Following nearly destroying the world, our families are friends’: the thrilling podcast featuring JFK and Nikita Khrushchev’s descendants.

During October 1962, humanity veered nearer toward annihilation than at any other point during the contemporary era. This transpired after an American reconnaissance aircraft found the fact that Russian nuclear missile installations were being built in Cuba, less than 100 miles from American soil. Reacting to this, U.S. President John F Kennedy commanded a naval task force to establish a naval quarantine encircling the island. The next phase was nearly 14 days of unbearable stress.

An Catastrophic Danger

The threat remained clear. Should Kennedy, or his Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, had fired on the other side, a series of worldwide nuclear attacks and retaliatory strikes might have followed, plunging civilization toward all-out oblivion.

The October crisis has been covered endlessly, in volumes, films, as well as TV documentaries. But, in its latest installment, a prominent audio documentary series The Bomb has brought an unprecedented dimension to this historical narrative. The series is co-presented featuring Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva, relatives belonging to the men who, for 13 days, controlled the destiny of the world within their grasp.

"What was the Soviet side thinking? What were Washington planning?" asks Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s descendant and a professor of global relations.

In her view, the strength of the show is its endeavor to explore: "Why do nations hate one another and confront each other?"

"I am acutely aware how remarkable the fact that people have the potential to be allies or else can become total enemies," remarks Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, related to the late president and now a writer as well as attorney. "History shows this dynamic over and over in instances where countries enter into conflict, and it just illustrates the profound irrationality it is to engage in warfare."

A Brink Towards Catastrophe

What’s notable regarding the Cuban missile crisis is that, because it transpired in the global spotlight, citizens worldwide were able to observe almost in real time while it moved towards catastrophe. However, the danger of destruction was more imminent than what anybody understood at the time.

"The overwhelming majority among Kennedy's advisors wanted a military strike followed by an invasion," notes Kennedy. "If we had attacked the Cubans using the naval blockade, it is certain Soviet forces stationed there would've launched a nuclear warhead at the US Sixth Fleet, which would have sunk our naval vessels as well as destroyed America's largest and most important fleet. And, the U.S. would have retaliated through an overwhelming counterattack that would have eradicated most life on Earth."

The fact it didn’t highlights the composure of both leaders, who managed to keep their heads and engaging in diplomacy when everyone around them demanded military action. Consequently, The Soviet premier agreed to withdraw the missiles from the Caribbean island and Kennedy (although not reported then) withdrew American missiles based in Turkey. The sense of relief was worldwide, as was a feeling of hope.

A Divergent Viewpoint

Still, for those 13 days of October 1962, the anxiety was felt globally. The podcast's co-hosts were born in the years following the crisis, with Nina learned about it via the USSR's school curriculum, which presented a slightly different version of events.

"As you mentioned your parent remembers it, describing it as a frightening day," Khrushcheva notes. "But for Soviet citizens, people were largely unaware that much about it, because it was a crisis, and under the Soviet system we were told that things are constantly wonderful or positive."

Within the Khrushchev household, though, it was different. "They told me that it was a triumphant occasion it was, as it represented eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to resolve it, and avoided the war, seen as a positive thing," she continues. Subsequently, however, that perspective 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 Unlikely Collaboration

The Bomb is so balanced and expertly crafted so much so that Khrushcheva quips she nearly forgot the known outcome. This effect is, partly, due to the participation of historians. Yet, truly, the most significant thing remains the participation of the descendants. Not so long ago, it would be inconceivable 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, has to be a symbol of progress.

"We aren't the pioneers," smiles Khrushcheva. "Following 1991, my uncle moved to America where he formed a close bond with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"However we were strangers before the podcast," adds Kennedy. "That is unfortunate because we got along really well and now we are friends, which is wonderful. Finally, following nearly 60 years since nearly annihilating the world, our lineages have become friends, suggesting the world is safer, a little bit."

Contemporary Echoes with Present Perils

Is that truly the case? One reason why this series seems so urgent is because we now find ourselves in dark times. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to midnight in its history, in part because today's statesmen appear not to be able to comprehend