Following nearly annihilating our planet, our relatives are friends’: the thrilling audio series featuring JFK & Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

During October 1962, the planet veered closer toward ruin than at any other point during recent history. This occurred when a US surveillance aircraft found that Russian nuclear weapon installations were being assembled in the island of Cuba, less than 160 kilometers off the coast of American soil. In response, President JFK ordered a naval task force to establish a naval blockade encircling Cuba. The next phase constituted nearly a fortnight of impossible tension.

An Unthinkable Danger

The peril remained palpable. Should Kennedy, or else his Soviet counterpart, Premier Khrushchev, had fired on their enemy, a cascade involving global atomic strikes and retaliatory strikes could have followed, plunging humanity toward total oblivion.

This pivotal 1962 event has been documented extensively, in volumes, films, and television programmes. However, in its latest installment, the audio documentary series The Bomb presents a novel dimension to the story. It is co-presented by Kennedy's relative and Khrushchev's descendant, family members of the men that, over 13 days, controlled the fate of the world within their grasp.

"What were the Russians thinking? What was the American side planning?" questions Nina Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s descendant and a professor of global relations.

For her, the beauty of the podcast is its attempt to objectively ask: "How can people hate each other to the point they go against each other?"

"I am acutely aware how profound it is that people have the potential to be friends or have the potential to be complete adversaries," adds Max Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, nephew of the late president and now an author as well as attorney. "We see this over and over in instances where nations enter into conflict, and it just illustrates the sheer folly it is to fight."

A Brink Towards Catastrophe

What is remarkable about this event was that, since it transpired in the global spotlight, citizens globally were able to observe nearly in real time as it crept towards disaster. However, the risk of destruction came closer than anybody realised.

"Almost all officials in the White House wanted an airstrike followed by a ground invasion," notes Max Kennedy. "Had the U.S. attacked Cuba using the naval blockade, undoubtedly Soviet forces on the ground would have deployed a nuclear warhead at the US Sixth Fleet, which would've sunk the aircraft carriers as well as destroyed America's largest and most important fleet. And, we would have retaliated with massive retaliation that would have ended most life on Earth."

The fact this did not occur highlights the composure of both leaders, who managed to exercise restraint and calmly negotiate at a time when many advisors around them was pushing for action. Consequently, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the missiles from the Caribbean island while President Kennedy (although not reported at the time) withdrew American missiles based in NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was palpable, as was the sense of hope.

The Divergent Viewpoint

Yet, during those 13 days of October 1962, the fear was palpable by everyone. The podcast's presenters were born shortly after these events, with Nina learned about the crisis through the USSR's school curriculum, which presented a slightly different picture of events.

"As you mentioned your parent remembers it, and it was a scary time," she says. "However in the Soviet Union, people were largely unaware that much about it, since it was a tense situation, and in the Soviet Union we were told that things are always fine or sunny."

Inside the Khrushchev household, however, the perspective was different. "They told me that it was a triumphant moment it was, as it was eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to resolve it, thus avoided the war, which was a wonderful thing," she continues. Later on, though, that perspective was not held by all Russians. "For a long time in Russian politics, the crisis was viewed as a setback for Khrushchev, simply he refrained from destroying America."

An Unlikely Partnership

This podcast is remarkably balanced , well produced that Nina jokes it almost made her forget she already knew outcome. This is, in part, due to contributions from historians. Yet, really, the most groundbreaking thing is the participation of the hosts themselves. Not so long ago, it was unthinkable that relatives of the heads of state of the United States and USSR would appear side by side. That Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva are able to do so, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, must be seen as a symbol of hope.

"We are not the pioneers," notes Nina. "Following 1991, my uncle Sergey Khrushchev’s son and formed a close bond with the former president's family."

"However we had never met prior to this project," clarifies Max. "Which is a shame since we connected immediately and we’re friends, which is wonderful. Finally, following almost six decades of almost destroying the planet, our lineages have become allies, so I think global relations is more secure, somewhat."

Modern Echoes with Present Perils

Or is it? Part of the reason The Bomb feels so necessary is that we now find ourselves in a perilous era. The Doomsday Clock stands nearer to midnight in its history, in part because world leaders don’t seem to be able to learn