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

In October 1962, the planet came nearer toward annihilation more so than ever during the contemporary era. This occurred when an American surveillance plane found the fact that Soviet nuclear missile sites were being built in the island of Cuba, a mere 160 kilometers off the coast of the United States. In response, U.S. President John F Kennedy directed a naval task force to enact a maritime blockade around Cuba. The next phase was nearly a fortnight filled with extreme tension.

The Unthinkable Danger

The peril remained clear. Should Kennedy, or else his Soviet counterpart, Premier Khrushchev, initiated an attack on their enemy, a series involving worldwide nuclear attacks and counterstrikes would have ensued, casting humanity into all-out destruction.

This pivotal 1962 event has been covered endlessly, in volumes, movies, and TV documentaries. But, for its third season, a prominent BBC World Service podcast The Bomb has brought a novel perspective to this historical narrative. It is co-presented featuring Max Kennedy alongside Nina Khrushcheva, family members of the leaders who, for two tense weeks, grasped the destiny of the planet within their grasp.

"What was the Soviet side considering? What was the American side thinking?" questions Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's great-granddaughter who is also a professor specializing in international affairs.

In her view, the unique appeal of the podcast is its attempt to explore: "Why do nations hate one another to the point they oppose one another?"

"It was not lost on me how spectacular it is that people can be friends or can become total adversaries," adds Max Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy, related to the late president and now an author and attorney. "We see this dynamic over and over in instances where nations have gone to war, highlighting how unbelievably stupid involved to engage in warfare."

The Precipice of Catastrophe

What is remarkable about this event is that, because it transpired so publicly, citizens globally were able to observe almost in real time as it crept closer to catastrophe. However, the threat of destruction came closer than what most people understood at the time.

"Virtually everyone in the White House were advocating for an airstrike and a ground invasion," notes Kennedy. "Had the U.S. struck the Cubans with the naval blockade, undoubtedly Soviet forces on the ground would have deployed a tactical nuclear weapon against the American ships, which would've obliterated our aircraft carriers and destroyed our largest and most important fleet. In turn, we would have responded with an overwhelming counterattack that would have eradicated most life on Earth."

The reality it didn’t stands as credit to both leaders, who managed to keep their heads while calmly negotiate when hawkish elements in their governments was pushing for military action. As a result, The Soviet premier agreed to withdraw the missiles in Cuba while Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) removed American missiles based in Turkey. The relief was palpable, as was a feeling of optimism.

The Different Viewpoint

Yet, for those two weeks of October 1962, the tension was palpable by everyone. The podcast's presenters were born shortly after these events, with Khrushcheva learned about it through the Soviet school curriculum, which portrayed a slightly different picture of what happened.

"You said your parent recalls it, describing it as a scary day," she says. "But for Soviet citizens, people were largely unaware that much regarding the crisis, since it was a tense situation, whereas in the Soviet Union the official line was that things are always wonderful and sunny."

Inside Khrushchev’s family, though, the perspective was different. "I was informed what a great moment it was, because it was a direct confrontation. They were able to find a solution, thus avoided the war, seen as a wonderful thing," she continues. In the years to come, though, that interpretation was not shared by everybody. "For a long time in Russian politics, the crisis was viewed as a failure for Khrushchev, simply he refrained from destroying America."

An Unlikely Partnership

This podcast is remarkably even-handed , well produced so much so that Khrushcheva jokes she nearly forgot the known the ending. This effect is, in part, due to contributions from historians. But, truly, the most momentous thing remains the participation of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it was unthinkable for descendants of the heads of state of the United States and Soviet Union would appear together publicly. The fact that these two individuals can do that, and exhibit such warmth with each other, must be seen as a symbol of hope.

"We are not the first," notes Nina. "After the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, a relative Sergey Khrushchev’s son where he became great friends with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"But we had never met before the podcast," adds Kennedy. "That is a shame because we got along immediately and we’re friends, which is really great. Ultimately, following nearly six decades of almost destroying the world, our families have become friends, so I think global relations is more secure, somewhat."

Contemporary Parallels with Present Perils

Is that truly the case? Part of the reason The Bomb seems so urgent is because we now are living in dark times. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to midnight in its history, partly since world leaders don’t seem to have the capacity to learn