Following nearly annihilating the planet, the families are allies’: a gripping podcast featuring JFK & Nikita Khrushchev’s descendants.

In the month of October 1962, the world came nearer toward ruin than at any other point in modern times. This happened when an American surveillance plane discovered that Soviet atomic weapon installations were being assembled in Cuba, less than 160 kilometers from American soil. Reacting to this, President JFK ordered a naval task force to enact a naval blockade around Cuba. What followed was almost two weeks of impossible anxiety.

An Catastrophic Threat

The threat was obvious. Should President Kennedy, or his Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, were to fire against their enemy, a cascade of worldwide nuclear strikes and retaliatory strikes would have ensued, casting humanity toward all-out ruination.

This pivotal 1962 event has been covered extensively, through volumes, movies, as well as television programmes. But, for its third season, a prominent BBC World Service podcast The Bomb presents a completely new dimension into this historical narrative. The series is jointly hosted by Kennedy's relative alongside Nina Khrushcheva, family members belonging to the figures that, for two tense weeks, held the destiny of the planet within their grasp.

"What was the Soviet side thinking? What was the American side planning?" asks Nina Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's great-granddaughter and a professor of international affairs.

In her view, the beauty of the show lies in its attempt to explore: "How can individuals detest each other and confront each other?"

"I am acutely aware how remarkable it is that individuals have the potential to be friends or else can become total enemies," states Kennedy, the son of RFK, related to the late president and now an author and attorney. "History shows this over and over in instances where nations have gone to war, highlighting the profound irrationality involved to fight."

The Brink of Catastrophe

What is remarkable about this event is that, because it transpired so publicly, individuals globally could watch nearly as it happened as it crept closer to disaster. Even so, the risk of destruction came closer than what anybody understood at the time.

"The overwhelming majority among Kennedy's advisors wanted an airstrike followed by a ground invasion," says Kennedy. "If we had attacked the Cubans using the naval blockade, it is certain Soviet forces on the ground would have fired a nuclear warhead at the American ships, and that would've sunk the aircraft carriers as well as sunk our largest and most important fleet. In turn, the U.S. would have retaliated with an overwhelming counterattack which would have eradicated most life on Earth."

The reality this did not occur stands as credit to both leaders, who managed to exercise restraint and calmly negotiate when many advisors around them demanded action. Consequently, The Soviet premier removed the nuclear weapons from Cuba while Kennedy (although not reported then) withdrew his similar weapons based in NATO ally Turkey. The relief was palpable, matched by a feeling of optimism.

A Divergent Perspective

Yet, for those two weeks of October 1962, the fear was felt globally. The podcast's co-hosts came into the world in the years following these events, and Khrushcheva learned about it through the USSR's school curriculum, which presented an alternative narrative of what happened.

"You said your parent remembers it, describing it as a scary time," she says. "But in the Soviet Union, the public really didn’t know a great deal about it, since it was a crisis, whereas in the Soviet Union we were told that things are constantly wonderful and sunny."

Inside Khrushchev’s family, however, it was distinct. "I was informed what a great moment for the USSR, because it was eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to resolve it, and didn’t start a global war, which was a positive outcome," she continues. Subsequently, however, that interpretation would not be shared by all Russians. "For a long time in Russian politics, it was considered a defeat for Khrushchev, because he didn’t blow up America."

A Unlikely Collaboration

The Bomb is so even-handed and well produced so much so that Nina jokes it almost made her forget the known outcome. This is, partly, thanks to contributions from renowned scholars. But, really, the most groundbreaking aspect remains the involvement of the descendants. Not so long ago, it was unthinkable for descendants of the heads of state of the United States and Soviet Union would appear together publicly. That these two individuals are able to do so, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, has to be a symbol of optimism.

"Max and I aren't the pioneers," smiles Khrushcheva. "After 1991, a relative Sergey Khrushchev’s son and became great friends with the former president's family."

"But we were strangers before the podcast," clarifies Max. "Which is unfortunate since we got along really well and we’re friends, something that is really great. Ultimately, following almost six decades of almost destroying the planet, our families have become allies, so I think the world is safer, a little bit."

Contemporary Echoes and Present Dangers

Is that truly the case? One reason the reason The Bomb seems so urgent is because we now are living in a perilous era. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to catastrophe than ever before, partly since today's statesmen don’t seem to have the capacity to grasp