‘After almost annihilating our planet, the relatives have become allies’: the thrilling podcast featuring JFK & Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

In the month of October 1962, the planet edged nearer to annihilation than at any other point in recent history. This happened after a US reconnaissance plane discovered the fact that Russian nuclear missile bases were being assembled on Cuba, a mere 100 miles off the coast of the United States. Reacting to this, U.S. President JFK ordered the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to enact a naval quarantine around the island. The next phase constituted almost a fortnight of extreme tension.

An Catastrophic Threat

The threat was obvious. If President Kennedy, or else the Soviet counterpart, Premier Khrushchev, had fired on the other side, a chain reaction of worldwide atomic strikes followed by retaliatory strikes might have followed, casting humanity toward total destruction.

The October crisis has been documented repeatedly, through volumes, films, as well as TV documentaries. However, for its third season, the audio documentary series The Bomb introduces a completely new dimension into this historical narrative. It is jointly hosted featuring Max Kennedy alongside Khrushchev's descendant, family members belonging to the men that, over 13 days, controlled the fate of the world in their hands.

"What were the Soviet side considering? What were the American side thinking?" ponders Nina Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's descendant and a professor of international affairs.

In her view, the beauty of the podcast is its endeavor to objectively ask: "How can nations detest one another and confront one another?"

"It was not lost on me how spectacular it is that humans can be allies or else have the potential to be complete adversaries," adds Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, related to the late president and currently an author as well as lawyer. "We see this dynamic over and over when nations enter into conflict, and it just illustrates how unbelievably stupid involved to fight."

A Brink Towards Disaster

What’s striking regarding the Cuban missile crisis was that, since it transpired in the global spotlight, citizens around the world could watch nearly in real time as it crept closer to catastrophe. However, the danger of annihilation came closer than what anybody realised.

"The overwhelming majority in the White House wanted a military strike followed by an invasion," says Max Kennedy. "If we had struck Cuba using the Sixth Fleet, there is no question the Russians stationed there would have fired a nuclear warhead at the US Sixth Fleet, which would have destroyed the aircraft carriers as well as destroyed our largest and most important fleet. And, the U.S. would have retaliated through massive retaliation which would have eradicated all life on the planet."

The reality it didn’t stands as credit to Kennedy and Khrushchev, who managed to keep their heads and calmly negotiate at a time when many advisors around them were advocating action. As a result, The Soviet premier removed the nuclear weapons from the Caribbean island and Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) removed American similar weapons based in Turkey. The sense of relief was worldwide, as was a feeling of hope.

The Different Perspective

Yet, for those two weeks in October, the anxiety was palpable globally. The podcast's presenters came into the world in the years following these events, and Khrushcheva learned about it through the USSR's education system, which painted an alternative narrative of what happened.

"As you mentioned your father recalls it, describing it as a scary time," she says. "But in the Soviet Union, people really didn’t know a great deal regarding the crisis, because it was a tense situation, whereas under the Soviet system the official line was that everything was always wonderful or sunny."

Inside the Khrushchev household, though, it was different. "They told me what a great occasion it was, because it represented a direct confrontation. The leaders managed to find a solution, and didn’t start a global war, seen as a wonderful thing," she continues. In the years to come, however, that view would not be held by all Russians. "For a long time within Russian historical analysis, it was considered a failure for the Soviet leader, simply he didn’t blow up America."

An Unlikely Partnership

This podcast is remarkably even-handed , well produced that Nina jokes it almost made her forget she already knew outcome. This is, in part, due to contributions from historians. Yet, truly, the most significant aspect is the involvement of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it was inconceivable that relatives of the heads of state of the United States and the Soviet Union to appear side by side. The fact that Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva can do that, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, has to be a symbol of optimism.

"We are not the pioneers," smiles Nina. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, my uncle moved to America where he became great friends with the former president's family."

"But we were strangers before the podcast," clarifies Max. "Which is a shame because we got along immediately and we’re friends, something that is really great. Finally, after nearly six decades of nearly annihilating the planet, our families have become allies, suggesting global relations is safer, a little bit."

Contemporary Parallels and Present Perils

Or is it? One reason why this series seems so urgent is because we once again find ourselves in a perilous era. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to midnight than ever before, partly since world leaders appear not to have the capacity to learn