Following nearly annihilating our world, our families are friends’: a gripping podcast from John F. Kennedy & Nikita Khrushchev’s descendants.

During the month of October 1962, humanity came closer to ruin than at any other point in recent history. This occurred when a US surveillance plane discovered that Russian atomic missile sites were being assembled on Cuba, less than 100 miles off the coast of the US mainland. In response, President John F Kennedy commanded a naval task force to enact a naval blockade encircling Cuba. The next phase was nearly two weeks filled with unbearable anxiety.

The Unthinkable Danger

The danger remained clear. Should Kennedy, or else his Russian opposite, Nikita Khrushchev, initiated an attack on the other side, a series of global nuclear strikes and counterstrikes would have ensued, casting mankind into total ruination.

The October crisis has been examined repeatedly, through volumes, movies, and TV documentaries. However, for its third season, a prominent audio documentary series The Bomb introduces an unprecedented dimension to this historical narrative. The series is jointly hosted featuring Kennedy's relative and Nina Khrushcheva, family members belonging to the figures who, for 13 days, grasped the destiny of humanity within their grasp.

"What were the Soviet side planning? What was the United States planning?" questions Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's great-granddaughter who is also a professor specializing in international affairs.

In her view, the strength of the podcast is its attempt to question: "Why do nations detest one another to the point they go against each other?"

"It struck me how spectacular it is that people have the potential to be allies or can become complete adversaries," remarks Max Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, related to JFK and now a writer and attorney. "History shows this dynamic over and over in instances where nations have gone to war, demonstrating how unbelievably stupid it is to engage in warfare."

The Precipice of Catastrophe

What is striking about this event is that, because it transpired so publicly, citizens around the world could watch nearly in real time while it crept towards disaster. Nonetheless, the threat of annihilation came closer than anybody realised.

"Virtually everyone in the White House were advocating for a military strike followed by an invasion," says Kennedy. "If we had struck the Cubans using the naval blockade, there is no question Soviet forces on the ground would have fired a nuclear warhead against the US Sixth Fleet, and that would have sunk the naval vessels and destroyed our primary naval force. In turn, we would have responded through an overwhelming counterattack which would have eradicated all life on the planet."

The reality it didn’t stands as credit to Kennedy and Khrushchev, they succeeded in remain calm while engaging in diplomacy at a time when many advisors around them was pushing for military action. As a result, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the nuclear weapons from the Caribbean island while President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) withdrew his missiles from NATO ally Turkey. The relief was immense, as was the sense of optimism.

The Divergent Viewpoint

Still, for those two weeks of October 1962, the anxiety was palpable by everyone. The Bomb’s co-hosts came into the world in the years following these events, with Nina being taught about it via the USSR's school curriculum, which painted an alternative version of what happened.

"As you mentioned your parent remembers it, describing it as a frightening time," she says. "However for Soviet citizens, the public really didn’t know a great deal about it, because it was a tense situation, and in the Soviet Union the official line was that things are constantly wonderful and positive."

Inside Khrushchev’s family, however, it was distinct. "I was informed what a great moment for the USSR, because it was eyeball to eyeball. They were able to find a solution, thus avoided the war, which was a wonderful outcome," she continues. Later on, however, that interpretation would not be held by everybody. "For a long time in Russian politics, the crisis was viewed as a setback for Khrushchev, because he didn’t blow up America."

An Unlikely Partnership

The Bomb is so even-handed , well produced so much so that Nina quips she nearly forgot the known outcome. This effect is, partly, thanks to the participation of historians. Yet, really, the most groundbreaking aspect is the participation of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it was unthinkable that relatives of the leaders of the United States and Soviet Union would appear together publicly. The fact that these two individuals are able to do so, and be so warm with each other, must be seen as a symbol of progress.

"We are not the first," notes Nina. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, a relative Sergey Khrushchev’s son where he became great friends with the former president's family."

"However we had never met before the podcast," clarifies Kennedy. "Which is unfortunate because we got along really well and we are friends, something that is really great. Ultimately, after nearly 60 years since almost destroying the world, our families are now friends, suggesting global relations is more secure, somewhat."

Contemporary Echoes and Current Dangers

Or is it? One reason why this series feels so necessary is that we once again are living in dark times. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to catastrophe in its history, partly since world leaders appear not to be able to grasp