🔗 Share this article ‘After almost destroying the planet, our relatives are friends’: the gripping podcast featuring JFK & Khrushchev’s relatives. In the month of October 1962, humanity veered nearer toward destruction than at any other point during modern times. This happened after an American surveillance aircraft identified the fact that Russian atomic weapon installations were being built on Cuba, a mere 160 kilometers from the US mainland. Reacting to this, U.S. President John F Kennedy ordered the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to establish a naval blockade encircling Cuba. The ensuing period constituted nearly 14 days of impossible anxiety. The Catastrophic Danger The threat remained clear. If Kennedy, or else the Soviet counterpart, Premier Khrushchev, initiated an attack on their enemy, a chain reaction of worldwide atomic attacks followed by retaliatory strikes might have followed, plunging humanity into total oblivion. The Cuban missile crisis has been covered endlessly, in volumes, movies, and TV documentaries. But, for its third season, a prominent BBC World Service podcast titled "The Bomb" presents a novel element into this historical narrative. The series is co-presented featuring Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva, relatives belonging to the men that, over 13 days, grasped the fate of the planet within their grasp. "What were the Soviet side thinking? What was the American side planning?" ponders Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s descendant and a professor of global relations. For her, the unique appeal of the show is its attempt to question: "How can individuals detest one another and confront each other?" "It struck me how spectacular it is that people can be allies or can become complete adversaries," remarks Max Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, related to JFK and now an author and lawyer. "History shows this dynamic over and over in instances where countries enter into conflict, highlighting the sheer folly involved to engage in warfare." The Brink of Catastrophe What is notable about the Cuban missile crisis is that, because it transpired so publicly, citizens around the world were able to observe almost as it happened as it edged towards armageddon. Even so, the danger of annihilation was more imminent than what most people realised. "Almost all officials among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for an airstrike followed by a ground invasion," says Max Kennedy. "If we had attacked the Cubans using the naval blockade, undoubtedly Soviet forces stationed there would have fired a tactical nuclear weapon at the US Sixth Fleet, and that would have obliterated our aircraft carriers and sunk America's primary naval force. And, the U.S. would have responded through an overwhelming counterattack which would have eradicated most life on Earth." The fact it didn’t stands as credit to Kennedy and Khrushchev, they succeeded in remain calm while calmly negotiate when everyone around them was pushing for military action. Consequently, The Soviet premier agreed to withdraw the missiles in the Caribbean island and Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) removed his missiles from NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was palpable, matched by a feeling of hope. The Divergent Viewpoint Yet, during those 13 days of October 1962, the tension was palpable by everyone. The Bomb’s co-hosts came into the world in the years following these events, and Nina being taught about it via the USSR's education system, which painted an alternative narrative of what happened. "As you mentioned your parent remembers it, and it was a scary day," Khrushcheva notes. "But for Soviet citizens, the public really didn’t know that much regarding the crisis, because it was a crisis, and in the Soviet Union the official line was that things are constantly wonderful and sunny." Within the Khrushchev household, though, it was distinct. "They told me that it was a triumphant moment for the USSR, as it represented eyeball to eyeball. They were able to find a solution, thus avoided the war, seen as a positive thing," she adds. Subsequently, however, that perspective was not held by everybody. "For decades within Russian historical analysis, it was considered a setback for the Soviet leader, simply he refrained from destroying the United States." An Unlikely Partnership The Bomb is remarkably even-handed and well produced so much so that Nina quips she nearly forgot the known outcome. This is, in part, thanks to contributions from historians. But, truly, the most groundbreaking thing is the involvement of the descendants. Even within living memory, it would be unthinkable for relatives of the heads of state of the United States 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. "Max and I aren't the pioneers," notes Nina. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, a relative moved to America and formed a close bond with Dwight Eisenhower’s children." "However we had never met before the podcast," adds Kennedy. "That is a shame since we got along really well and we are friends, something that is wonderful. Ultimately, after almost six decades of nearly annihilating the world, our lineages are now allies, so I think the world is safer, a little bit." Modern Echoes with Present Perils Is that truly the case? One reason why this series seems so urgent is that we now are living in dark times. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to midnight than ever before, partly since today's statesmen don’t seem to be able to learn
