‘After almost annihilating the world, the relatives are allies’: a gripping audio series featuring JFK & Nikita Khrushchev’s descendants.

In the month of October 1962, the world came nearer toward annihilation than at any other point during the contemporary era. This happened after a US surveillance aircraft found the fact that Soviet nuclear missile installations were being assembled in the island of Cuba, less than 100 miles from the United States. Reacting to this, U.S. President John F Kennedy ordered a naval task force to impose a maritime quarantine around Cuba. What followed was almost a fortnight filled with extreme tension.

The Catastrophic Danger

The danger remained clear. If Kennedy, or else his Soviet counterpart, Premier Khrushchev, initiated an attack on the other side, a series of worldwide atomic strikes followed by counterstrikes could have followed, casting mankind toward all-out oblivion.

The Cuban missile crisis has been examined repeatedly, in books, films, as well as television programmes. But, in its latest installment, the BBC World Service podcast The Bomb presents a completely new element into the story. The series is jointly hosted by Kennedy's relative alongside Khrushchev's descendant, relatives of the figures that, over 13 days, controlled the destiny of the planet in their hands.

"What were the Soviet side planning? What was Washington considering?" questions Nina Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's descendant who is also an academic specializing in international affairs.

In her view, the unique appeal of the show lies in its attempt to explore: "How can nations hate one another and confront one another?"

"It struck me how spectacular the fact that humans have the potential to be friends or have the potential to be total adversaries," adds Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy, nephew of JFK and currently a writer as well as attorney. "History shows this over and over when nations enter into conflict, demonstrating the sheer folly involved to fight."

The Precipice of Disaster

What’s remarkable regarding this event is that, because it transpired so publicly, citizens around the world could watch almost as it happened while it moved closer to disaster. Nonetheless, the risk of destruction was more imminent than what most people understood at the time.

"Almost all officials in the White House wanted a military strike followed by an invasion," explains Kennedy. "If we had struck Cuba using the Sixth Fleet, undoubtedly the Russians on the ground would have launched a tactical nuclear weapon at the US Sixth Fleet, which would've destroyed our aircraft carriers as well as destroyed America's largest and most important naval force. In turn, we would have retaliated with an overwhelming counterattack that would have ended all life on the planet."

The reality it didn’t is a testament to both leaders, they succeeded in remain calm while engaging in diplomacy at a time when everyone around them was pushing for military action. Consequently, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the missiles in Cuba while President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) removed American similar weapons based in Turkey. The sense of relief was immense, as was a feeling of optimism.

A Different Viewpoint

Yet, during those 13 days of October 1962, the anxiety was palpable globally. The Bomb’s presenters were born in the years following these events, and Khrushcheva learned about the crisis via the Soviet education system, which painted a slightly different narrative of events.

"You said your father remembers it, describing it as a scary day," Khrushcheva notes. "However in the Soviet Union, people were largely unaware a great deal about it, since it was a crisis, and in the Soviet Union the official line was that things are always fine and positive."

Inside Khrushchev’s family, though, the perspective was distinct. "They told me that it was a triumphant occasion for the USSR, because it represented eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to resolve it, and didn’t start a global war, seen as a positive outcome," she continues. Subsequently, though, that perspective was not shared by all Russians. "For a long time in Russian politics, the crisis was viewed as a defeat for Khrushchev, because he refrained from destroying America."

A Unlikely Collaboration

This podcast is so balanced , expertly crafted that Khrushcheva jokes she nearly forgot the known outcome. This is, in part, due to the participation of historians. Yet, truly, the most significant aspect is the participation of the descendants. Even within living memory, it was unthinkable for relatives of the leaders of the United States and USSR to appear side by side. That Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva can do that, and be so warm with each other, has to be a sign of hope.

"Max and I are not the first," smiles Khrushcheva. "Following 1991, a relative moved to America where he formed a close bond with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"But we were strangers prior to this project," adds Kennedy. "That is unfortunate since we connected immediately and we’re friends, something that is really great. Ultimately, after almost six decades since nearly annihilating the planet, our families have become allies, so I think global relations is more secure, a little bit."

Modern Parallels with Present Dangers

Or is it? Part of the reason this series seems so urgent is because we now find ourselves living through a perilous era. The Doomsday Clock is closer to catastrophe in its history, partly since today's statesmen appear not to be able to comprehend