‘After almost annihilating the world, our relatives are allies’: the gripping audio series featuring JFK and Nikita Khrushchev’s descendants.

In October 1962, the world came nearer toward annihilation more so than ever during the contemporary era. This happened following the discovery that a US surveillance aircraft found the fact that Soviet nuclear missile bases were being built in the island of Cuba, less than 160 kilometers off the coast of American soil. In response, President John F Kennedy commanded the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to enact a maritime quarantine encircling the island. The next phase was almost 14 days of extreme tension.

The Catastrophic Threat

The peril was palpable. If Kennedy, or else his Soviet counterpart, Premier Khrushchev, had fired against the other side, a cascade involving global atomic strikes followed by counterstrikes could have followed, plunging civilization into total ruination.

The Cuban missile crisis has been documented repeatedly, in volumes, movies, as well as television programmes. However, in its latest installment, the audio documentary series The Bomb has brought a novel element to this historical narrative. It is jointly hosted featuring Kennedy's relative alongside Khrushchev's descendant, relatives of the figures who, for 13 days, held the destiny of the planet within their grasp.

"What were the Russians considering? What was Washington planning?" asks Nina Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s descendant and an academic of international affairs.

In her view, the strength of the podcast is its attempt to objectively ask: "Why do individuals hate one another and oppose one another?"

"It struck me how profound the fact that people can be allies or have the potential to be complete enemies," adds Kennedy, son of RFK, related to JFK and currently an author and attorney. "We see this over and over in instances where countries enter into conflict, demonstrating the profound irrationality it is to fight."

A Precipice of Catastrophe

What’s remarkable about this event was that, since it transpired so publicly, citizens around the world could watch nearly in real time as it moved closer to armageddon. Even so, the threat of annihilation was more imminent than what anybody understood at the time.

"Virtually everyone in the White House were advocating for a military strike followed by a ground invasion," says Kennedy. "If we had attacked the Cubans using the naval blockade, it is certain the Russians on the ground would have deployed a nuclear warhead at the American ships, and that would have obliterated our aircraft carriers and destroyed America's largest and most important fleet. In turn, we would have responded through massive retaliation which would have eradicated all life on Earth."

The fact this did not occur is a testament to Kennedy and Khrushchev, they managed to exercise restraint and calmly negotiate when everyone in their governments demanded action. Consequently, The Soviet premier removed the missiles in Cuba and Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) removed American missiles based in NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was immense, as was a feeling of optimism.

A Different Viewpoint

Yet, for those two weeks in October, the anxiety was felt by everyone. The Bomb’s presenters came into the world shortly after these events, with Nina learned about the crisis through the USSR's school curriculum, which portrayed an alternative picture of what happened.

"As you mentioned your parent recalls it, and it was a frightening time," Khrushcheva notes. "However in the Soviet Union, the public really didn’t know that much about it, because it was a crisis, whereas in the Soviet Union the official line was that things are constantly fine and positive."

Inside the Khrushchev household, though, the perspective was distinct. "I was informed that it was a triumphant occasion it was, as it was eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to resolve it, thus didn’t start the war, which was a wonderful thing," she continues. In the years to come, though, that view was not held by all Russians. "For decades within Russian historical analysis, it was considered a defeat for the Soviet leader, because he didn’t blow up the United States."

An Unlikely Collaboration

The Bomb is remarkably balanced , expertly crafted that Nina jokes she nearly forgot the known outcome. This is, in part, due to the participation of renowned scholars. But, truly, the most momentous thing is the participation of the descendants. Not so long ago, it was inconceivable that descendants of the heads of state of the United States and the USSR to appear together publicly. The fact that these two individuals are able to do so, and exhibit such warmth with each other, must be seen as a sign of optimism.

"We aren't the first," notes Khrushcheva. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, a relative Sergey Khrushchev’s son and became great friends with the former president's family."

"However we had never met prior to this project," clarifies Kennedy. "That is unfortunate since we got along really well and now we’re friends, something that is wonderful. Finally, after nearly 60 years of almost destroying the planet, our lineages are now allies, suggesting the world is more secure, a little bit."

Contemporary Echoes and Current Dangers

Is that truly the case? One reason the reason this series seems so urgent is because we now find ourselves living through a perilous era. The Doomsday Clock stands nearer to catastrophe in its history, partly since today's statesmen don’t seem to have the capacity to comprehend