Following almost annihilating the planet, our families have become friends’: the gripping audio series featuring John F. Kennedy & Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

In October 1962, humanity veered closer to ruin than at any other point in recent history. This happened when a US surveillance plane discovered the fact that Soviet atomic weapon bases were being assembled on the island of Cuba, a mere 160 kilometers off the coast of American soil. Reacting to this, U.S. President John F Kennedy ordered a naval task force to impose a naval quarantine encircling Cuba. The next phase was nearly two weeks filled with extreme anxiety.

An Catastrophic Danger

The danger was obvious. Should Kennedy, or else his Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, had fired on their enemy, a chain reaction of global nuclear attacks and retaliatory strikes might have ensued, casting mankind toward total destruction.

The Cuban missile crisis has been covered repeatedly, in books, films, and television programmes. However, for its third season, a prominent audio documentary series titled "The Bomb" presents a completely new dimension to the story. It is co-presented featuring Kennedy's relative alongside Nina Khrushcheva, relatives of the leaders that, for two tense weeks, controlled the destiny of the world in their hands.

"What was the Russians thinking? What was the United States considering?" questions Nina Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's great-granddaughter and a professor specializing in international affairs.

For her, the beauty of the podcast is its attempt to question: "How can nations hate each other and oppose one another?"

"It was not lost on me how profound it is that people can be friends or have the potential to be total enemies," remarks Kennedy, the son of RFK, related to the late president and currently a writer and attorney. "History shows this dynamic over and over when nations have gone to war, and it just illustrates how unbelievably stupid it is to engage in warfare."

A Precipice Towards Catastrophe

What’s remarkable about this event is that, since it unfolded so publicly, citizens around the world could watch nearly in real time as it crept towards armageddon. Nonetheless, the risk of destruction was more imminent than most people understood at the time.

"The overwhelming majority among Kennedy's advisors wanted an airstrike followed by an invasion," notes Max Kennedy. "If we had attacked the Cubans using the naval blockade, there is no question Soviet forces stationed there would have launched a tactical nuclear weapon against the US Sixth Fleet, and that would've obliterated our aircraft carriers as well as sunk our largest and most important fleet. And, we would have retaliated with massive retaliation which would have eradicated all life on Earth."

The reality this did not occur is a testament to Kennedy and Khrushchev, who managed to remain calm and calmly negotiate at a time when many advisors around them were advocating military action. As a result, The Soviet premier removed the nuclear weapons from the Caribbean island and President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) removed his missiles based in NATO ally Turkey. The relief was immense, as was a feeling of optimism.

A Different Perspective

Yet, for those two weeks in October, the tension was palpable by everyone. The Bomb’s presenters were born in the years following the crisis, with Nina learned about it through the Soviet education system, which painted a slightly different narrative of events.

"As you mentioned your father remembers it, and it was a scary time," Khrushcheva notes. "However for Soviet citizens, the public really didn’t know a great deal about it, because it was a tense situation, whereas under the Soviet system the official line was that everything was constantly wonderful or sunny."

Inside Khrushchev’s family, however, it was distinct. "They told me what a great moment for the USSR, because it represented a direct confrontation. They were able to find a solution, and avoided a global war, which was a wonderful thing," she continues. Subsequently, though, that view would not be held by everybody. "For decades in Russian politics, the crisis was viewed as a failure for the Soviet leader, because he didn’t blow up the United States."

A Unprecedented Partnership

This podcast is so balanced and expertly crafted that Khrushcheva jokes she nearly forgot she already knew outcome. This is, partly, due to the participation of historians. Yet, truly, the most groundbreaking aspect is the participation of the descendants. Not so long ago, it would be unthinkable that descendants of the leaders of America and the USSR to appear side by side. The fact that Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva are able to do so, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, must be seen as a sign of progress.

"We are not the pioneers," notes Nina. "Following 1991, a relative Sergey Khrushchev’s son and formed a close bond with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"However we had never met prior to this project," adds Kennedy. "That is unfortunate since we connected immediately and we are friends, something that is really great. Ultimately, following almost 60 years of almost destroying the world, our families have become allies, so I think the world is safer, a little bit."

Modern Echoes with Current Perils

Is that truly the case? Part of the reason The Bomb feels so necessary is that we once again are living in a perilous era. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to catastrophe in its history, partly since world leaders don’t seem to be able to grasp