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World Service,12 Jan 2026,37 mins

Series Kennedy and Khrushchev

8. The logic of war

The Bomb

Available for over a year

Troops in Cuba fear an attack is imminent, as alarm grows around the world. Fidel Castro urges Khrushchev to strike first. The Soviet premier warns President Kennedy, in a long and emotional letter, that “the knot of war” has been tied - soon "even he who tied it will not have the strength to untie it”. This is the personal and political story of the Cuban Missile Crisis, told by Nina Khrushcheva and Max Kennedy.

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