Following almost annihilating our planet, our relatives are friends’: the gripping podcast from John F. Kennedy & Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.

During October 1962, humanity edged closer to annihilation more so than ever in recent history. This occurred after an American surveillance plane found the fact that Soviet nuclear missile installations were under construction in Cuba, less than 100 miles off the coast of the US mainland. Reacting to this, U.S. President John F Kennedy directed the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to establish a maritime quarantine encircling the island. The ensuing period constituted almost 14 days filled with extreme stress.

An Catastrophic Threat

The threat remained obvious. Should Kennedy, or his Russian opposite, Nikita Khrushchev, were to fire on the other side, a chain reaction of global atomic attacks and retaliatory strikes might have ensued, plunging humanity into all-out ruination.

This pivotal 1962 event has been documented endlessly, through books, movies, as well as television programmes. However, in its latest installment, the BBC World Service podcast The Bomb introduces a completely new element into this historical narrative. The series is jointly hosted by Max Kennedy and Khrushchev's descendant, family members of the leaders who, over 13 days, grasped the destiny of the planet in their hands.

"What was the Russians considering? What were the United States thinking?" ponders Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter and an academic specializing in global relations.

In her view, the strength of the podcast lies in its attempt to objectively ask: "Why do nations hate each other to the point they go against one another?"

"It was not lost on me how profound the fact that individuals can be friends or else can become complete adversaries," adds Kennedy, the son of RFK, nephew of the late president and currently an author and lawyer. "We see this over and over in instances where countries have gone to war, demonstrating how unbelievably stupid it is to engage in warfare."

The Precipice of Catastrophe

What’s striking regarding the Cuban missile crisis is that, since it transpired in the global spotlight, individuals globally were able to observe almost as it happened as it edged closer to catastrophe. Even so, the risk of destruction came closer than most people understood at the time.

"Almost all officials in the White House were advocating for a military strike followed by a ground invasion," notes Kennedy. "If we had attacked the Cubans using the naval blockade, undoubtedly the Russians on the ground would've deployed a tactical nuclear weapon against the US Sixth Fleet, and that would have obliterated our naval vessels as well as destroyed America's primary naval force. And, the U.S. would have responded through massive retaliation which would have eradicated all life on the planet."

The fact this did not occur is a testament to both leaders, they succeeded in keep their heads and calmly negotiate at a time when many advisors around them were advocating military action. Consequently, Khrushchev removed the nuclear weapons from Cuba and Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) removed American similar weapons based in NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was palpable, as was the sense of optimism.

A Different Viewpoint

Yet, for those 13 days in October, the tension was palpable by everyone. The Bomb’s presenters were born shortly after these events, and Nina being taught about the crisis through the Soviet school curriculum, which presented an alternative picture of events.

"You said your parent remembers it, describing it as a scary day," she says. "However in the Soviet Union, the public were largely unaware that much about it, since it was a crisis, and in the Soviet Union the official line was that everything was constantly wonderful or sunny."

Within Khrushchev’s family, though, it was different. "I was informed what a great moment for the USSR, because it represented eyeball to eyeball. They were able to find a solution, thus avoided a global war, which was a wonderful thing," she adds. In the years to come, however, that interpretation would not be held by everybody. "For a long time within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a defeat for Khrushchev, because he didn’t blow up the United States."

An Unprecedented Partnership

This podcast is so even-handed and expertly crafted that Nina jokes she nearly forgot she already knew the ending. This is, partly, thanks to contributions from historians. But, really, the most groundbreaking thing remains the involvement of the hosts themselves. Not so long ago, it would be inconceivable for descendants of the heads of state of the United States and Soviet Union would appear side by side. The fact that Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva can do that, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, must be seen as a symbol of optimism.

"Max and I aren't the first," notes Nina. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, my uncle Sergey Khrushchev’s son and formed a close bond with the former president's family."

"However we were strangers prior to this project," adds Kennedy. "That is a shame since we got along immediately and we’re friends, something that is really great. Ultimately, following nearly six decades of almost destroying the world, our families are now friends, so I think global relations is safer, a little bit."

Contemporary Echoes and Current Dangers

Or is it? Part of why this series feels so necessary is that we now are living living through a perilous era. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to catastrophe than ever before, in part because today's statesmen appear not to have the capacity to comprehend