‘After nearly annihilating our planet, our families are allies’: a gripping audio series from JFK and Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

During the month of October 1962, the planet came closer toward destruction than at any other point during the contemporary era. This happened after an American surveillance plane identified the fact that Russian nuclear missile sites were being assembled on Cuba, a mere 100 miles from the US mainland. Reacting to this, U.S. President JFK directed the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to impose a maritime quarantine encircling the island. What followed was almost a fortnight filled with extreme tension.

The Catastrophic Danger

The threat remained palpable. If President Kennedy, or else his Russian opposite, Nikita Khrushchev, had fired against their enemy, a chain reaction of worldwide atomic attacks and retaliatory strikes might have followed, thrusting civilization toward all-out destruction.

The Cuban missile crisis has been documented repeatedly, through volumes, movies, and TV documentaries. However, in its latest installment, the audio documentary series The Bomb introduces a completely new perspective to the story. The series is jointly hosted featuring Kennedy's relative alongside Nina Khrushcheva, relatives belonging to the figures that, for two tense weeks, controlled the fate of the world within their grasp.

"What was the Kremlin planning? What were the American side considering?" ponders Nina Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's great-granddaughter and a professor of global relations.

In her view, the beauty of the show is its attempt to objectively ask: "How can nations hate one another and oppose each other?"

"I am acutely aware how remarkable the fact that people have the potential to be allies or have the potential to be complete adversaries," adds Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy, nephew of JFK and currently a writer and attorney. "We see this dynamic repeatedly when nations enter into conflict, highlighting the sheer folly it is to fight."

A Precipice of Catastrophe

What is notable about this event was that, since it transpired in the global spotlight, individuals globally could watch nearly in real time while it moved towards disaster. However, the risk of annihilation came closer than what anybody understood at the time.

"The overwhelming majority among Kennedy's advisors wanted an airstrike followed by an invasion," notes Kennedy. "If we had attacked the Cubans using the naval blockade, undoubtedly Soviet forces stationed there would have deployed a tactical nuclear weapon at the US Sixth Fleet, which would've obliterated the naval vessels and destroyed our primary fleet. And, the U.S. would have retaliated with massive retaliation 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 remain calm and calmly negotiate at a time when many advisors around them was pushing for military action. As a result, Khrushchev removed the nuclear weapons from the Caribbean island while Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) withdrew American similar weapons from NATO ally Turkey. The relief was palpable, matched by a feeling of optimism.

The Different Perspective

Still, during those 13 days in October, the tension was felt by everyone. The podcast's presenters came into the world shortly after these events, and Nina being taught about the crisis through the USSR's education system, which portrayed an alternative narrative of what happened.

"You said your father remembers it, and it was a scary time," she says. "But for Soviet citizens, people really didn’t know a great deal about it, because it was a tense situation, and in the Soviet Union the official line was that everything was always wonderful or sunny."

Inside Khrushchev’s family, however, it was different. "They told me what a great occasion it was, because it was a direct confrontation. They were able to resolve it, and avoided a global war, which was a positive outcome," she adds. In the years to come, however, that view was not shared by all Russians. "For a long time within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a defeat for Khrushchev, because he didn’t blow up America."

A Unlikely Partnership

This podcast is remarkably balanced and expertly crafted so much so that Nina jokes she nearly forgot she already knew the ending. This is, in part, thanks to contributions from historians. Yet, really, the most groundbreaking aspect is the involvement of the hosts themselves. Not so long ago, it was inconceivable that descendants of the leaders of America and USSR to appear together publicly. That these two individuals are able to do so, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, has to be a symbol of optimism.

"Max and I aren't the pioneers," smiles Khrushcheva. "Following 1991, my uncle Sergey Khrushchev’s son and formed a close bond with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"However we were strangers prior to this project," clarifies Max. "That is unfortunate since we connected really well and now we are friends, which is really great. Finally, after nearly 60 years since almost destroying the world, our lineages have become allies, suggesting the world is safer, a little bit."

Contemporary Parallels and Present Dangers

Or is it? One reason why this series feels so necessary is that we once again find ourselves in a perilous era. The Doomsday Clock stands nearer to midnight in its history, partly since today's statesmen don’t seem to have the capacity to learn