Following almost annihilating the planet, our families are friends’: a gripping audio series from JFK and Khrushchev’s descendants.

During October 1962, the planet came closer to destruction than at any other point in the contemporary era. This transpired following the discovery that an American surveillance plane found the fact that Soviet nuclear weapon installations were under construction on the island of Cuba, less than 100 miles off the coast of American soil. Reacting to this, U.S. President JFK ordered the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to impose a naval quarantine around the island. What followed constituted almost a fortnight filled with impossible stress.

The Catastrophic Danger

The threat was palpable. Should President Kennedy, or else the Russian opposite, Nikita Khrushchev, had fired against the other side, a series involving global atomic attacks and retaliatory strikes would have ensued, thrusting humanity into total oblivion.

The October crisis has been documented endlessly, in books, movies, and TV documentaries. However, for its third season, a prominent audio documentary series The Bomb presents an unprecedented perspective to the story. The series is co-presented by Max Kennedy alongside Nina Khrushcheva, family members belonging to the figures who, for 13 days, held the fate of humanity within their grasp.

"What were the Russians considering? What were the United States considering?" questions Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's descendant who is also an academic specializing in international affairs.

For her, the beauty of the podcast is its attempt to question: "Why do people detest each other and confront one another?"

"I am acutely aware how profound it is that individuals can be allies or else can become total adversaries," adds Kennedy, son of RFK, nephew of the late president and now an author and lawyer. "History shows this repeatedly when countries have gone to war, and it just illustrates how unbelievably stupid involved to engage in warfare."

The Brink Towards Disaster

What’s remarkable regarding this event was that, because it unfolded in the global spotlight, people around the world were able to observe almost in real time as it crept towards catastrophe. Nonetheless, the danger of annihilation came closer than anybody realised.

"Virtually everyone in the White House wanted an airstrike and an invasion," explains Kennedy. "If we had struck the Cubans with the Sixth Fleet, there is no question Soviet forces on the ground would have fired a tactical nuclear weapon at the American ships, which would have sunk our naval vessels as well as destroyed America's primary naval force. In turn, we would have retaliated with massive retaliation which would have eradicated all life on Earth."

The fact it didn’t stands as credit to Kennedy and Khrushchev, they managed to keep their heads and calmly negotiate at a time when everyone in their governments were advocating military action. As a result, The Soviet premier agreed to withdraw the nuclear weapons from Cuba and Kennedy (although not reported then) removed American similar weapons from NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was palpable, as was a feeling of hope.

The Different Perspective

Still, during those two weeks in October, the tension was palpable by everyone. The Bomb’s presenters came into the world shortly after these events, and Khrushcheva learned about it via the Soviet education system, which painted a slightly different version of what happened.

"You said your father remembers it, describing it as a scary day," Khrushcheva notes. "However in the Soviet Union, the public were largely unaware a great deal about it, since it was a tense situation, and in the Soviet Union the official line was that things are always wonderful and sunny."

Inside Khrushchev’s family, though, the perspective was different. "They told me that it was a triumphant moment for the USSR, because it represented eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to find a solution, thus didn’t start the war, seen as a wonderful outcome," she continues. Subsequently, however, that view was not shared by everybody. "For decades within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a failure for the Soviet leader, simply he didn’t blow up the United States."

An Unlikely Partnership

The Bomb is remarkably balanced and expertly crafted so much so that Nina quips she nearly forgot she already knew outcome. This is, in part, due to contributions from renowned scholars. But, really, the most momentous aspect is the participation of the descendants. Even within living memory, it was unthinkable for relatives of the heads of state of the United States and Soviet Union would appear side by side. That Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva can do that, and be so warm with each other, has to be a sign of progress.

"We are not the pioneers," smiles Khrushcheva. "Following 1991, a relative Sergey Khrushchev’s son where he became great friends with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"However we were strangers prior to this project," adds Kennedy. "That is unfortunate since we got along really well and we are friends, something that is wonderful. Ultimately, after almost six decades of nearly annihilating the planet, our lineages have become allies, suggesting global relations is more secure, a little bit."

Contemporary Echoes with Current Perils

Or is it? Part of the reason The Bomb feels so necessary is because we now find ourselves living through a perilous era. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to catastrophe in its history, in part because today's statesmen don’t seem to have the capacity to grasp