Following almost destroying the planet, our families have become allies’: the thrilling audio series featuring JFK and Nikita Khrushchev’s descendants.

In October 1962, the planet veered closer to destruction more so than ever during modern times. This transpired after a US reconnaissance aircraft identified the fact that Soviet nuclear missile installations were being assembled on the island of Cuba, less than 100 miles from American soil. In response, President John F Kennedy commanded a naval task force to enact a naval blockade around the island. What followed was almost a fortnight filled with extreme stress.

An Catastrophic Threat

The threat was clear. If Kennedy, or his Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, had fired against their enemy, a series of worldwide nuclear strikes followed by counterstrikes could have followed, plunging civilization into total destruction.

The October crisis has been examined extensively, in volumes, films, as well as TV documentaries. But, for its third season, a prominent audio documentary series The Bomb has brought a completely new element into this historical narrative. The series is jointly hosted featuring Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva, relatives belonging to the leaders who, over 13 days, held the fate of the planet within their grasp.

"What were the Soviet side planning? What was the American side planning?" ponders Nina Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s descendant and a professor specializing in global relations.

In her view, the strength of the show is its endeavor to question: "Why do people detest one another and go against each other?"

"It was not lost on me how remarkable the fact that humans have the potential to be friends or have the potential to be complete adversaries," remarks Max Kennedy, the son of RFK, nephew of the late president and now an author as well as lawyer. "We see this over and over when nations enter into conflict, and it just illustrates the sheer folly involved to engage in warfare."

A Brink Towards Disaster

What is remarkable about the Cuban missile crisis was that, since it unfolded so publicly, citizens around the world could watch nearly as it happened while it crept closer to catastrophe. Even so, the threat of annihilation came closer than what anybody realised.

"Virtually everyone in the White House wanted an airstrike followed by a ground invasion," says Kennedy. "If we had attacked Cuba using the Sixth Fleet, there is no question Soviet forces stationed there would've fired a tactical nuclear weapon against the US Sixth Fleet, which would've destroyed our naval vessels as well as destroyed our largest and most important naval force. And, the U.S. would have responded through an overwhelming counterattack which would have ended most life on the planet."

The reality this did not occur stands as credit to Kennedy and Khrushchev, who succeeded in exercise restraint and engaging in diplomacy when many advisors around them were advocating action. As a result, Khrushchev removed the nuclear weapons in Cuba while President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) withdrew American similar weapons based in Turkey. The sense of relief was worldwide, matched by a feeling of optimism.

A Divergent Viewpoint

Yet, for those 13 days in October, the tension was palpable globally. The podcast's co-hosts came into the world in the years following these events, with Nina being taught about the crisis via the Soviet education system, which portrayed a slightly different version of what happened.

"As you mentioned your parent remembers it, and it was a scary day," Khrushcheva notes. "But for Soviet citizens, people really didn’t know a great deal regarding the crisis, since it was a tense situation, and in the Soviet Union the official line was that everything was constantly wonderful and sunny."

Within the Khrushchev household, though, it was different. "They told me what a great moment for the USSR, as it represented eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to find a solution, and avoided the war, which was a positive thing," she continues. Subsequently, though, that perspective would not be shared by everybody. "For a long time in Russian politics, it was considered a setback for Khrushchev, because he refrained from destroying the United States."

An Unprecedented Partnership

The Bomb is so balanced and well produced that Khrushcheva quips she nearly forgot she already knew outcome. This effect is, partly, due to the participation of renowned scholars. But, really, the most significant thing is the participation of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it was inconceivable for relatives of the leaders of the United States and USSR would appear side by side. That Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva can do that, and exhibit such warmth with each other, has to be a symbol of hope.

"Max and I aren't the first," notes Nina. "After the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, my uncle Sergey Khrushchev’s son where he became great friends with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"However we were strangers before the podcast," adds Kennedy. "Which is a shame because we connected really well and we are friends, something that is wonderful. Ultimately, following nearly six decades of nearly annihilating the world, our families are now friends, so I think the world is more secure, a little bit."

Modern Parallels and Present Perils

Or is it? Part of why this series feels so necessary is that we once again are living living through a perilous era. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to catastrophe than ever before, partly since world leaders appear not to be able to grasp