shows this repeatedly when nations have gone to war, and it just illustrates how unbelievably stupid it is to fight."

The Precipice Towards Catastrophe

What’s notable regarding this event was that, since it transpired so publicly, people around the world could watch almost in real time while it edged towards armageddon. However, the threat of annihilation was more imminent than most people realised.

"Virtually everyone among Kennedy's advisors wanted an airstrike and a ground invasion," says Kennedy. "If we had attacked the Cubans using the naval blockade, undoubtedly the Russians stationed there would have launched a nuclear warhead at the US Sixth Fleet, which would've sunk the naval vessels as well as destroyed our primary fleet. In turn, we would have retaliated with an overwhelming counterattack which would have ended all life on Earth."

The fact it didn’t stands as credit to both leaders, who succeeded in keep their heads while engaging in diplomacy at a time when everyone in their governments was pushing for military action. Consequently, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the nuclear weapons in the Caribbean island and Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) removed his similar weapons based in Turkey. The sense of relief was worldwide, as was the sense of hope.

The Different Perspective

Still, during those two weeks of October 1962, the tension was palpable by everyone. The Bomb’s presenters were born in the years following these events, with Nina being taught about it through the USSR's education system, which portrayed a slightly different picture of what happened.

"You said your father remembers it, describing it as a frightening time," Khrushcheva notes. "But in the Soviet Union, the public were largely unaware a great deal about it, since it was a crisis, and under the Soviet system we were told that everything was constantly wonderful and positive."

Within Khrushchev’s family, though, it was distinct. "They told me what a great moment it was, because it represented eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to find a solution, thus didn’t start the war, seen as a positive thing," she adds. In the years to come, though, that perspective was not held by everybody. "For decades within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a setback for the Soviet leader, because he refrained from destroying the United States."

An Unlikely Partnership

The Bomb is so even-handed and well produced so much so that Nina quips it almost made her forget she already knew outcome. This is, partly, due to the participation of renowned scholars. But, truly, the most significant thing remains the participation of the descendants. Not so long ago, it was inconceivable for descendants of the leaders of America and the USSR would appear side by side. The fact that Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva are able to do so, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, has to be a symbol of progress.

"We are not the pioneers," notes Nina. "After 1991, a relative Sergey Khrushchev’s son and formed a close bond with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"However we were strangers prior to this project," clarifies Kennedy. "That is unfortunate because we got along really well and now we’re friends, which is wonderful. Finally, following nearly six decades since nearly annihilating the world, our families have become friends, suggesting the world is more secure, a little bit."

Contemporary Parallels and Present Dangers

Or is it? Part of the reason The Bomb seems so urgent is because we now are living in dark times. The Doomsday Clock stands nearer to catastrophe in its history, in part because today's statesmen don’t seem to be able to learn