‘After almost destroying the world, our relatives have become friends’: a gripping audio series featuring John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev’s descendants.

In the month of October 1962, the planet veered closer to annihilation than at any other point in recent history. This transpired when a US surveillance aircraft identified the fact that Russian nuclear missile bases were being assembled in the island of Cuba, less than 100 miles off the coast of the US mainland. Reacting to this, U.S. President JFK ordered a naval task force to establish a maritime quarantine encircling Cuba. The ensuing period constituted nearly 14 days filled with unbearable stress.

An Unthinkable Danger

The threat remained clear. Should Kennedy, or his Russian opposite, Nikita Khrushchev, initiated an attack on the other side, a chain reaction of worldwide nuclear strikes followed by retaliatory strikes could have ensued, plunging mankind toward total ruination.

The Cuban missile crisis has been examined endlessly, in volumes, films, and TV documentaries. But, in its latest installment, a prominent audio documentary series The Bomb has brought a completely new dimension to this historical narrative. It is jointly hosted by Max Kennedy and Khrushchev's descendant, family members of the leaders that, for two tense weeks, held the destiny of humanity in their hands.

"What were the Soviet side planning? What was the United States considering?" questions Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s descendant and a professor of international affairs.

In her view, the strength of the show is its attempt to question: "How can individuals hate each other and go against one another?"

"I am acutely aware how remarkable it is that humans can be friends or can become total adversaries," adds Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, related to the late president and now a writer as well as lawyer. "We see this repeatedly when nations have gone to war, and it just illustrates the sheer folly it is to fight."

The Precipice of Catastrophe

What is notable regarding the Cuban missile crisis was that, because it unfolded so publicly, citizens globally were able to observe nearly in real time as it moved towards disaster. Even so, the risk of destruction was more imminent than what most people realised.

"Almost all officials among Kennedy's advisors wanted a military strike followed by a ground invasion," explains Kennedy. "Had the U.S. attacked the Cubans using the naval blockade, undoubtedly Soviet forces on the ground would have fired a nuclear warhead at the American ships, and that would've sunk the aircraft carriers as well as sunk our largest and most important fleet. In turn, we would have retaliated through massive retaliation that would have eradicated most life on the planet."

The reality this did not occur is a testament to both leaders, who managed to keep their heads and engaging in diplomacy when hawkish elements in their governments were advocating military action. As a result, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the nuclear weapons from Cuba while President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) withdrew his similar weapons from Turkey. The sense of relief was immense, matched by the sense of hope.

A Divergent Viewpoint

Yet, during those two weeks in October, the anxiety was felt by everyone. The podcast's presenters came into the world in the years following the crisis, and Nina being taught about the crisis via the Soviet school curriculum, which presented a slightly different version of events.

"You said your parent remembers it, describing it as a frightening time," Khrushcheva notes. "But in the Soviet Union, people were largely unaware a great deal about it, because it was a crisis, whereas in the Soviet Union the official line was that things are constantly wonderful and sunny."

Within the Khrushchev household, though, it was different. "I was informed that it was a triumphant occasion it was, as it represented a direct confrontation. They were able to resolve it, and didn’t start the war, which was a positive outcome," she continues. Later on, though, that perspective would not be held by everybody. "For a long time within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a failure for the Soviet leader, simply he refrained from destroying America."

A Unprecedented Collaboration

This podcast is so even-handed , well produced so much so that Nina quips she nearly forgot she already knew outcome. This effect is, partly, due to the participation of historians. But, really, the most significant thing is the involvement of the descendants. Even within living memory, it would be inconceivable that descendants of the leaders of America and USSR would appear together publicly. That these two individuals can do that, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, must be seen as a symbol of progress.

"Max and I aren't the first," notes Nina. "After 1991, my uncle moved to America where he formed a close bond with the former president's family."

"But we had never met prior to this project," clarifies Kennedy. "Which is a shame since we got along immediately and we’re friends, which is really great. Finally, after almost six decades of nearly annihilating the planet, our lineages have become allies, suggesting the world is safer, a little bit."

Contemporary Parallels and Current Perils

Is that truly the case? One reason the reason The Bomb seems so urgent is that we now find ourselves in dark times. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to catastrophe in its history, in part because today's statesmen don’t seem to be able to comprehend