‘After nearly annihilating the world, the relatives are allies’: the thrilling audio series featuring JFK & Khrushchev’s relatives.

During the month of October 1962, the planet edged closer to ruin than at any other point during modern times. This transpired following the discovery that a US surveillance aircraft discovered the fact that Soviet nuclear missile sites were being assembled on the island of Cuba, less than 100 miles off the coast of American soil. Reacting to this, President JFK ordered the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to enact a naval blockade encircling the island. The next phase was nearly two weeks of impossible tension.

An Catastrophic Threat

The threat remained palpable. Should Kennedy, or else his Soviet counterpart, Premier Khrushchev, had fired against their enemy, a cascade of worldwide nuclear attacks and counterstrikes would have followed, thrusting civilization toward all-out oblivion.

This pivotal 1962 event has been examined endlessly, in volumes, films, and TV documentaries. But, for its third season, a prominent audio documentary series titled "The Bomb" presents a novel dimension into this historical narrative. The series is jointly hosted by Kennedy's relative alongside Khrushchev's descendant, relatives belonging to the leaders who, over two tense weeks, grasped the fate of humanity in their hands.

"What was the Kremlin considering? What were the United States thinking?" questions Nina Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's descendant and an academic of global relations.

In her view, the unique appeal of the show lies in its attempt to objectively ask: "Why do individuals detest one another to the point they go against one another?"

"It struck me how remarkable it is that people can be allies or can become total adversaries," remarks Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, related to JFK and now a writer and attorney. "History shows this dynamic over and over when nations have gone to war, and it just illustrates the profound irrationality involved to engage in warfare."

The Brink of Catastrophe

What is remarkable regarding the Cuban missile crisis is that, since it transpired so publicly, people globally could watch nearly in real time as it moved closer to catastrophe. Nonetheless, the risk of annihilation came closer than what anybody understood at the time.

"Virtually everyone in the White House were advocating for a military strike and an invasion," explains Kennedy. "If we had struck Cuba using the naval blockade, it is certain Soviet forces on the ground would've deployed a tactical nuclear weapon at the US Sixth Fleet, which would have destroyed our aircraft carriers as well as destroyed our primary naval force. And, the U.S. would have responded with massive retaliation that would have eradicated all life on Earth."

The reality it didn’t is a testament to both leaders, they managed to remain calm and engaging in diplomacy when many advisors around them were advocating action. As a result, The Soviet premier removed the nuclear weapons from the Caribbean island and President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) removed American missiles from Turkey. The relief was immense, matched by a feeling of optimism.

The Different Perspective

Yet, during those 13 days of October 1962, the fear was palpable by everyone. The podcast's presenters were born shortly after the crisis, and Khrushcheva learned about it via the USSR's school curriculum, which portrayed an alternative version of what happened.

"You said your parent recalls it, describing it as a frightening time," she says. "However for Soviet citizens, the public were largely unaware a great deal about it, because it was a tense situation, and in the Soviet Union we were told that things are constantly fine or positive."

Within the Khrushchev household, though, the perspective was distinct. "I was informed what a great moment for the USSR, because it was eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to resolve it, and avoided the war, which was a wonderful outcome," she adds. In the years to come, though, that perspective was not held by everybody. "For decades within Russian historical analysis, it was considered a defeat for the Soviet leader, simply he refrained from destroying the United States."

A Unprecedented Partnership

The Bomb is so even-handed and expertly crafted that Khrushcheva jokes she nearly forgot the known the ending. This effect is, partly, thanks to contributions from historians. Yet, truly, the most groundbreaking thing remains the participation of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it was unthinkable that descendants of the heads of state of the United States and Soviet Union to appear together publicly. The fact that Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva are able to do so, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, must be seen as a sign of hope.

"Max and I aren't the first," notes Khrushcheva. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, my uncle Sergey Khrushchev’s son where he became great friends with the former president's family."

"But we had never met before the podcast," adds Kennedy. "Which is unfortunate because we connected immediately and we’re friends, which is wonderful. Finally, after nearly six decades of almost destroying the world, our families have become allies, suggesting the world is more secure, a little bit."

Contemporary Echoes and Present Perils

Is that truly the case? One reason the reason this series feels so necessary is because we now are living in dark times. The Doomsday Clock is closer to midnight in its history, partly since today's statesmen don’t seem to be able to comprehend