‘After nearly annihilating our world, our families are friends’: the thrilling podcast featuring JFK and Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

In October 1962, the world edged nearer to destruction than at any other point during recent history. This happened following the discovery that a US reconnaissance plane identified that Soviet atomic missile bases were being built in the island of Cuba, less than 100 miles from the US mainland. In response, President JFK directed a naval task force to enact a naval quarantine around Cuba. The next phase was nearly two weeks filled with unbearable anxiety.

An Catastrophic Danger

The threat was clear. If President Kennedy, or else his Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, had fired on the other side, a series involving global atomic attacks and counterstrikes might have followed, thrusting humanity toward all-out oblivion.

The Cuban missile crisis has been documented endlessly, through books, movies, as well as television programmes. However, for its third season, the BBC World Service podcast The Bomb introduces an unprecedented dimension to this historical narrative. It is co-presented by Max Kennedy alongside Khrushchev's descendant, family members belonging to the leaders that, for two tense weeks, held the fate of the world in their hands.

"What were the Kremlin considering? What was the United States thinking?" ponders Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's descendant who is also a professor specializing in international affairs.

For her, the beauty of the podcast is its endeavor to question: "How can people hate one another and confront each other?"

"It struck me how profound it is that individuals can be friends or have the potential to be total enemies," states Kennedy, son of RFK, related to JFK and now an author and lawyer. "History shows this dynamic over and over when nations have gone to war, demonstrating the sheer folly involved to fight."

A Brink of Catastrophe

What’s notable regarding the Cuban missile crisis was that, since it transpired in the global spotlight, individuals globally were able to observe almost as it happened while it edged closer to catastrophe. Even so, the threat of annihilation came closer than anybody realised.

"The overwhelming majority in the White House wanted a military strike followed by an invasion," explains Max 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 American ships, which would've obliterated the naval vessels as well as destroyed our primary naval force. And, the U.S. would have responded through massive retaliation which would have eradicated most life on Earth."

The fact this did not occur is a testament to both leaders, who succeeded in exercise restraint while calmly negotiate when many advisors around them were advocating action. Consequently, The Soviet premier removed the missiles from Cuba while President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) withdrew his missiles based in NATO ally Turkey. The relief was palpable, matched by a feeling of optimism.

A Divergent Perspective

Still, for those two weeks in October, the tension was felt by everyone. The Bomb’s presenters were born shortly after these events, and Khrushcheva learned about it via the USSR's education system, which painted an alternative picture of what happened.

"You said your parent remembers it, and it was a frightening day," she says. "But for Soviet citizens, people were largely unaware that much regarding the crisis, because it was a crisis, and in the Soviet Union the official line was that things are constantly wonderful or sunny."

Inside Khrushchev’s family, however, it was distinct. "They told me that it was a triumphant occasion it was, as it was a direct confrontation. They were able to resolve it, and didn’t start the war, seen as a wonderful outcome," she continues. In the years to come, however, that view was not shared by everybody. "For a long time within Russian historical analysis, it was considered a defeat for the Soviet leader, because he didn’t blow up America."

A Unprecedented Partnership

The Bomb is remarkably balanced , expertly crafted so much so that Khrushcheva jokes she nearly forgot the known the ending. This effect is, partly, due to the participation of historians. But, really, the most groundbreaking aspect remains the involvement of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it was inconceivable that descendants 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 exhibit such warmth with each other, has to be a sign of optimism.

"Max and I aren't the first," notes Khrushcheva. "After 1991, my uncle moved to America where he became great friends with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"But we were strangers prior to this project," clarifies Max. "That is unfortunate because we connected really well and now we are friends, something that is wonderful. Ultimately, following nearly six decades since almost destroying the world, our families have become friends, suggesting global relations is safer, a little bit."

Modern Parallels with Current Perils

Or is it? One reason the reason The Bomb seems so urgent is because we once again find ourselves living through a perilous era. 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