‘After nearly destroying our world, our families are friends’: a gripping podcast featuring JFK and Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

In the month of October 1962, humanity came closer toward destruction than at any other point during recent history. This occurred following the discovery that an American reconnaissance aircraft found that Russian nuclear weapon bases were being built in the island of Cuba, a mere 100 miles off the coast of the US mainland. In response, President John F Kennedy commanded the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to enact a naval quarantine around the island. The next phase constituted nearly two weeks filled with unbearable tension.

An Catastrophic Danger

The danger remained obvious. If Kennedy, or else the Russian opposite, Nikita Khrushchev, were to fire on their enemy, a cascade of worldwide nuclear strikes followed by counterstrikes might have ensued, casting mankind toward total ruination.

The Cuban missile crisis has been covered extensively, in volumes, movies, and television programmes. But, for its third season, a prominent BBC World Service podcast The Bomb has brought a completely new dimension into the story. The series is co-presented by Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva, family members belonging to the men that, for two tense weeks, controlled the fate of humanity within their grasp.

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

In her view, the beauty of the podcast is its attempt to question: "Why do people detest each other to the point they confront each other?"

"I am acutely aware how remarkable the fact that people can be friends or can become complete enemies," adds Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy, related to the late president and now an author and lawyer. "History shows this dynamic repeatedly in instances where nations enter into conflict, demonstrating the sheer folly involved to engage in warfare."

The Brink of Disaster

What is striking regarding this event is that, since it transpired in the global spotlight, individuals globally could watch nearly in real time as it moved closer to catastrophe. Nonetheless, the threat of destruction came closer than what anybody understood at the time.

"The overwhelming majority in the White House were advocating for a military strike and a ground invasion," explains Max Kennedy. "If we had attacked Cuba with the Sixth Fleet, it is certain the Russians stationed there would have deployed a nuclear warhead against the US Sixth Fleet, and that would've obliterated the naval vessels and destroyed America's largest and most important fleet. In turn, we would have retaliated with an overwhelming counterattack which would have eradicated most life on Earth."

The fact it didn’t stands as credit to both leaders, who managed to exercise restraint and engaging in diplomacy at a time when everyone in their governments was pushing for military action. As a result, The Soviet premier agreed to withdraw the nuclear weapons from the Caribbean island and Kennedy (although not reported at the time) withdrew American similar weapons based in NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was worldwide, as was a feeling of hope.

The Divergent Perspective

Yet, during those 13 days of October 1962, the tension was palpable globally. The Bomb’s presenters came into the world shortly after these events, and Khrushcheva being taught about the crisis via the Soviet education system, which presented an alternative picture of what happened.

"As you mentioned your parent recalls it, and it was a scary day," she says. "But in the Soviet Union, people really didn’t know that much regarding the crisis, since it was a crisis, whereas in the Soviet Union the official line was that everything was always fine or positive."

Inside the Khrushchev household, though, the perspective was different. "I was informed what a great moment it was, as it represented a direct confrontation. The leaders managed to resolve it, and didn’t start the war, which was a positive thing," she continues. Later on, however, that view would not be shared by everybody. "For a long time within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a defeat for Khrushchev, because he didn’t blow up the United States."

A Unlikely Collaboration

This podcast is remarkably even-handed and expertly crafted so much so that Khrushcheva jokes it almost made her forget she already knew the ending. This effect is, in part, due to the participation of renowned scholars. But, truly, the most groundbreaking aspect remains the involvement of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it would be unthinkable for relatives of the leaders of America and the USSR would appear together publicly. That Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva are able to do so, and exhibit such warmth with each other, has to be a symbol of optimism.

"Max and I aren't the first," smiles Nina. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, my uncle moved to America and formed a close bond with the former president's family."

"However we were strangers before the podcast," adds Max. "That is unfortunate because we got along immediately and now we’re friends, something that is really great. Finally, following nearly 60 years since almost destroying the world, our lineages have become friends, so I think the world is safer, a little bit."

Contemporary Echoes with Current Perils

Or is it? One reason why The Bomb seems so urgent is that we now are living living through a perilous era. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to catastrophe than ever before, partly since world leaders don’t seem to have the capacity to grasp