Following nearly destroying our planet, our families are friends’: the gripping podcast from JFK and Nikita Khrushchev’s descendants.

During October 1962, humanity came closer toward annihilation than at any other point during the contemporary era. This occurred following the discovery that a US surveillance aircraft discovered that Soviet atomic missile sites were under construction on Cuba, less than 160 kilometers from American soil. Reacting to this, President JFK ordered a naval task force to impose a maritime blockade around Cuba. The next phase was nearly two weeks filled with impossible tension.

An Unthinkable Danger

The threat remained palpable. Should Kennedy, or the Russian opposite, Nikita Khrushchev, were to fire on the other side, a series of global atomic attacks and retaliatory strikes could have ensued, plunging humanity toward all-out oblivion.

The October crisis has been examined endlessly, through books, movies, and TV documentaries. But, for its third season, the audio documentary series The Bomb introduces a completely new dimension into the story. The series is jointly hosted by Kennedy's relative and Khrushchev's descendant, family members belonging to the figures that, over 13 days, controlled the destiny of humanity within their grasp.

"What was the Russians planning? What was Washington planning?" questions Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s descendant who is also an academic of global relations.

In her view, the strength of the podcast is its attempt to question: "How can individuals detest each other to the point they confront one another?"

"I am acutely aware how profound the fact that people can be friends or else have the potential to be total enemies," states Max Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy, related to JFK and currently a writer as well as lawyer. "We see this dynamic over and over when nations have gone to war, demonstrating the profound irrationality involved to engage in warfare."

The Precipice of Catastrophe

What’s remarkable regarding the Cuban missile crisis is that, because it unfolded in the global spotlight, individuals around the world were able to observe nearly as it happened while it crept towards armageddon. Nonetheless, the threat of annihilation was more imminent than anybody understood at the time.

"Virtually everyone among Kennedy's advisors wanted a military strike followed by a ground invasion," explains Max Kennedy. "If we had struck Cuba with the naval blockade, there is no question Soviet forces stationed there would've deployed a tactical nuclear weapon at the American ships, and that would've destroyed our aircraft carriers and destroyed our largest and most important naval force. And, the U.S. would have responded through an overwhelming counterattack that would have eradicated most life on Earth."

The fact this did not occur stands as credit to Kennedy and Khrushchev, who succeeded in exercise restraint while calmly negotiate at a time when hawkish elements around them demanded military action. As a result, The Soviet premier removed the missiles from the Caribbean island and President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) removed his similar weapons from NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was immense, as was a feeling of hope.

The Different Perspective

Yet, during those two weeks of October 1962, the anxiety was palpable by everyone. The podcast's presenters came into the world shortly after the crisis, with Nina learned about the crisis through the Soviet education system, which presented an alternative narrative of events.

"As you mentioned your father recalls it, and it was a frightening day," Khrushcheva notes. "However for Soviet citizens, people were largely unaware a great deal about it, because it was a tense situation, whereas under the Soviet system the official line was that everything was constantly fine and positive."

Inside the Khrushchev household, though, the perspective was different. "They told me what a great moment for the USSR, because it was eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to find a solution, thus avoided a global war, seen as a wonderful outcome," she adds. Later on, though, that view was not shared by all Russians. "For decades within Russian historical analysis, it was considered a defeat for Khrushchev, because he didn’t blow up the United States."

An Unlikely Partnership

The Bomb is so balanced and well produced 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 significant aspect remains the involvement of the hosts themselves. Not so long ago, it would be inconceivable that relatives of the heads of state of the United States 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 with each other, has to be a sign of progress.

"We aren't the pioneers," notes Nina. "Following 1991, a relative Sergey Khrushchev’s son where he formed a close bond with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"But we had never met before the podcast," adds Kennedy. "Which is a shame since we connected really well and now we’re friends, something that is wonderful. Ultimately, after almost 60 years since nearly annihilating the world, our families have become allies, so I think global relations is more secure, somewhat."

Modern Echoes and Present Perils

Is that truly the case? One reason the reason The Bomb feels so necessary is because we now are living in a perilous era. The Doomsday Clock is closer to catastrophe than ever before, in part because world leaders appear not to have the capacity to grasp