Following nearly annihilating our planet, our relatives have become allies’: the thrilling audio series featuring John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

During the month of October 1962, the world veered closer to ruin than at any other point during the contemporary era. This happened following the discovery that a US reconnaissance plane identified the fact that Soviet nuclear missile sites were being built in Cuba, less than 100 miles from the US mainland. In response, President John F Kennedy directed the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to impose a naval quarantine encircling the island. The next phase was nearly a fortnight filled with impossible tension.

The Unthinkable Danger

The peril remained obvious. Should President Kennedy, or the Russian opposite, Nikita Khrushchev, had fired against the other side, a cascade involving global atomic attacks followed by retaliatory strikes could have followed, casting mankind into total destruction.

The Cuban missile crisis has been covered endlessly, in volumes, films, as well as TV documentaries. However, for its third season, a prominent BBC World Service podcast The Bomb has brought an unprecedented perspective into the story. The series is co-presented by Kennedy's relative alongside Khrushchev's descendant, relatives belonging to the men that, for 13 days, controlled the fate of humanity in their hands.

"What were the Russians planning? What were Washington considering?" ponders Nina Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter and an academic of global relations.

In her view, the beauty of the podcast is its endeavor to objectively ask: "Why do individuals detest each other to the point they confront one another?"

"It was not lost on me how spectacular the fact that individuals have the potential to be allies or else have the potential to be complete enemies," states Kennedy, son of RFK, nephew of the late president and now a writer as well as attorney. "We see this over and over when nations have gone to war, demonstrating the profound irrationality it is to engage in warfare."

The Brink Towards Disaster

What’s remarkable regarding the Cuban missile crisis was that, because it transpired in the global spotlight, citizens around the world were able to observe nearly as it happened as it crept closer to disaster. Nonetheless, the danger of annihilation was more imminent than most people realised.

"Virtually everyone among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for an airstrike followed by a ground invasion," says Max Kennedy. "If we had struck Cuba with the naval blockade, undoubtedly the Russians on the ground would have launched a tactical nuclear weapon at the American ships, which would've destroyed the naval vessels as well as destroyed our primary fleet. In turn, we would have responded with an overwhelming counterattack which would have ended all life on the planet."

The fact this did not occur is a testament to both leaders, they succeeded in remain calm and calmly negotiate when many advisors in their governments was pushing for military action. Consequently, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the nuclear weapons from the Caribbean island while President Kennedy (although not reported then) removed his similar weapons from Turkey. The relief was immense, as was the sense of optimism.

A Divergent Viewpoint

Yet, during those two weeks in October, the tension was felt by everyone. The Bomb’s co-hosts were born in the years following the crisis, with Khrushcheva being taught about the crisis via the USSR's education system, which presented a slightly different narrative of events.

"You said your parent recalls it, describing it as a frightening time," she says. "But in the Soviet Union, people were largely unaware that much regarding the crisis, since it was a tense situation, and in the Soviet Union the official line was that everything was constantly fine or sunny."

Inside the Khrushchev household, however, the perspective was distinct. "They told me what a great occasion it was, because it represented eyeball to eyeball. They were able to find a solution, thus didn’t start a global war, seen as a positive outcome," she continues. In the years to come, though, that view was not held by all Russians. "For a long time within Russian historical analysis, it was considered a setback for the Soviet leader, simply he refrained from destroying the United States."

A Unlikely Partnership

The Bomb is remarkably balanced and well produced so much so that Khrushcheva quips she nearly forgot she already knew the ending. This effect is, partly, thanks to contributions from historians. Yet, really, the most momentous aspect remains the involvement of the hosts themselves. Not so long ago, it was inconceivable that descendants of the heads of state of the United States and USSR to appear together publicly. That these two individuals can do that, and be so warm toward one another, must be seen as a sign of progress.

"Max and I aren't the pioneers," notes Nina. "After the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, a relative Sergey Khrushchev’s son and became great friends with the former president's family."

"But we had never met prior to this project," clarifies Kennedy. "That is a shame because we got along really well and we’re friends, which is really great. Ultimately, following nearly 60 years since almost destroying the planet, our families are now friends, suggesting global relations is safer, somewhat."

Contemporary Parallels with Present Dangers

Is that truly the case? Part of the reason this series feels so necessary is because we now find ourselves in dark times. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to catastrophe than ever before, partly since today's statesmen don’t seem to have the capacity to grasp