‘After nearly annihilating the world, the relatives are friends’: a gripping audio series from JFK & Nikita Khrushchev’s descendants.

In the month of October 1962, the planet edged closer toward annihilation more so than ever in recent history. This happened after a US reconnaissance aircraft identified the fact that Russian nuclear missile bases were under construction in Cuba, a mere 160 kilometers off the coast of the United States. In response, U.S. President John F Kennedy directed a naval task force to impose a naval quarantine around the island. What followed constituted nearly two weeks of extreme tension.

An Catastrophic Threat

The peril remained obvious. If Kennedy, or his Soviet counterpart, Premier Khrushchev, had fired against the other side, a chain reaction involving worldwide atomic strikes followed by retaliatory strikes would have followed, thrusting humanity into all-out oblivion.

The Cuban missile crisis has been examined repeatedly, in books, movies, as well as TV documentaries. However, for its third season, a prominent BBC World Service podcast titled "The Bomb" introduces a novel element to the story. It is jointly hosted featuring Max Kennedy alongside Nina Khrushcheva, family members of the figures who, for 13 days, grasped the fate of the world within their grasp.

"What were the Russians thinking? What were the United States considering?" asks Nina Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter and a professor of global relations.

In her view, the unique appeal of the show is its endeavor to question: "How can nations detest each other to the point they oppose each other?"

"I am acutely aware how spectacular the fact that individuals can be friends or else have the potential to be complete adversaries," remarks Max Kennedy, the son of RFK, nephew of JFK and currently an author and lawyer. "We see this dynamic over and over when nations have gone to war, demonstrating the profound irrationality involved to engage in warfare."

The Precipice of Disaster

What’s striking about the Cuban missile crisis is that, because it unfolded in the global spotlight, citizens worldwide could watch nearly in real time while it edged towards armageddon. Even so, the threat of destruction was more imminent than anybody understood at the time.

"The overwhelming majority among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for an airstrike and an invasion," notes Kennedy. "If we had attacked Cuba using the naval blockade, it is certain the Russians on the ground would've fired a tactical nuclear weapon at the US Sixth Fleet, and that would have sunk our aircraft carriers and sunk America's largest and most important fleet. In turn, the U.S. would have responded through massive retaliation that would have eradicated all life on Earth."

The reality this did not occur stands as credit to both leaders, who managed to exercise restraint while engaging in diplomacy at a time when everyone around them demanded military action. As a result, Khrushchev removed the nuclear weapons in Cuba while Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) withdrew his similar weapons from NATO ally Turkey. The relief was immense, matched by a feeling of hope.

The Divergent Perspective

Yet, for those 13 days of October 1962, the tension was felt globally. The Bomb’s presenters were born shortly after these events, with Khrushcheva learned about the crisis via the Soviet education system, which painted a slightly different version of events.

"As you mentioned your father recalls it, and it was a frightening day," she says. "However for Soviet citizens, the public really didn’t know a great deal regarding the crisis, because it was a crisis, and in the Soviet Union the official line was that everything was always fine or positive."

Within Khrushchev’s family, however, the perspective was different. "They told me that it was a triumphant occasion it was, because it was eyeball to eyeball. They were able to resolve it, and avoided a global war, which was a positive thing," she adds. Later on, though, that view would not be shared by all Russians. "For decades in Russian politics, the crisis was viewed as a defeat for Khrushchev, because he didn’t blow up the United States."

A Unprecedented Partnership

This podcast is so even-handed and well produced so much so that Khrushcheva quips it almost made her forget she already knew outcome. This effect is, in part, thanks to contributions from renowned scholars. Yet, truly, the most significant thing is the involvement of the descendants. Even within living memory, it would be inconceivable for descendants of the heads of state of the United States and the Soviet Union would appear together publicly. That these two individuals are able to do so, and be so warm toward one another, must be seen as a sign of progress.

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

"However we were strangers before the podcast," clarifies Max. "Which is a shame since we connected really well and we’re friends, something that is really great. Finally, following almost six decades since almost destroying the world, our lineages have become friends, so I think global relations is safer, a little bit."

Contemporary Echoes with Current Perils

Or is it? One reason the reason this series feels so necessary is that we now are living in a perilous era. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to midnight than ever before, in part because world leaders appear not to be able to comprehend