‘After nearly destroying our planet, our families have become allies’: the thrilling podcast featuring John F. Kennedy & Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.
In the month of October 1962, the planet veered nearer toward annihilation than at any other point in modern times. This transpired following the discovery that an American surveillance aircraft found that Russian atomic weapon installations were being assembled on the island of Cuba, less than 160 kilometers from the US mainland. Reacting to this, President John F Kennedy commanded the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to impose a naval quarantine around the island. The ensuing period was almost two weeks of impossible tension.
An Catastrophic Danger
The danger was palpable. If Kennedy, or his Soviet counterpart, Premier Khrushchev, initiated an attack on their enemy, a cascade of global nuclear strikes and retaliatory strikes would have ensued, casting mankind toward total ruination.
The October crisis has been covered repeatedly, in books, films, and television programmes. However, for its third season, the BBC World Service podcast titled "The Bomb" introduces an unprecedented dimension to this historical narrative. The series is co-presented by Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva, family members of the figures that, over two tense weeks, held the fate of humanity in their hands.
"What were the Russians thinking? What was Washington planning?" ponders Nina Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s descendant and a professor specializing in international affairs.
For her, the unique appeal of the podcast is its attempt to question: "How can nations hate each other and confront each other?"
"It was not lost on me how spectacular the fact that humans have the potential to be allies or can become total adversaries," adds Kennedy, the son of Robert Kennedy, nephew of the late president and now an author and attorney. "History shows this over and over when nations have gone to war, and it just illustrates how unbelievably stupid it is to engage in warfare."
A Precipice Towards Catastrophe
What is remarkable regarding this event is that, because it transpired so publicly, individuals globally could watch nearly in real time while it crept closer to disaster. However, the risk of destruction came closer than most people realised.
"Almost all officials among Kennedy's advisors were advocating for an airstrike and an invasion," says Kennedy. "If we had attacked Cuba with the naval blockade, undoubtedly Soviet forces stationed there would've launched a nuclear warhead at the American ships, and that would've obliterated our naval vessels and sunk America's largest and most important naval force. In turn, we would have responded with massive retaliation that would have ended most life on the planet."
The reality this did not occur is a testament to Kennedy and Khrushchev, they managed to exercise restraint and engaging in diplomacy at a time when many advisors in their governments were advocating military action. Consequently, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the missiles from the Caribbean island while President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) withdrew his similar weapons based in Turkey. The sense of relief was immense, matched by a feeling of optimism.
The Different Viewpoint
Still, during those two weeks of October 1962, the fear was felt by everyone. The podcast's co-hosts came into the world shortly after the crisis, and Khrushcheva being taught about the crisis through the Soviet school curriculum, which portrayed a slightly different picture of what happened.
"You said your parent remembers it, and it was a scary day," she says. "But in the Soviet Union, people really didn’t know a great deal about it, since it was a tense situation, and under the Soviet system the official line was that things are constantly fine or positive."
Inside the Khrushchev household, though, it was distinct. "I was informed that it was a triumphant moment it was, because it represented a direct confrontation. They were able to resolve it, and didn’t start the war, seen as a wonderful outcome," she adds. In the years to come, though, that interpretation would not be shared by everybody. "For a long time within Russian historical analysis, the crisis was viewed as a failure for the Soviet leader, because he refrained from destroying the United States."
A Unprecedented Partnership
The Bomb is remarkably even-handed and well produced that Nina jokes she nearly forgot the known outcome. This effect is, partly, thanks to contributions from historians. Yet, really, the most momentous aspect remains the involvement of the descendants. Not so long ago, it was inconceivable for descendants of the heads of state of the United States and the Soviet Union to appear together publicly. The fact that Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva are able to do so, and exhibit such warmth with each other, must be seen as a symbol of progress.
"We are not the first," notes Nina. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, a relative Sergey Khrushchev’s son where he became great friends with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."
"But we were strangers prior to this project," clarifies Kennedy. "Which is a shame because we got along immediately and we’re friends, something that is really great. Finally, following almost 60 years since nearly annihilating the world, our lineages have become allies, suggesting the world is more secure, somewhat."
Modern Echoes with Present Dangers
Is that truly the case? Part of the reason this series seems so urgent is that we now are living in a perilous era. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to catastrophe than ever before, partly since today's statesmen don’t seem to have the capacity to comprehend