Following nearly annihilating our world, the families have become allies’: the gripping audio series featuring JFK and Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

In the month of October 1962, the world edged nearer to ruin than at any other point during recent history. This transpired when a US surveillance aircraft discovered that Russian nuclear weapon bases were being built on Cuba, a mere 100 miles from the United States. Reacting to this, U.S. President JFK commanded a naval task force to establish a maritime quarantine around the island. What followed constituted nearly two weeks of impossible anxiety.

An Unthinkable Threat

The threat remained palpable. If President Kennedy, or his Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, initiated an attack against their enemy, a series involving global nuclear strikes and counterstrikes might have ensued, thrusting civilization into all-out oblivion.

The October crisis has been examined endlessly, in books, films, as well as television programmes. But, in its latest installment, the BBC World Service podcast The Bomb has brought a novel perspective to this historical narrative. The series is jointly hosted by Kennedy's relative alongside Nina Khrushcheva, relatives belonging to the men that, for two tense weeks, grasped the destiny of the world in their hands.

"What was the Soviet side considering? What was the American side planning?" ponders Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's great-granddaughter who is also a professor of international affairs.

For her, the beauty of the show lies in its endeavor to objectively ask: "How can nations hate each other and go against each other?"

"It struck me how spectacular it is that humans have the potential to be friends or have the potential to be complete enemies," remarks Max Kennedy, son of RFK, nephew of the late president and currently a writer and lawyer. "We see this repeatedly in instances where countries enter into conflict, demonstrating the profound irrationality it is to fight."

The Brink Towards Disaster

What’s remarkable regarding this event was that, since it unfolded so publicly, people globally could watch nearly as it happened while it crept towards disaster. However, the threat of annihilation was more imminent than anybody realised.

"Virtually everyone among Kennedy's advisors wanted a military strike followed by an invasion," notes Kennedy. "If we had struck the Cubans with the Sixth Fleet, undoubtedly the Russians stationed there would have deployed a nuclear warhead against the US Sixth Fleet, and that would've sunk the aircraft carriers as well as sunk America's largest and most important fleet. In turn, we would have retaliated with massive retaliation that would have ended all life on the planet."

The fact it didn’t is a testament to Kennedy and Khrushchev, they succeeded in exercise restraint and calmly negotiate at a time when everyone around them was pushing for action. As a result, Khrushchev removed the missiles in the Caribbean island and Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) withdrew his similar weapons based in NATO ally Turkey. The relief was worldwide, matched by a feeling of optimism.

The Different Perspective

Yet, for those two weeks in October, the fear was palpable by everyone. The Bomb’s presenters were born shortly after the crisis, with Khrushcheva being taught about the crisis via the Soviet education system, which presented a slightly different picture of what happened.

"You said your father remembers it, and it was a scary day," she says. "But in the Soviet Union, the public were largely unaware that much regarding the crisis, since it was a crisis, whereas under the Soviet system the official line was that things are always wonderful or positive."

Inside the Khrushchev household, however, the perspective was distinct. "I was informed what a great moment it was, because it was a direct confrontation. They were able to resolve it, and didn’t start the war, seen as a positive thing," she continues. Later on, however, that interpretation would not be held by everybody. "For a long time in Russian politics, it was considered a failure for Khrushchev, because he didn’t blow up America."

An Unlikely Partnership

The Bomb is remarkably balanced and well produced that Khrushcheva quips it almost made her forget she already knew outcome. This effect is, partly, thanks to the participation of renowned scholars. But, truly, the most groundbreaking thing is the involvement of the hosts themselves. Not so long ago, it would be inconceivable for relatives of the leaders of the United States and the USSR to appear side by side. The fact that Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva can do that, and be so warm toward one another, must be seen as a sign of optimism.

"Max and I are not the first," notes Khrushcheva. "After 1991, my uncle moved to America and formed a close bond with the former president's family."

"However we had never met before the podcast," adds Kennedy. "That is a shame since we connected really well and now we are friends, which is wonderful. Finally, after almost six decades of almost destroying the world, our lineages have become allies, suggesting global relations is more secure, a little bit."

Contemporary Parallels and Present Perils

Or is it? One reason the reason this series seems so urgent is that we once again are living living through dark times. The Doomsday Clock stands nearer to catastrophe in its history, in part because today's statesmen don’t seem to have the capacity to learn