Following nearly annihilating our world, our families are friends’: a gripping podcast from JFK and Nikita Khrushchev’s descendants.

In the month of October 1962, the planet came nearer toward ruin more so than ever in modern times. This transpired after a US reconnaissance plane discovered that Russian atomic weapon installations were being assembled on the island of Cuba, a mere 160 kilometers from the US mainland. Reacting to this, U.S. President JFK directed a naval task force to enact a maritime blockade around the island. The ensuing period was nearly two weeks filled with impossible stress.

The Catastrophic Danger

The danger remained obvious. If President Kennedy, or the Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, were to fire against the other side, a chain reaction of worldwide atomic attacks followed by counterstrikes might have ensued, plunging humanity into total oblivion.

The October crisis has been covered endlessly, in volumes, films, and TV documentaries. But, for its third season, the BBC World Service podcast titled "The Bomb" presents an unprecedented dimension into this historical narrative. The series is co-presented featuring Max Kennedy and Khrushchev's descendant, relatives of the figures who, for 13 days, held the destiny of humanity within their grasp.

"What was the Russians planning? What was the American side considering?" questions Nina Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's great-granddaughter and an academic of international affairs.

In her view, the strength of the podcast is its endeavor to explore: "How can people hate each other to the point they go against each other?"

"It struck me how spectacular the fact that humans have the potential to be allies or can become complete enemies," remarks Kennedy, son of RFK, nephew of the late president and now a writer and attorney. "History shows this repeatedly in instances where nations enter into conflict, highlighting the sheer folly involved to fight."

The Brink of Catastrophe

What’s striking regarding the Cuban missile crisis was that, because it transpired so publicly, people globally were able to observe almost as it happened while it edged closer to disaster. However, the danger of annihilation was more imminent than anybody realised.

"Almost all officials among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for an airstrike followed by an invasion," says Kennedy. "Had the U.S. attacked Cuba using the naval blockade, it is certain the Russians on the ground would have fired a tactical nuclear weapon against the US Sixth Fleet, which would've obliterated our naval vessels as well as destroyed America's largest and most important naval force. In turn, we would have retaliated through an overwhelming counterattack which would have ended most life on the planet."

The reality this did not occur is a testament to Kennedy and Khrushchev, they managed to remain calm and calmly negotiate at a time when many advisors in their governments demanded military action. As a result, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the missiles in Cuba and Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) removed his missiles based in NATO ally Turkey. The relief was immense, matched by a feeling of hope.

A Divergent Viewpoint

Still, for those two weeks of October 1962, the tension was felt globally. The Bomb’s presenters came into the world in the years following the crisis, and Khrushcheva being taught about it through the Soviet school curriculum, which portrayed an alternative narrative of what happened.

"As you mentioned your father recalls it, describing it as a frightening day," Khrushcheva notes. "But in the Soviet Union, people really didn’t know a great deal about it, since it was a crisis, and under the Soviet system the official line was that everything was constantly fine and positive."

Inside the Khrushchev household, though, it was distinct. "They told me that it was a triumphant occasion it was, because it was a direct confrontation. The leaders managed to find a solution, and avoided a global war, seen as a positive thing," she continues. Subsequently, however, that interpretation was not shared by everybody. "For decades within Russian historical analysis, it was considered a setback for Khrushchev, because he didn’t blow up the United States."

An Unlikely Partnership

This podcast is so even-handed , well produced that Khrushcheva quips she nearly forgot the known outcome. This is, in part, thanks to contributions from historians. Yet, truly, the most momentous aspect is the involvement of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it was unthinkable that relatives of the leaders of America and USSR to appear side by side. The fact that Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva are able to do so, and be so warm with each other, has to be a symbol of optimism.

"We aren't the pioneers," notes Nina. "After the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, a relative Sergey Khrushchev’s son and became great friends with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"But we were strangers before the podcast," clarifies Kennedy. "That is unfortunate because we connected really well and now we’re friends, which is really great. Ultimately, after nearly six decades of nearly annihilating the planet, our families have become friends, so I think the world is safer, a little bit."

Modern Echoes with Present Perils

Or is it? One reason the reason this series feels so necessary is that we now find ourselves living through dark times. The Doomsday Clock is closer to catastrophe in its history, partly since today's statesmen don’t seem to have the capacity to learn