🔗 Share this article Following nearly destroying the world, our relatives are friends’: a gripping audio series from JFK & Khrushchev’s descendants. In the month of October 1962, the world veered closer toward annihilation more so than ever in the contemporary era. This transpired following the discovery that an American reconnaissance plane identified the fact that Soviet nuclear missile sites were being built on Cuba, less than 160 kilometers off the coast of the US mainland. Reacting to this, U.S. President John F Kennedy directed the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to enact a maritime blockade around the island. The next phase constituted almost 14 days filled with extreme stress. The Catastrophic Threat The peril was clear. If President Kennedy, or the Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, were to fire against the other side, a chain reaction involving worldwide atomic strikes followed by retaliatory strikes would have ensued, thrusting humanity toward all-out ruination. The Cuban missile crisis has been documented repeatedly, in books, films, and TV documentaries. But, in its latest installment, a prominent audio documentary series titled "The Bomb" introduces an unprecedented perspective to this historical narrative. The series is jointly hosted by Kennedy's relative and Nina Khrushcheva, relatives belonging to the figures that, for 13 days, grasped the destiny of the planet in their hands. "What was the Russians planning? What was the American side thinking?" questions Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s descendant and a professor of global relations. In her view, the beauty of the podcast lies in its endeavor to objectively ask: "How can nations detest each other to the point they confront one another?" "It was not lost on me how spectacular it is that humans have the potential to be allies or can become complete enemies," adds Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, nephew of the late president and now a writer as well as lawyer. "History shows this repeatedly in instances where nations have gone to war, demonstrating how unbelievably stupid involved to engage in warfare." The Precipice Towards Catastrophe What’s striking about this event is that, because it unfolded in the global spotlight, individuals worldwide were able to observe almost as it happened as it crept closer to catastrophe. Nonetheless, the risk of annihilation was more imminent than what most people understood at the time. "Almost all officials among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for an airstrike followed by a ground invasion," says Max Kennedy. "If we had attacked Cuba using the naval blockade, there is no question Soviet forces stationed there would've launched a tactical nuclear weapon at the US Sixth Fleet, which would've destroyed our aircraft carriers as well as sunk our largest and most important naval force. And, we would have responded through massive retaliation which would have ended all life on Earth." The reality it didn’t highlights the composure of both leaders, who managed to keep their heads and calmly negotiate when everyone in their governments demanded military action. Consequently, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the nuclear weapons from the Caribbean island while President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) removed American missiles based in NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was palpable, as was the sense of hope. The Different Perspective Still, for those two weeks of October 1962, the fear was palpable globally. The Bomb’s presenters were born in the years following the crisis, and Khrushcheva learned about the crisis via the USSR's education system, which painted a slightly different narrative of what happened. "You said your parent remembers it, and it was a frightening time," she says. "However for Soviet citizens, people really didn’t know that much about it, since it was a tense situation, and under the Soviet system the official line was that things are constantly fine and positive." Inside Khrushchev’s family, however, it was different. "They told me what a great occasion it was, because it was a direct confrontation. They were able to resolve it, and avoided a global war, seen as a wonderful thing," she adds. In the years to come, however, that perspective was not held by everybody. "For decades within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a defeat for Khrushchev, simply he didn’t blow up America." An Unlikely Partnership This podcast is remarkably even-handed and well produced so much so that Khrushcheva jokes it almost made her forget the known the ending. This effect is, partly, due to contributions from historians. But, truly, the most momentous aspect is the participation of the descendants. Even within living memory, it would be inconceivable for descendants of the leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union would appear together publicly. The fact that Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva can do that, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, has to be a sign of optimism. "We aren't the pioneers," smiles Khrushcheva. "After 1991, my uncle moved to America where he formed a close bond with the former president's family." "However we had never met prior to this project," adds Kennedy. "Which is a shame because we got along immediately and we are friends, something that is really great. Finally, after almost six decades of nearly annihilating the planet, our lineages have become friends, so I think global relations is safer, a little bit." Modern Echoes and Present Dangers Is that truly the case? Part of why this series seems so urgent is that we now are living in a perilous era. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to midnight in its history, in part because world leaders don’t seem to be able to grasp