In the month of October 1962, humanity veered nearer toward destruction than at any other point during modern times. This happened after an American surveillance aircraft identified the fact that Russian atomic weapon installations were being built on Cuba, a mere 160 kilometers from the US mainland. Reacting to this, U.S. President John F Kennedy ordered the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to establish a naval blockade encircling Cuba. The ensuing period constituted nearly 14 days of impossible anxiety. The Catastrophic Danger The threat remained clear. If Kennedy, or else the Soviet counterpart, Premier Khrushchev, initiated an attack on their enemy, a chain reaction of worldwide atomic attacks followed by retaliatory strikes might have followed, plunging humanity into total oblivion. The Cuban missile crisis has been covered endlessly, in volumes, movies, and TV documentaries. But, for its third season, a prominent BBC World Service podcast titled "The Bomb" presents a novel element into this historical narrative. The series is co-presented featuring Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva, relatives belonging to the men that, over 13 days, grasped the fate of the planet within their grasp. "What were the Soviet side thinking? What was the American side planning?" ponders Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s descendant and a professor of global relations. For her, the unique appeal of the show is its attempt to question: "How can individuals detest one another and confront each other?" "It struck me how spectacular it is that people can be allies or can become complete adversaries," remarks Max Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, related to JFK and now an author and lawyer. "History shows this dynamic over and over in instances where countries enter into conflict, highlighting the sheer folly involved to engage in warfare." The Brink of Catastrophe What is notable about the Cuban missile crisis is that, because it transpired so publicly, citizens around the world were able to observe almost as it happened as it edged towards armageddon. Even so, the danger of annihilation was more imminent than what most people realised. "Almost all officials among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for an airstrike followed by a ground invasion," says Max Kennedy. "If we had attacked the Cubans using the naval blockade, undoubtedly Soviet forces stationed there would have fired a tactical nuclear weapon at the US Sixth Fleet, and that would have obliterated our aircraft carriers and sunk America's primary naval force. And, the U.S. would have responded through an overwhelming counterattack which would have eradicated most life on Earth." The fact it didn’t stands as credit to Kennedy and Khrushchev, they succeeded in remain calm while calmly negotiate when everyone around them was pushing for military action. Consequently, The Soviet premier agreed to withdraw the missiles in the Caribbean island and Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) removed his missiles from NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was palpable, matched by a feeling of hope. The Divergent Viewpoint Yet, during those 13 days of October 1962, the tension was palpable by everyone. The Bomb’s co-hosts came into the world in the years following these events, and Nina being taught about it via the USSR's education system, which painted an alternative narrative of what happened. "As you mentioned your parent remembers it, and it was a scary day," Khrushcheva notes. "But for Soviet citizens, the public really didn’t know that much regarding the crisis, because it was a crisis, and in the Soviet Union the official line was that things are constantly wonderful and sunny." Within the Khrushchev household, though, it was distinct. "They told me that it was a triumphant moment for the USSR, as it represented eyeball to eyeball. They were able to find a solution, thus avoided the war, seen as a positive thing," she adds. Subsequently, however, that perspective was not held by everybody. "For decades within Russian historical analysis, it was considered a setback for the Soviet leader, simply he refrained from destroying the United States." An Unlikely Partnership The Bomb is remarkably even-handed and well produced so much so that Nina quips she nearly forgot the known outcome. This is, in part, thanks to contributions from historians. But, truly, the most groundbreaking thing is the involvement of the descendants. Even within living memory, it would be unthinkable for relatives of the heads of state of the United States 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. "Max and I aren't the pioneers," notes Nina. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, a relative moved to America and formed a close bond with Dwight Eisenhower’s children." "However we had never met before the podcast," adds Kennedy. "That is a shame since we got along really well and we are friends, something that is wonderful. Ultimately, after almost six decades of nearly annihilating the world, our lineages are now allies, so I think the world is safer, a little bit." Modern Echoes with Present Perils Is that truly the case? One reason why this series seems so urgent is that we now are living in dark times. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to midnight than ever before, partly since today's statesmen don’t seem to be able to learn