‘After almost annihilating the planet, the relatives are allies’: the thrilling podcast featuring JFK and Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

During the month of October 1962, humanity came closer toward ruin than at any other point in the contemporary era. This transpired following the discovery that a US surveillance plane discovered that Russian atomic missile installations were under construction in Cuba, a mere 160 kilometers from the US mainland. Reacting to this, U.S. President JFK ordered the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to establish a maritime blockade encircling Cuba. The ensuing period was nearly two weeks filled with extreme anxiety.

The Unthinkable Threat

The peril remained obvious. If President Kennedy, or else the Russian opposite, Nikita Khrushchev, had fired against their enemy, a chain reaction involving global nuclear strikes and counterstrikes could have ensued, plunging mankind toward total oblivion.

This pivotal 1962 event has been examined repeatedly, in books, movies, as well as television programmes. However, in its latest installment, the audio documentary series titled "The Bomb" presents a completely new element into this historical narrative. The series is co-presented featuring Kennedy's relative alongside Nina Khrushcheva, relatives of the men who, over 13 days, grasped the destiny of humanity in their hands.

"What was the Kremlin thinking? What was the United States considering?" ponders Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's descendant who is also an academic specializing in global relations.

For her, the beauty of the podcast is its endeavor to explore: "How can people hate each other to the point they confront each other?"

"It struck me how profound it is that people can be friends or else have the potential to be total enemies," remarks Max Kennedy, the son of RFK, nephew of the late president and currently a writer as well as attorney. "History shows this repeatedly in instances where countries enter into conflict, and it just illustrates the profound irrationality involved to fight."

The Brink of Catastrophe

What is striking regarding the Cuban missile crisis is that, since it transpired so publicly, citizens around the world were able to observe almost as it happened while it moved towards disaster. Nonetheless, the danger of annihilation was more imminent than what most people realised.

"Virtually everyone among Kennedy's advisors wanted an airstrike and a ground invasion," explains Kennedy. "Had the U.S. attacked the Cubans using the Sixth Fleet, there is no question the Russians on the ground would have fired a tactical nuclear weapon against the US Sixth Fleet, which would have obliterated our naval vessels and destroyed our largest and most important fleet. In turn, we would have retaliated through an overwhelming counterattack which would have eradicated most life on Earth."

The fact this did not occur stands as credit to both leaders, they succeeded in exercise restraint while engaging in diplomacy when hawkish elements in their governments were advocating action. Consequently, The Soviet premier agreed to withdraw the nuclear weapons from Cuba while President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) withdrew American similar weapons based in Turkey. The sense of relief was palpable, as was a feeling of hope.

A Divergent Viewpoint

Still, during those 13 days in October, the tension was felt globally. The podcast's co-hosts came into the world in the years following these events, and Nina learned about the crisis through the Soviet education system, which presented an alternative narrative of events.

"As you mentioned your parent remembers it, and it was a frightening 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 we were told that things are constantly fine or sunny."

Within Khrushchev’s family, though, the perspective was distinct. "They told me what a great moment it was, as it was a direct confrontation. The leaders managed to find a solution, and didn’t start the war, seen as a wonderful thing," she continues. Subsequently, however, that interpretation was not shared by all Russians. "For decades in Russian politics, the crisis was viewed as a setback for the Soviet leader, simply he refrained from destroying the United States."

A Unprecedented Partnership

The Bomb is so balanced , well produced so much so that Nina jokes it almost made her forget the known outcome. This is, in part, due to the participation of historians. But, truly, the most significant thing remains the involvement of the hosts themselves. Not so long ago, it would be inconceivable that relatives of the heads of state of America and USSR to appear side by side. That these two individuals can do that, and exhibit such warmth with each other, must be seen as a symbol of progress.

"We are not the first," notes Khrushcheva. "Following 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 prior to this project," clarifies Kennedy. "That is a shame since we got along really well and we’re friends, which is wonderful. Finally, after nearly six decades since almost destroying the world, our families are now friends, suggesting global relations is more secure, a little bit."

Modern Echoes and Present Dangers

Is that truly the case? One reason the reason The Bomb seems so urgent is because we now find ourselves living through a perilous era. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to midnight in its history, partly since today's statesmen don’t seem to be able to comprehend