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

In the month of October 1962, humanity veered nearer to destruction than at any other point during modern times. This happened after an American reconnaissance plane identified that Soviet atomic missile sites were under construction on the island of Cuba, less than 100 miles off the coast of American soil. In response, President John F Kennedy directed the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to establish a maritime quarantine encircling the island. The next phase constituted almost a fortnight filled with extreme tension.

The Unthinkable Threat

The peril remained palpable. If President Kennedy, or else his Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, initiated an attack against the other side, a series of worldwide nuclear strikes followed by retaliatory strikes could have ensued, casting mankind toward total destruction.

The Cuban missile crisis has been documented extensively, in books, movies, as well as television programmes. However, for its third season, a prominent audio documentary series The Bomb presents an unprecedented perspective to this historical narrative. It is co-presented by Max Kennedy and Khrushchev's descendant, relatives belonging to the figures that, over two tense weeks, held the destiny of the planet in their hands.

"What was the Soviet side considering? What was the United States thinking?" asks Nina Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter who is also an academic specializing in international affairs.

For her, the beauty of the podcast lies in its endeavor to explore: "How can nations hate each other and oppose one another?"

"It struck me how profound the fact that people can be friends or can become complete enemies," adds Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, related to the late president and currently a writer as well as lawyer. "History shows this dynamic repeatedly in instances where nations have gone to war, and it just illustrates how unbelievably stupid it is to fight."

The Brink of Catastrophe

What is remarkable regarding the Cuban missile crisis was that, since it unfolded in the global spotlight, citizens globally could watch nearly as it happened as it moved towards armageddon. Nonetheless, the risk of destruction was more imminent than most people understood at the time.

"The overwhelming majority among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for a military strike and a ground invasion," notes Kennedy. "Had the U.S. struck the Cubans using the Sixth Fleet, it is certain the Russians on the ground would have deployed a nuclear warhead against the American ships, and that would have destroyed the naval vessels as well as destroyed America's largest and most important fleet. In turn, we would have retaliated through an overwhelming counterattack that would have ended all life on the planet."

The fact this did not occur highlights the composure of Kennedy and Khrushchev, who succeeded in remain calm while engaging in diplomacy when many advisors in their governments demanded action. As a result, The Soviet premier agreed to withdraw the nuclear weapons from the Caribbean island while President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) removed his missiles from NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was palpable, as was the sense of hope.

The Different Perspective

Still, during those two weeks in October, the tension was felt globally. The Bomb’s presenters were born shortly after the crisis, and Khrushcheva learned about the crisis through the Soviet education system, which portrayed an alternative narrative of events.

"As you mentioned your father remembers it, and it was a frightening time," she says. "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 fine or sunny."

Within Khrushchev’s family, though, the perspective was distinct. "I was informed that it was a triumphant moment it was, as it was eyeball to eyeball. They were able to resolve it, and avoided a global war, seen as a positive outcome," she continues. Subsequently, though, that interpretation was not shared by everybody. "For decades within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a defeat for Khrushchev, simply he didn’t blow up the United States."

A Unlikely Partnership

The Bomb is remarkably balanced and expertly crafted so much so that Nina quips she nearly forgot the known the ending. This is, partly, due to the participation of renowned scholars. Yet, really, the most significant thing is the involvement of the descendants. Not so long ago, it would be inconceivable that relatives of the leaders of the United States and the USSR would appear side by side. That these two individuals can do that, and be so warm with each other, has to be a sign of optimism.

"Max and I aren't the first," smiles Nina. "After the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, my uncle moved to America and became great friends with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"But we were strangers prior to this project," adds Max. "Which is a shame since we connected immediately and now we’re friends, something that is wonderful. Finally, following nearly six decades since almost destroying the planet, our families are now allies, suggesting the world is safer, a little bit."

Modern Echoes and Current Dangers

Is that truly the case? One reason the reason this series feels so necessary is that we once again find ourselves in a perilous era. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to midnight in its history, in part because today's statesmen don’t seem to be able to grasp