‘After almost annihilating our planet, the families have become friends’: a gripping audio series featuring John F. Kennedy & Nikita Khrushchev’s descendants.
During the month of October 1962, humanity veered closer to destruction more so than ever during the contemporary era. This happened after an American reconnaissance plane identified that Soviet nuclear missile bases were being assembled in the island of Cuba, a mere 100 miles off the coast of the US mainland. In response, President JFK ordered a naval task force to impose a maritime quarantine encircling Cuba. The next phase was nearly two weeks of unbearable anxiety.
The Unthinkable Danger
The threat remained clear. If Kennedy, or else his Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, had fired on the other side, a chain reaction involving worldwide nuclear strikes and retaliatory strikes might have followed, casting civilization toward total oblivion.
The Cuban missile crisis has been examined extensively, through books, movies, as well as TV documentaries. However, for its third season, the BBC World Service podcast The Bomb presents an unprecedented element to this historical narrative. It is co-presented featuring Kennedy's relative alongside Nina Khrushcheva, relatives belonging to the men who, for 13 days, grasped the destiny of humanity within their grasp.
"What was the Russians considering? What was the United States thinking?" asks Nina Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's descendant and an academic of international affairs.
For her, the unique appeal of the show is its attempt to objectively ask: "Why do people detest one another to the point they oppose each other?"
"It was not lost on me how profound it is that humans can be allies or can become total adversaries," adds Max Kennedy, the son of RFK, related to the late president and currently a writer and attorney. "History shows this repeatedly in instances where nations enter into conflict, demonstrating the sheer folly involved to engage in warfare."
A Brink Towards Disaster
What’s notable about the Cuban missile crisis was that, because it unfolded in the global spotlight, individuals globally could watch almost as it happened while it moved towards catastrophe. Even so, the threat of destruction was more imminent than what most people understood at the time.
"Almost all officials in the White House wanted a military strike and a ground invasion," notes Kennedy. "If we had struck Cuba using the Sixth Fleet, it is certain the Russians on the ground would've fired a tactical nuclear weapon at the US Sixth Fleet, and that would have destroyed our aircraft carriers and sunk America's largest and most important naval force. And, the U.S. would have responded through an overwhelming counterattack that would have ended all life on the planet."
The fact it didn’t highlights the composure of Kennedy and Khrushchev, they succeeded in exercise restraint and calmly negotiate at a time when many advisors around them were advocating action. Consequently, Khrushchev removed the missiles in the Caribbean island and President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) removed American missiles from NATO ally Turkey. The sense of relief was immense, matched by a feeling of hope.
The Different Viewpoint
Still, during those 13 days of October 1962, the tension was felt by everyone. The Bomb’s co-hosts came into the world shortly after these events, and Nina being taught about the crisis via the Soviet school curriculum, which presented an alternative picture of what happened.
"As you mentioned your parent recalls it, and it was a frightening day," she says. "However for Soviet citizens, the public really didn’t know a great deal regarding the crisis, since it was a crisis, whereas in the Soviet Union the official line was that everything was constantly fine or sunny."
Within the Khrushchev household, though, it was distinct. "I was informed what a great occasion for the USSR, because it was a direct confrontation. They were able to resolve it, thus avoided the war, seen as a positive thing," she adds. In the years to come, however, that view would not be shared by all Russians. "For decades in Russian politics, it was considered a failure for Khrushchev, simply he didn’t blow up America."
A Unprecedented Partnership
This podcast is remarkably even-handed and expertly crafted that Khrushcheva jokes it almost made her forget she already knew the ending. This is, in part, thanks to the participation of historians. Yet, really, the most significant aspect is the involvement of the descendants. Even within living memory, it was inconceivable for relatives of the heads of state of America and USSR to appear together publicly. The fact that Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva are able to do so, and be so warm toward one another, has to be a symbol of progress.
"We aren't the pioneers," smiles Nina. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, my uncle Sergey Khrushchev’s son where he formed a close bond with the former president's family."
"But we were strangers before the podcast," clarifies Max. "That is unfortunate because we got along immediately and we are friends, something that is wonderful. Finally, after nearly 60 years of almost destroying the planet, our families have become friends, suggesting the world is more secure, a little bit."
Modern Echoes and Current Dangers
Is that truly the case? One reason the reason The Bomb feels so necessary is that we now find ourselves living through dark times. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to catastrophe than ever before, in part because world leaders don’t seem to have the capacity to comprehend
