‘After almost annihilating the world, the relatives are friends’: a gripping audio series featuring JFK and Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.
In October 1962, the planet came nearer to annihilation than at any other point during modern times. This occurred when a US reconnaissance plane found the fact that Soviet atomic missile installations were under construction in Cuba, a mere 160 kilometers off the coast of the US mainland. In response, U.S. President JFK directed the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to enact a maritime blockade encircling the island. The next phase was almost two weeks of extreme stress.
An Catastrophic Danger
The peril was obvious. Should President Kennedy, or his Russian opposite, Premier Khrushchev, had fired on the other side, a chain reaction of worldwide atomic attacks and counterstrikes would have followed, casting mankind into total ruination.
This pivotal 1962 event has been examined extensively, through books, movies, and television programmes. However, in its latest installment, the BBC World Service podcast The Bomb has brought a novel perspective into this historical narrative. The series is jointly hosted featuring Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva, relatives of the leaders who, for 13 days, grasped the destiny of the planet within their grasp.
"What was the Russians thinking? What was Washington considering?" ponders Nina Khrushcheva, Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter and an academic specializing in international affairs.
For her, the unique appeal of the podcast lies in its endeavor to objectively ask: "How can individuals hate one another to the point they go against one another?"
"I am acutely aware how spectacular the fact that people can be allies or can become complete enemies," remarks Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy, nephew of JFK and currently an author and attorney. "History shows this repeatedly in instances where countries enter into conflict, and it just illustrates how unbelievably stupid involved to fight."
The Precipice of Disaster
What’s striking regarding the Cuban missile crisis is that, because it transpired so publicly, people worldwide were able to observe nearly in real time as it crept towards disaster. Even so, the danger of annihilation came closer than what anybody understood at the time.
"The overwhelming majority in the White House wanted a military strike followed by an invasion," notes Kennedy. "Had the U.S. struck Cuba with the naval blockade, there is no question the Russians stationed there would have deployed a tactical nuclear weapon at the US Sixth Fleet, and that would have destroyed our aircraft carriers as well as destroyed America's primary fleet. In turn, we would have retaliated with an overwhelming counterattack that would have eradicated most life on the planet."
The fact it didn’t highlights the composure of Kennedy and Khrushchev, who succeeded in keep their heads and calmly negotiate when many advisors in their governments demanded military action. As a result, Khrushchev removed the missiles in the Caribbean island while Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed then) removed American missiles based in Turkey. The relief was palpable, matched by the sense of optimism.
The Different Perspective
Yet, during those 13 days in October, the tension was palpable globally. The podcast's co-hosts were born in the years following these events, and Nina learned about it via the Soviet school curriculum, which portrayed a slightly different picture of events.
"You said your parent recalls it, and it was a scary day," she says. "But in the Soviet Union, people were largely unaware that much about it, since it was a tense situation, whereas under the Soviet system the official line was that everything was always fine and positive."
Within the Khrushchev household, though, the perspective was different. "I was informed what a great moment for the USSR, because it represented a direct confrontation. The leaders managed to resolve it, and avoided the war, which was a wonderful outcome," she continues. Later on, however, that view was not held by all Russians. "For a long time in Russian politics, the crisis was viewed as a defeat for the Soviet leader, simply he didn’t blow up the United States."
A Unlikely Partnership
The Bomb is so even-handed , well produced so much so that Nina jokes it almost made her forget she already knew outcome. This effect is, partly, thanks to contributions from renowned scholars. Yet, really, the most significant thing is the involvement 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. The fact that these two individuals are able to do so, and be so warm with each other, must be seen as a symbol of hope.
"We aren't the pioneers," notes Nina. "Following 1991, a relative Sergey Khrushchev’s son and became great friends with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."
"But we had never met before the podcast," adds Max. "That is unfortunate because we got along really well and now we are friends, something that is wonderful. Finally, after almost six decades since nearly annihilating the planet, our families are now friends, suggesting global relations is more secure, somewhat."
Contemporary Echoes and Present Dangers
Is that truly the case? Part of why The Bomb feels so necessary is that we now find ourselves living through dark times. The symbolic clock of doom is closer to midnight in its history, in part because today's statesmen don’t seem to have the capacity to learn