‘After almost annihilating the world, our relatives are friends’: the gripping podcast featuring JFK & Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

During the month of October 1962, the world edged closer to destruction than at any other point in modern times. This transpired when an American surveillance aircraft identified that Russian nuclear missile installations were being assembled in Cuba, less than 160 kilometers from the US mainland. In response, President JFK directed a naval task force to impose a naval blockade around Cuba. The ensuing period was nearly two weeks of extreme stress.

An Catastrophic Threat

The threat was palpable. Should President Kennedy, or the Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, were to fire against their enemy, a cascade of global atomic strikes and retaliatory strikes could have followed, casting civilization into all-out destruction.

This pivotal 1962 event has been examined extensively, in books, movies, as well as television programmes. But, for its third season, the audio documentary series titled "The Bomb" presents a novel element to this historical narrative. It is jointly hosted featuring Kennedy's relative and Nina Khrushcheva, relatives of the figures that, for 13 days, grasped the destiny of humanity in their hands.

"What was the Soviet side thinking? What was the United States thinking?" asks Nina Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's great-granddaughter who is also an academic specializing in global relations.

For her, the unique appeal of the show is its attempt to explore: "How can people detest one another to the point they go against each other?"

"It struck me how profound it is that individuals have the potential to be allies or else can become complete enemies," adds Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, related to the late president and now a writer and lawyer. "History shows this dynamic repeatedly when nations have gone to war, and it just illustrates the sheer folly involved to engage in warfare."

The Precipice of Disaster

What is remarkable regarding this event is that, since it transpired so publicly, people worldwide were able to observe nearly as it happened as it moved towards catastrophe. Nonetheless, the risk of annihilation was more imminent than anybody understood at the time.

"Virtually everyone among Kennedy's advisors wanted an airstrike and a ground invasion," says Max Kennedy. "Had the U.S. attacked Cuba with the Sixth Fleet, it is certain the Russians on the ground would have launched a tactical nuclear weapon at the American ships, which would've destroyed the naval vessels as well as destroyed America's primary fleet. In turn, the U.S. would have retaliated with an overwhelming counterattack which would have ended most life on Earth."

The fact it didn’t stands as credit to both leaders, they succeeded in exercise restraint while engaging in diplomacy at a time when everyone around them demanded action. Consequently, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the missiles in the Caribbean island and President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) removed his missiles from NATO ally Turkey. The relief was palpable, matched by the sense of optimism.

The Divergent Perspective

Still, during those 13 days in October, the tension was palpable by everyone. The podcast's co-hosts were born in the years following these events, with Nina learned about it via the USSR's education system, which portrayed a slightly different narrative of what happened.

"You said your parent remembers it, describing it as a scary time," Khrushcheva notes. "But for Soviet citizens, people were largely unaware that much about it, because it was a tense situation, whereas under the Soviet system the official line was that everything was constantly wonderful and sunny."

Inside the Khrushchev household, however, it was different. "They told me that it was a triumphant moment for the USSR, because it was a direct confrontation. The leaders managed to find a solution, and avoided the war, which was a wonderful outcome," she continues. In the years to come, though, that interpretation was not shared by all Russians. "For a long time in Russian politics, the crisis was viewed as a failure for Khrushchev, because he didn’t blow up America."

A Unprecedented Collaboration

This podcast is so even-handed , well produced that Khrushcheva quips it almost made her forget the known the ending. This is, partly, thanks to contributions from renowned scholars. But, really, the most momentous aspect remains the participation of the hosts themselves. Not so long ago, it was unthinkable that relatives of the leaders of America and USSR would appear side by side. The fact that these two individuals can do that, and exhibit such warmth with each other, has to be a sign of hope.

"We aren't the first," smiles Khrushcheva. "After 1991, my uncle moved to America where he became great friends with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"However we were strangers before the podcast," clarifies Max. "That is a shame because we connected immediately and we are friends, which is wonderful. Ultimately, after nearly six decades since nearly annihilating the world, our lineages are now allies, suggesting global relations is safer, somewhat."

Contemporary Echoes with Present Perils

Is that truly the case? Part of the reason The Bomb seems so urgent is because we now are living living through a perilous era. The Doomsday Clock is closer to midnight than ever before, in part because today's statesmen appear not to have the capacity to learn