Following nearly destroying our planet, our families are allies’: the thrilling podcast featuring JFK & Nikita Khrushchev’s relatives.
In October 1962, the planet came nearer toward annihilation than at any other point in the contemporary era. This transpired following the discovery that a US surveillance aircraft discovered the fact that Russian nuclear missile bases were under construction on Cuba, a mere 100 miles from American soil. In response, President John F Kennedy ordered a naval task force to enact a naval quarantine encircling the island. The next phase was almost two weeks filled with extreme anxiety.
An Catastrophic Danger
The danger remained obvious. If President Kennedy, or the Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, had fired against the other side, a cascade involving worldwide atomic strikes and retaliatory strikes could have ensued, casting civilization toward total ruination.
The October crisis has been documented repeatedly, in books, films, and television programmes. But, for its third season, the BBC World Service podcast titled "The Bomb" has brought an unprecedented element to this historical narrative. It is jointly hosted featuring Max Kennedy and Khrushchev's descendant, relatives of the leaders who, over 13 days, grasped the destiny of humanity in their hands.
"What was the Kremlin planning? What were Washington planning?" asks Khrushcheva, the Soviet leader's descendant who is also an academic specializing in global relations.
In her view, the strength of the podcast is its attempt to objectively ask: "How can people detest each other and oppose each other?"
"I am acutely aware how profound it is that humans can be allies or else have the potential to be total enemies," states Max Kennedy, the son of RFK, related to JFK and currently a writer as well as lawyer. "History shows this dynamic over and over in instances where countries enter into conflict, demonstrating how unbelievably stupid involved to fight."
A Brink Towards Catastrophe
What’s notable regarding this event was that, because it unfolded in the global spotlight, people worldwide could watch almost in real time as it moved towards disaster. Even so, the risk of destruction was more imminent than what anybody understood at the time.
"The overwhelming majority in the White House wanted an airstrike followed by a ground invasion," notes Kennedy. "Had the U.S. attacked the Cubans with the naval blockade, there is no question Soviet forces on the ground would've fired a tactical nuclear weapon at the US Sixth Fleet, and that would've obliterated our naval vessels as well as sunk our primary naval force. And, the U.S. would have retaliated through massive retaliation which would have ended most life on the planet."
The reality it didn’t stands as credit to Kennedy and Khrushchev, they managed to exercise restraint and engaging in diplomacy at a time when everyone in their governments were advocating action. Consequently, The Soviet premier removed the missiles from the Caribbean island and Kennedy (a fact not publicly disclosed at the time) withdrew his missiles based in Turkey. The relief was immense, as was the sense of hope.
A Different Viewpoint
Still, for those two weeks of October 1962, the tension was felt by everyone. The Bomb’s co-hosts came into the world in the years following the crisis, and Nina being taught about it via the Soviet education system, which presented a slightly different picture of events.
"You said your father recalls it, and it was a scary day," Khrushcheva notes. "However in the Soviet Union, people were largely unaware that much regarding the crisis, because it was a crisis, and in the Soviet Union we were told that things are always fine or positive."
Within Khrushchev’s family, however, the perspective was different. "They told me what a great occasion it was, because it represented a direct confrontation. They were able to resolve it, thus avoided the war, seen as a positive thing," she adds. Later on, however, that perspective would not be held by everybody. "For a long time in Russian politics, the crisis was viewed as a setback for Khrushchev, because he refrained from destroying the United States."
A Unprecedented Collaboration
This podcast is remarkably even-handed , expertly crafted that Khrushcheva jokes it almost made her forget she already knew outcome. This effect is, in part, thanks to the participation of renowned scholars. But, really, the most momentous aspect is the involvement of the hosts themselves. Even within living memory, it would be unthinkable that descendants of the leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union to appear together publicly. The fact that these two individuals can do that, and exhibit such warmth with each other, has to be a symbol of progress.
"We are not the first," notes Khrushcheva. "Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, a relative moved to America where he formed a close bond with Dwight Eisenhower’s children."
"However we were strangers before the podcast," adds Kennedy. "That is unfortunate since we got along really well and we’re friends, which is really great. Ultimately, following almost 60 years since almost destroying the planet, our lineages are now allies, so I think the world is safer, a little bit."
Modern Echoes and Current Dangers
Is that truly the case? Part of the reason this series seems so urgent is that we now are living living through dark times. The Doomsday Clock is closer to catastrophe in its history, in part because today's statesmen don’t seem to have the capacity to learn