In the month of October 1962, the world veered closer toward annihilation more so than ever in the contemporary era. This transpired following the discovery that an American reconnaissance plane identified the fact that Soviet nuclear missile sites were being built on Cuba, less than 160 kilometers off the coast of the US mainland. Reacting to this, U.S. President John F Kennedy directed the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to enact a maritime blockade around the island. The next phase constituted almost 14 days filled with extreme stress. The Catastrophic Threat The peril was clear. If President Kennedy, or the Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, were to fire against the other side, a chain reaction involving worldwide atomic strikes followed by retaliatory strikes would have ensued, thrusting humanity toward all-out ruination. The Cuban missile crisis has been documented repeatedly, in books, films, and TV documentaries. But, in its latest installment, a prominent audio documentary series titled "The Bomb" introduces an unprecedented perspective to this historical narrative. The series is jointly hosted by Kennedy's relative and Nina Khrushcheva, relatives belonging to the figures that, for 13 days, grasped the destiny of the planet in their hands. "What was the Russians planning? What was the American side thinking?" questions Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s descendant and a professor of global relations. In her view, the beauty of the podcast lies in its endeavor to objectively ask: "How can nations detest each other to the point they confront one another?" "It was not lost on me how spectacular it is that humans have the potential to be allies or can become complete enemies," adds Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, nephew of the late president and now a writer as well as lawyer. "History shows this repeatedly in instances where nations have gone to war, demonstrating how unbelievably stupid involved to engage in warfare." The Precipice Towards Catastrophe What’s striking about this event is that, because it unfolded in the global spotlight, individuals worldwide were able to observe almost as it happened as it crept closer to catastrophe. Nonetheless, the risk of annihilation was more imminent than what most people understood at the time. "Almost all officials among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for an airstrike followed by a ground invasion," says Max Kennedy. "If we had attacked Cuba using the naval blockade, there is no question Soviet forces stationed there would've launched a tactical nuclear weapon at the US Sixth Fleet, which would've destroyed our aircraft carriers as well as sunk our largest and most important naval force. And, we would have responded through massive retaliation which would have ended all life on Earth." The reality it didn’t highlights the composure of both leaders, who managed to keep their heads and calmly negotiate when everyone in their governments demanded military action. Consequently, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the nuclear weapons from the Caribbean island while President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) removed American missiles based in NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was palpable, as was the sense of hope. The Different Perspective Still, for those two weeks of October 1962, the fear was palpable globally. The Bomb’s presenters were born in the years following the crisis, and Khrushcheva learned about the crisis via the USSR's education system, which painted a slightly different narrative of what happened. "You said your parent remembers it, and it was a frightening time," she says. "However for Soviet citizens, people really didn’t know that much about it, since it was a tense situation, and under the Soviet system the official line was that things are constantly fine and positive." Inside Khrushchev’s family, however, it was different. "They told me what a great occasion it was, because it was a direct confrontation. They were able to resolve it, and avoided a global war, seen as a wonderful thing," she adds. In the years to come, however, that perspective was not held by everybody. "For decades within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a defeat for Khrushchev, simply he didn’t blow up America." An Unlikely Partnership This podcast is remarkably even-handed and well produced so much so that Khrushcheva jokes it almost made her forget the known the ending. This effect is, partly, due to contributions from historians. But, truly, the most momentous aspect is the participation of the descendants. Even within living memory, it would be inconceivable for descendants of the leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union would appear together publicly. The fact that Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva can do that, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, has to be a sign of optimism. "We aren't the pioneers," smiles Khrushcheva. "After 1991, my uncle moved to America where he formed a close bond with the former president's family." "However we had never met prior to this project," adds Kennedy. "Which is a shame because we got along immediately and we are friends, something that is really great. Finally, after almost six decades of nearly annihilating the planet, our lineages have become friends, so I think global relations is safer, a little bit." Modern Echoes and Present Dangers Is that truly the case? Part of why this series seems so urgent is that we now are living in a perilous era. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to midnight in its history, in part because world leaders don’t seem to be able to grasp