‘After nearly destroying the planet, our families have become allies’: the thrilling audio series featuring John F. Kennedy and Khrushchev’s descendants.

In the month of October 1962, the world edged closer toward ruin than at any other point during the contemporary era. This happened following the discovery that an American surveillance aircraft discovered that Soviet nuclear weapon sites were being assembled on Cuba, a mere 100 miles off the coast of American soil. Reacting to this, President JFK directed the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to establish a maritime quarantine around the island. What followed constituted almost a fortnight of impossible stress.

The Catastrophic Danger

The peril was clear. Should Kennedy, or his Soviet counterpart, Premier Khrushchev, were to fire on the other side, a series involving global atomic strikes and retaliatory strikes could have ensued, plunging humanity toward all-out destruction.

This pivotal 1962 event has been examined repeatedly, in volumes, movies, as well as TV documentaries. But, in its latest installment, the audio documentary series The Bomb introduces an unprecedented dimension to the story. The series is co-presented featuring Kennedy's relative alongside Khrushchev's descendant, relatives belonging to the men that, for 13 days, held the destiny of the world within their grasp.

"What were the Kremlin planning? What were the United States thinking?" questions Nina Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter and an academic of global relations.

In her view, the strength of the show lies in its attempt to question: "Why do people detest one another and oppose one another?"

"I am acutely aware how remarkable the fact that humans have the potential to be friends or else have the potential to be complete adversaries," remarks Kennedy, son of RFK, related to JFK and currently an author as well as lawyer. "History shows this repeatedly when countries enter into conflict, demonstrating how unbelievably stupid it is to engage in warfare."

The Brink Towards Catastrophe

What’s striking regarding the Cuban missile crisis is that, because it transpired so publicly, individuals worldwide could watch almost as it happened while it edged towards armageddon. However, the risk of destruction was more imminent than what most people understood at the time.

"Almost all officials among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for an airstrike followed by a ground invasion," explains Max Kennedy. "If we had struck the Cubans using the Sixth Fleet, there is no question the Russians stationed there would've deployed a nuclear warhead against the American ships, and that would've sunk the naval vessels and sunk America's largest and most important naval force. And, the U.S. would have responded through massive retaliation that would have eradicated most life on the planet."

The reality it didn’t stands as credit to Kennedy and Khrushchev, they succeeded in remain calm while calmly negotiate when hawkish elements around them demanded military action. Consequently, Khrushchev removed the nuclear weapons from the Caribbean island while President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) removed his missiles from NATO ally Turkey. The relief was immense, matched by a feeling of optimism.

The Different Viewpoint

Yet, during those 13 days in October, the fear was palpable globally. The Bomb’s co-hosts were born shortly after the crisis, with Nina learned about it through the Soviet school curriculum, which portrayed a slightly different version of what happened.

"As you mentioned your parent remembers it, and it was a frightening day," Khrushcheva notes. "But in the Soviet Union, the public were largely unaware that much about it, because it was a tense situation, and under the Soviet system the official line was that things are always fine or sunny."

Inside Khrushchev’s family, however, it was different. "They told me that it was a triumphant moment for the USSR, as it represented a direct confrontation. They were able to resolve it, and didn’t start the war, seen as a positive outcome," she adds. Subsequently, however, that view would not be shared by all Russians. "For decades within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a failure for the Soviet leader, because he didn’t blow up America."

An Unprecedented Collaboration

This podcast is remarkably even-handed , expertly crafted so much so that Khrushcheva quips it almost made her forget she already knew outcome. This is, in part, thanks to the participation of renowned scholars. But, truly, the most groundbreaking aspect remains the participation of the descendants. Not so long ago, it was inconceivable for relatives of the heads of state of America and the Soviet Union would appear side by side. That these two individuals are able to do so, and be so warm toward one another, has to be a sign of progress.

"Max and I are not the first," notes Nina. "Following 1991, a relative moved to America and formed a close bond with the former president's family."

"But we were strangers before the podcast," clarifies Kennedy. "Which is a shame since we connected immediately and now we’re friends, which is really great. Finally, following almost six decades since almost destroying the planet, our lineages have become allies, so I think the world is safer, a little bit."

Contemporary Parallels and Current Perils

Or is it? Part of why this series seems so urgent is that we now are living in dark times. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to midnight in its history, in part because today's statesmen appear not to have the capacity to grasp