Following nearly destroying the planet, our families have become allies’: the gripping audio series featuring JFK & Khrushchev’s relatives.

During October 1962, the planet edged nearer toward ruin than at any other point in the contemporary era. This happened after an American reconnaissance plane identified that Russian atomic weapon installations were under construction on Cuba, less than 100 miles off the coast of American soil. In response, U.S. President John F Kennedy ordered a naval task force to enact a naval quarantine encircling Cuba. What followed was almost two weeks of extreme anxiety.

An Unthinkable Threat

The peril was clear. If President Kennedy, or his Russian opposite, Nikita Khrushchev, were to fire against the other side, a cascade of worldwide nuclear strikes followed by retaliatory strikes might have ensued, plunging mankind toward all-out destruction.

This pivotal 1962 event has been examined repeatedly, in volumes, films, as well as TV documentaries. However, in its latest installment, the audio documentary series The Bomb introduces an unprecedented perspective to the story. The series is co-presented featuring Max Kennedy and Khrushchev's descendant, relatives of the men who, over two tense weeks, held the destiny of the world within their grasp.

"What were the Soviet side planning? What were Washington planning?" asks Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's great-granddaughter and an academic of global relations.

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

"It struck me how profound the fact that individuals have the potential to be allies or else can become complete adversaries," remarks Max Kennedy, son of RFK, nephew of the late president and currently a writer and attorney. "History shows this over and over when nations have gone to war, highlighting the profound irrationality it is to engage in warfare."

A Brink Towards Disaster

What’s remarkable regarding this event is that, since it transpired in the global spotlight, citizens globally were able to observe almost as it happened while it edged towards catastrophe. Even so, the danger of destruction was more imminent than what anybody understood at the time.

"Almost all officials in the White House were advocating for a military strike and a ground invasion," notes Kennedy. "Had the U.S. attacked the Cubans using the naval blockade, it is certain the Russians stationed there would have fired a nuclear warhead at the US Sixth Fleet, which would've obliterated the aircraft carriers as well as destroyed America's primary naval force. In turn, we would have retaliated with massive retaliation that would have ended all life on Earth."

The fact it didn’t highlights the composure of Kennedy and Khrushchev, they managed to remain calm and engaging in diplomacy when everyone in their governments was pushing for action. Consequently, Khrushchev removed the missiles from the Caribbean island and Kennedy (although not reported at the time) withdrew his similar weapons from NATO ally Turkey. The relief was palpable, matched by a feeling of hope.

The Divergent Perspective

Yet, for those two weeks in October, the anxiety was palpable globally. The podcast's co-hosts were born shortly after the crisis, and Nina being taught about the crisis via the Soviet education system, which presented a slightly different narrative of what happened.

"As you mentioned your father recalls it, describing it as a scary day," she says. "However for Soviet citizens, the public really didn’t know that much about it, because it was a crisis, and under the Soviet system the official line was that everything was always wonderful or positive."

Inside Khrushchev’s family, however, it was different. "They told me what a great moment for the USSR, because it represented a direct confrontation. The leaders managed to find a solution, and avoided a global war, seen as a positive thing," she adds. Later on, however, that perspective was not held by everybody. "For a long time within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a failure for Khrushchev, simply he refrained from destroying the United States."

A Unlikely Partnership

This podcast is so even-handed and well produced so much so that Nina quips it almost made her forget she already knew the ending. This effect is, partly, thanks to the participation of renowned scholars. But, really, the most groundbreaking thing remains the participation of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it was inconceivable that descendants of the heads of state of the United States and Soviet Union would appear together publicly. That Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva can do that, and be so warm toward one another, has to be a sign of progress.

"Max and I aren't the pioneers," smiles Nina. "After the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, my uncle moved to America where he became great friends with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"But we had never met before the podcast," adds Kennedy. "That is unfortunate since we connected really well and we are friends, something that is wonderful. Finally, after almost six decades since nearly annihilating the planet, our lineages are now allies, so I think the world is safer, a little bit."

Modern Echoes and Current Dangers

Or is it? One reason the reason The Bomb seems so urgent is because we once again are living in dark times. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to midnight than ever before, in part because world leaders appear not to be able to learn