‘After nearly destroying the world, the relatives are friends’: the gripping audio series from JFK and Khrushchev’s descendants.

In the month of October 1962, humanity veered closer to annihilation more so than ever during the contemporary era. This transpired after an American reconnaissance plane discovered the fact that Russian nuclear weapon bases were being built in Cuba, a mere 160 kilometers from the United States. In response, President JFK ordered the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to impose a maritime quarantine around Cuba. What followed constituted nearly 14 days filled with extreme stress.

The Unthinkable Danger

The threat was clear. If Kennedy, or his Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, were to fire on the other side, a chain reaction of worldwide atomic strikes and retaliatory strikes might have ensued, casting mankind into all-out ruination.

The Cuban missile crisis has been covered repeatedly, in books, films, as well as television programmes. However, in its latest installment, the audio documentary series The Bomb introduces a novel element to this historical narrative. It is co-presented featuring Kennedy's relative alongside Khrushchev's descendant, relatives of the leaders who, for 13 days, controlled the destiny of humanity within their grasp.

"What was the Soviet side thinking? What were Washington thinking?" asks Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's great-granddaughter who is also an academic of international affairs.

In her view, the unique appeal of the show lies in its attempt to explore: "How can individuals hate each other to the point they go against each other?"

"I am acutely aware how remarkable the fact that people have the potential to be friends or else have the potential to be total adversaries," states Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy, nephew of the late president and now a writer as well as lawyer. "History shows this repeatedly when nations have gone to war, highlighting how unbelievably stupid involved to fight."

A Brink of Disaster

What is notable about the Cuban missile crisis was that, because it unfolded in the global spotlight, citizens worldwide could watch nearly as it happened while it moved towards disaster. Nonetheless, the risk of destruction was more imminent than what anybody realised.

"Virtually everyone in the White House were advocating for an airstrike followed by a ground invasion," explains Kennedy. "Had the U.S. attacked the Cubans with the Sixth Fleet, undoubtedly Soviet forces stationed there would have fired a tactical nuclear weapon at the US Sixth Fleet, and that would have destroyed the aircraft carriers as well as destroyed our largest and most important naval force. And, the U.S. would have responded through an overwhelming counterattack which would have ended most life on the planet."

The fact it didn’t stands as credit to both leaders, who succeeded in exercise restraint while calmly negotiate when many advisors in their governments were advocating military action. As a result, The Soviet premier removed the missiles in the Caribbean island while Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) withdrew American missiles from Turkey. The relief was palpable, matched by the sense of hope.

A Divergent Viewpoint

Still, for those two weeks in October, the fear was palpable by everyone. The Bomb’s presenters were born in the years following these events, and Nina learned about the crisis through the USSR's school curriculum, which painted an alternative picture of what happened.

"You said your parent remembers it, describing it as a scary day," she says. "But for Soviet citizens, people were largely unaware that much about it, because it was a tense situation, whereas in the Soviet Union we were told that things are constantly fine or sunny."

Within Khrushchev’s family, though, it was distinct. "I was informed what a great occasion for the USSR, as it represented a direct confrontation. The leaders managed to resolve it, thus didn’t start a global war, which was a positive outcome," she adds. Subsequently, though, that view would not be shared by all Russians. "For a long time within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a defeat for Khrushchev, simply he refrained from destroying the United States."

An Unprecedented Partnership

The Bomb is so even-handed and well produced so much so that Nina jokes it almost made her forget the known the ending. This is, partly, due to contributions from historians. But, truly, the most momentous thing is the involvement of the descendants. Not so long ago, it was unthinkable that descendants of the heads of state of America and the Soviet Union would appear side by side. That Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva can do that, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, has to be a symbol of progress.

"We aren't the pioneers," notes Nina. "After the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, my uncle Sergey Khrushchev’s son where he became great friends with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."

"But we were strangers prior to this project," adds Kennedy. "That is unfortunate since we connected really well and now we’re friends, which is wonderful. Finally, following nearly 60 years since almost destroying the world, our families are now allies, suggesting the world is safer, a little bit."

Modern Echoes with Present Dangers

Or is it? One reason why The Bomb feels so necessary is that we now find ourselves in dark times. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to midnight than ever before, in part because world leaders appear not to have the capacity to grasp