Following nearly annihilating our world, the families have become friends’: the gripping audio series featuring JFK & Nikita Khrushchev’s descendants.

During October 1962, humanity came nearer to ruin more so than ever in the contemporary era. This happened following the discovery that an American reconnaissance aircraft found that Soviet atomic weapon installations were under construction in Cuba, a mere 100 miles off the coast of the United States. In response, U.S. President John F Kennedy ordered a naval task force to enact a naval blockade around the island. The next phase constituted nearly a fortnight filled with impossible stress.

An Catastrophic Danger

The threat remained clear. Should President Kennedy, or his Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, were to fire against the other side, a series of global nuclear strikes and retaliatory strikes could have ensued, casting civilization into total oblivion.

The Cuban missile crisis has been covered repeatedly, through volumes, films, and television programmes. But, for its third season, a prominent audio documentary series The Bomb introduces a novel perspective to the story. It is co-presented featuring Max Kennedy alongside Nina Khrushcheva, relatives belonging to the leaders that, over two tense weeks, controlled the fate of the world in their hands.

"What was the Soviet side considering? What were the American side considering?" ponders Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter and an academic specializing in global relations.

For her, the unique appeal of the show is its attempt to objectively ask: "How can individuals hate one another to the point they oppose each other?"

"It was not lost on me how spectacular it is that individuals can be friends or else have the potential to be total adversaries," states Max Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, nephew of JFK and now a writer as well as attorney. "History shows this dynamic over and over in instances where countries have gone to war, highlighting the profound irrationality involved to fight."

A Precipice Towards Catastrophe

What’s notable about this event is that, since it unfolded so publicly, individuals globally were able to observe almost as it happened as it moved closer to armageddon. Even so, the threat of destruction was more imminent than anybody understood at the time.

"Virtually everyone among Kennedy's advisors wanted a military strike followed by an invasion," says Max Kennedy. "If we had struck Cuba with the naval blockade, it is certain Soviet forces stationed there would have fired a tactical nuclear weapon against the US Sixth Fleet, and that would've destroyed our aircraft carriers as well as sunk America's largest and most important fleet. And, the U.S. would have responded with an overwhelming counterattack that would have ended most life on the planet."

The reality this did not occur is a testament to Kennedy and Khrushchev, who managed to remain calm and calmly negotiate when many advisors in their governments demanded military action. As a result, The Soviet premier agreed to withdraw the nuclear weapons in the Caribbean island and Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) withdrew American similar weapons from NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was immense, as was the sense of optimism.

The Different Viewpoint

Yet, for those two weeks in October, the anxiety was palpable by everyone. The Bomb’s presenters were born in the years following the crisis, with Khrushcheva learned about the crisis through the Soviet education system, which presented an alternative version of what happened.

"As you mentioned your father remembers it, describing it as a scary time," she says. "But in the Soviet Union, the public really didn’t know that much regarding the crisis, since it was a tense situation, whereas in the Soviet Union we were told that things are always fine or sunny."

Within Khrushchev’s family, though, it was distinct. "I was informed that it was a triumphant occasion it was, because it represented eyeball to eyeball. The leaders managed to find a solution, thus didn’t start a global war, seen as a positive outcome," she adds. Subsequently, however, that view would not be shared by all Russians. "For decades within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a setback for Khrushchev, because he didn’t blow up the United States."

An Unlikely Collaboration

The Bomb is so even-handed and expertly crafted so much so that Khrushcheva jokes it almost made her forget the known outcome. This is, partly, due to contributions from historians. Yet, truly, the most significant aspect is the participation of the descendants. Even within living memory, it would be unthinkable that relatives of the leaders of America and USSR would appear side by side. That these two individuals can do that, and be so warm toward one another, must be seen as a symbol of progress.

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

"However we were strangers prior to this project," clarifies Kennedy. "That is unfortunate since we got along really well and now we are friends, which is really great. Ultimately, after almost 60 years of nearly annihilating the planet, our lineages are now friends, so I think the world is more secure, somewhat."

Modern Echoes and Current Dangers

Or is it? Part of why this series seems so urgent is because we now find ourselves living through dark times. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to catastrophe in its history, partly since world leaders don’t seem to have the capacity to learn