‘After almost destroying the world, our families have become friends’: a thrilling podcast featuring John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

In the month of October 1962, the planet came nearer to ruin more so than ever during recent history. This transpired when a US reconnaissance aircraft found that Russian nuclear weapon bases were being built in Cuba, less than 100 miles off the coast of American soil. Reacting to this, President John F Kennedy ordered a naval task force to impose a naval quarantine encircling the island. The ensuing period constituted nearly two weeks of impossible stress.

The Catastrophic Danger

The peril was clear. Should Kennedy, or else his Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, initiated an attack on their enemy, a series involving global atomic strikes and counterstrikes might have ensued, casting civilization into total destruction.

The October crisis has been examined repeatedly, through volumes, movies, as well as television programmes. However, in its latest installment, the audio documentary series The Bomb presents an unprecedented element to the story. The series is jointly hosted featuring Max Kennedy alongside Khrushchev's descendant, relatives belonging to the figures who, over two tense weeks, grasped the fate of the world within their grasp.

"What were the Soviet side thinking? What were the United States considering?" ponders Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's descendant and an academic specializing in global relations.

For her, the unique appeal of the show is its endeavor to explore: "How can individuals detest one another to the point they oppose one another?"

"It was not lost on me how profound it is that individuals have the potential to be friends or can become total adversaries," adds Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, nephew of the late president and currently an author as well as attorney. "We see this repeatedly in instances where nations have gone to war, and it just illustrates the profound irrationality it is to fight."

A Precipice Towards Disaster

What is notable regarding this event was that, since it transpired in the global spotlight, citizens around the world were able to observe almost as it happened as it crept towards disaster. However, the threat of destruction came closer than most people understood at the time.

"Almost all officials in the White House were advocating for a military strike and an invasion," says Kennedy. "If we had attacked the Cubans with the Sixth Fleet, undoubtedly the Russians on the ground would've launched a tactical nuclear weapon at the US Sixth Fleet, and that would have destroyed our aircraft carriers as well as sunk America's largest and most important fleet. In turn, we would have retaliated through an overwhelming counterattack which would have ended all life on Earth."

The reality this did not occur highlights the composure of both leaders, they managed to remain calm while calmly negotiate when many advisors around them was pushing for military action. As a result, The Soviet premier agreed to withdraw the missiles from Cuba while President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) removed American missiles from Turkey. The relief was worldwide, matched by the sense of optimism.

The Different Perspective

Still, during those 13 days of October 1962, the fear was felt globally. The podcast's co-hosts were born in the years following the crisis, with Khrushcheva being taught about the crisis via the USSR's school curriculum, which painted an alternative picture of what happened.

"As you mentioned your parent remembers it, and it was a frightening time," Khrushcheva notes. "But in the Soviet Union, people were largely unaware that much about it, because it was a tense situation, and in the Soviet Union we were told that things are constantly wonderful and sunny."

Within Khrushchev’s family, however, the perspective was distinct. "I was informed that it was a triumphant moment it was, because it was eyeball to eyeball. They were able to resolve it, thus didn’t start the war, which was a wonderful outcome," she adds. In the years to come, though, that view was not held by all Russians. "For a long time in Russian politics, the crisis was viewed as a failure for the Soviet leader, because he refrained from destroying America."

An Unlikely Partnership

The Bomb is remarkably balanced and expertly crafted so much so that Khrushcheva quips it almost made her forget the known outcome. This effect is, in part, thanks to the participation of historians. But, truly, the most momentous aspect remains the involvement of the hosts themselves. Not so long ago, it would be unthinkable that relatives of the leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union to appear together publicly. That Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva are able to do so, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, has to be a sign of hope.

"Max and I aren't the first," notes Khrushcheva. "After the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, my uncle moved to America where he formed a close bond with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"But we were strangers prior to this project," clarifies Max. "Which is unfortunate since we connected really well and we’re friends, which is wonderful. Ultimately, following nearly 60 years of nearly annihilating the planet, our families have become allies, suggesting the world is safer, somewhat."

Modern Parallels and Present Perils

Is that truly the case? Part of why this series feels so necessary is because we now are living in a perilous era. The Doomsday Clock is closer to catastrophe in its history, in part because world leaders don’t seem to be able to learn