Relatives of JFK and Khrushchev co-host BBC podcast revisiting the Cuban missile crisis

The BBC World Service podcast The Bomb has devoted its third season to the October 1962 Cuban missile crisis and is jointly hosted by Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva, relatives of John F Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev. The series revisits a moment when a US surveillance plane discovered Soviet nuclear missile sites being built in Cuba, less than 100 miles from the US mainland, and President Kennedy ordered the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to impose a naval blockade.

The standoff lasted almost two weeks and, the programme notes, risked a chain reaction of global nuclear strikes and counterstrikes. Khrushcheva, described in the programme as Khrushchev’s great‑granddaughter and a professor of international affairs, said the show tries to ask “What was the Soviet side thinking?

What was the American side thinking?”. Kennedy, identified as the son of Robert Kennedy and nephew of JFK, called the series an attempt to show how “humans can be friends or have the potential to be complete enemies”. The hosts note that Khrushchev removed missiles from Cuba and Kennedy removed US missiles from Turkey, a concession that was not reported at the time.

Key Topics

Culture, The Bomb, Max Kennedy, Nina Khrushcheva, Cuban Missile Crisis, John F Kennedy