‘After nearly destroying the planet, the relatives are friends’: the thrilling podcast from John F. Kennedy and Khrushchev’s descendants.

In the month of October 1962, the planet veered closer toward ruin more so than ever during the contemporary era. This happened after an American surveillance plane found the fact that Russian nuclear missile bases were being assembled on the island of Cuba, a mere 100 miles off the coast of the US mainland. In response, U.S. President John F Kennedy commanded a naval task force to enact a maritime quarantine encircling the island. What followed constituted nearly 14 days of impossible tension.

An Unthinkable Danger

The danger remained clear. If President Kennedy, or else his Soviet counterpart, Premier Khrushchev, had fired on the other side, a chain reaction involving global atomic attacks and retaliatory strikes would have ensued, plunging civilization toward all-out oblivion.

This pivotal 1962 event has been covered repeatedly, through volumes, movies, as well as TV documentaries. But, in its latest installment, a prominent BBC World Service podcast titled "The Bomb" presents a novel element into the story. It is jointly hosted featuring Kennedy's relative alongside Nina Khrushcheva, relatives belonging to the men that, for 13 days, grasped the fate of the planet in their hands.

"What were the Soviet side considering? What was Washington planning?" asks Nina Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s descendant and an academic specializing in global relations.

In her view, the strength of the podcast is its attempt to explore: "How can people detest one another and confront one another?"

"I am acutely aware how spectacular it is that people have the potential to be friends or else can become total enemies," adds Max Kennedy, the son of RFK, related to the late president and currently a writer and attorney. "History shows this dynamic over and over in instances where countries have gone to war, demonstrating how unbelievably stupid involved to engage in warfare."

The Precipice of Disaster

What is striking regarding the Cuban missile crisis is that, since it unfolded in the global spotlight, individuals globally were able to observe almost as it happened while it edged towards armageddon. Even so, the risk of destruction came closer than what anybody understood at the time.

"The overwhelming majority among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for an airstrike and a ground invasion," says Kennedy. "If we had attacked Cuba with the Sixth Fleet, it is certain Soviet forces on the ground would've deployed a nuclear warhead at the American ships, which would have destroyed our naval vessels as well as sunk our largest and most important fleet. And, the U.S. would have retaliated with an overwhelming counterattack that would have ended most life on the planet."

The fact this did not occur is a testament to Kennedy and Khrushchev, they managed to remain calm while engaging in diplomacy when many advisors in their governments demanded military action. Consequently, The Soviet premier removed the missiles in Cuba while President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) removed his missiles from Turkey. The sense of relief was worldwide, matched by a feeling of hope.

A Divergent Viewpoint

Still, for those two weeks of October 1962, the tension was felt globally. The podcast's presenters were born in the years following these events, with Khrushcheva learned about it through the Soviet school curriculum, which painted a slightly different version of what happened.

"As you mentioned your parent remembers it, describing it as a frightening time," Khrushcheva notes. "However in the Soviet Union, people really didn’t know that much regarding the crisis, because it was a tense situation, and under the Soviet system we were told that things are constantly wonderful or positive."

Inside Khrushchev’s family, however, the perspective was distinct. "They told me that it was a triumphant occasion it was, as it represented eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to resolve it, thus avoided the war, seen as a positive outcome," she continues. In the years to come, however, that view would not be shared by everybody. "For a long time within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a setback for Khrushchev, because he didn’t blow up the United States."

An Unprecedented Collaboration

This podcast is so even-handed , expertly crafted so much so that Khrushcheva jokes it almost made her forget she already knew the ending. This effect is, in part, thanks to the participation of historians. But, truly, the most momentous thing is the participation of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it would be inconceivable that relatives of the leaders of America and Soviet Union to appear together publicly. That these two individuals can do that, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, must be seen as a sign of optimism.

"Max and I are not the first," notes Nina. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, a relative moved to America and became great friends with the former president's family."

"But we were strangers before the podcast," adds Kennedy. "That is a shame since we got along really well and we are friends, something that is really great. Ultimately, following nearly 60 years since almost destroying the world, our families have become allies, suggesting the world is more secure, somewhat."

Contemporary Echoes and Present Dangers

Is that truly the case? Part of the reason this series seems so urgent is that we once again are living living through a perilous era. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to catastrophe than ever before, in part because today's statesmen appear not to be able to learn