‘After almost annihilating the planet, the families are friends’: a gripping audio series featuring JFK & Khrushchev’s relatives.
In the month of October 1962, the world edged nearer to ruin more so than ever in modern times. This transpired after an American surveillance aircraft discovered that Russian nuclear weapon installations were being assembled in the island of Cuba, less than 100 miles off the coast of the US mainland. Reacting to this, U.S. President John F Kennedy commanded the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to enact a maritime blockade around the island. What followed constituted nearly 14 days of unbearable anxiety.
The Unthinkable Threat
The threat remained palpable. If Kennedy, or else his Russian opposite, Nikita Khrushchev, were to fire against their enemy, a series of worldwide atomic attacks followed by retaliatory strikes could have followed, casting mankind into total ruination.
The Cuban missile crisis has been documented repeatedly, through volumes, movies, and television programmes. However, for its third season, the BBC World Service podcast The Bomb presents a completely new dimension to the story. The series is jointly hosted featuring Max Kennedy alongside Nina Khrushcheva, family members belonging to the figures who, over two tense weeks, held the fate of the world in their hands.
"What were the Kremlin considering? What were the United States planning?" questions Nina Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s descendant and an academic of international affairs.
In her view, the strength of the podcast is its endeavor to explore: "Why do people hate one another to the point they oppose one another?"
"It struck me how spectacular the fact that individuals can be friends or have the potential to be complete adversaries," remarks Max Kennedy, son of RFK, related to JFK and now an author and attorney. "We see this dynamic over and over when countries enter into conflict, highlighting the profound irrationality involved to fight."
The Precipice of Catastrophe
What’s striking regarding the Cuban missile crisis is that, since it unfolded so publicly, people worldwide were able to observe nearly in real time while it moved closer to armageddon. Even so, the danger of destruction came closer than most people understood at the time.
"The overwhelming majority in the White House wanted a military strike followed by a ground invasion," says Kennedy. "Had the U.S. attacked the Cubans using the Sixth Fleet, undoubtedly Soviet forces on the ground would've deployed a nuclear warhead against the US Sixth Fleet, which would've obliterated the naval vessels as well as sunk America's largest and most important naval force. And, we would have responded through an overwhelming counterattack that would have ended most life on Earth."
The reality it didn’t is a testament to both leaders, who succeeded in exercise restraint and calmly negotiate at a time when everyone around them was pushing for action. As a result, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the missiles in the Caribbean island and Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) withdrew American missiles based in Turkey. The relief was worldwide, as was the sense of hope.
The Divergent Viewpoint
Still, during those two weeks of October 1962, the anxiety was felt globally. The podcast's co-hosts came into the world in the years following these events, and Khrushcheva learned about it via the Soviet education system, which painted an alternative narrative of events.
"As you mentioned your parent recalls it, describing it as a scary time," she says. "However for Soviet citizens, the public really didn’t know a great deal regarding the crisis, since it was a crisis, and in the Soviet Union the official line was that everything was always wonderful or positive."
Within the Khrushchev household, however, it was different. "I was informed what a great moment it was, because it represented eyeball to eyeball. They were able to find a solution, and didn’t start the war, which was a wonderful outcome," she adds. Subsequently, however, that view would not be shared by everybody. "For decades in Russian politics, it was considered a setback for the Soviet leader, because he didn’t blow up America."
An Unprecedented Collaboration
The Bomb is so even-handed , expertly crafted so much so that Khrushcheva jokes it almost made her forget the known the ending. This is, in part, thanks to the participation of historians. But, really, the most groundbreaking thing remains the participation of the descendants. Even within living memory, it would be inconceivable that descendants of the leaders of America and the USSR to appear together publicly. That these two individuals are able to do so, and be so warm with each other, must be seen as a symbol of optimism.
"We aren't the pioneers," smiles Khrushcheva. "After 1991, a relative moved to America where he became great friends with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."
"However we were strangers prior to this project," clarifies Kennedy. "Which is unfortunate because we connected immediately and now we are friends, something that is wonderful. Finally, following nearly six decades of nearly annihilating the planet, our lineages are now allies, suggesting the world is more secure, a little bit."
Contemporary Echoes with Present Dangers
Is that truly the case? Part of the reason this series seems so urgent is that we once again find ourselves living through dark times. The symbolic clock of doom stands nearer to midnight in its history, partly since today's statesmen don’t seem to have the capacity to comprehend