‘After almost annihilating our planet, our relatives are friends’: a thrilling audio series featuring John F. Kennedy & Khrushchev’s descendants.
During October 1962, humanity came nearer toward destruction than at any other point in modern times. This transpired when a US surveillance aircraft identified that Soviet atomic missile sites were being built on the island of Cuba, less than 100 miles off the coast of the United States. In response, U.S. President John F Kennedy commanded the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to impose a naval quarantine around Cuba. What followed was nearly a fortnight of impossible anxiety.
An Catastrophic Danger
The peril was obvious. If Kennedy, or his Russian opposite, Nikita Khrushchev, initiated an attack against the other side, a chain reaction of worldwide nuclear strikes followed by counterstrikes might have ensued, thrusting mankind toward all-out destruction.
The Cuban missile crisis has been covered extensively, in volumes, films, and television programmes. However, for its third season, a prominent audio documentary series The Bomb presents an unprecedented dimension to the story. The series is jointly hosted featuring Kennedy's relative alongside Khrushchev's descendant, family members of the figures who, for two tense weeks, grasped the fate of the world in their hands.
"What was the Russians considering? What was the United States considering?" questions Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's great-granddaughter who is also a professor specializing in global relations.
In her view, the beauty of the show is its attempt to explore: "How can individuals detest one another to the point they oppose each other?"
"I am acutely aware how remarkable the fact that individuals have the potential to be allies or else can become total adversaries," adds Max Kennedy, the son of RFK, related to JFK and now a writer and lawyer. "We see this dynamic over and over when nations have gone to war, demonstrating the sheer folly involved to engage in warfare."
A Precipice Towards Disaster
What is striking about the Cuban missile crisis was that, because it transpired so publicly, citizens around the world were able to observe almost as it happened while it crept towards disaster. Nonetheless, the risk of annihilation was more imminent than what most people realised.
"Almost all officials in the White House wanted a military strike followed by a ground invasion," explains Max Kennedy. "If we had struck the Cubans using the naval blockade, there is no question the Russians on the ground would have launched a nuclear warhead against the American ships, and that would have destroyed the aircraft carriers and sunk America's primary fleet. And, the U.S. would have responded through massive retaliation which would have eradicated most life on Earth."
The reality it didn’t stands as credit to both leaders, they managed to exercise restraint and engaging in diplomacy at a time when hawkish elements in their governments demanded action. As a result, Khrushchev removed the nuclear weapons from Cuba while President Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) removed his similar weapons based in Turkey. The relief was palpable, as was the sense of optimism.
A Different Perspective
Yet, for those 13 days in October, the tension was palpable globally. The Bomb’s co-hosts came into the world shortly after the crisis, with Khrushcheva being taught about the crisis via the USSR's school curriculum, which painted a slightly different narrative of what happened.
"As you mentioned your father recalls it, and it was a scary day," Khrushcheva notes. "But for Soviet citizens, people were largely unaware that much about it, since it was a crisis, and under the Soviet system the official line was that things are always wonderful and sunny."
Within the Khrushchev household, however, it was different. "I was informed what a great moment it was, because it represented a direct confrontation. They were able to resolve it, and didn’t start the war, which was a positive thing," she adds. Later on, though, that view was not held by all Russians. "For decades within Russian historical analysis, it was considered a defeat for the Soviet leader, because he didn’t blow up the United States."
An Unlikely Collaboration
This podcast is so even-handed , expertly crafted so much so that Khrushcheva quips it almost made her forget the known outcome. This effect is, in part, due to contributions from historians. But, really, the most momentous thing remains the participation of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it was unthinkable that relatives of the heads of state of America and the USSR would appear side by side. That Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva are able to do so, and exhibit such warmth toward one another, must be seen as a sign of hope.
"We aren't the first," smiles Khrushcheva. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, a relative moved to America where he became great friends with the former president's family."
"However we had never met before the podcast," clarifies Kennedy. "That is unfortunate since we connected really well and we are friends, which is wonderful. Finally, after nearly 60 years of nearly annihilating the planet, our families are now friends, so I think the world is safer, a little bit."
Modern Parallels and Current Dangers
Is that truly the case? One reason the reason The Bomb seems so urgent is because we now find ourselves in a perilous era. The Doomsday Clock is closer to catastrophe in its history, in part because world leaders appear not to be able to learn