Presidents’ Day is a day to celebrate past presidents and American history. In this episode, we speak with two “living history interpreters” who have spent years portraying historical figures to the public. Audrey Stuck-Girard portrays Abigail Adams and other 18th century figures and Bill Barker portrays President Thomas Jefferson.

President Kennedy faced several major environmental threats during his presidency from the widespread use of dangerous chemicals in farming to private developers buying up pristine natural habitats. Award-winning author Douglas Brinkley discusses his new book, Silent Spring Revolution, about the woman who led the modern environmental movement influencing the Kennedy administration and others that came after. This episode also revisits a conversation with Cape Cod National Seashore superintendent Brian Carlstrom.

Sixty years after the Cuban Missile Crisis, today’s world leaders can apply lessons learned to potential future nuclear crises. Former Obama Administration Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes, Executive Director of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University Alexandra Vacroux, and former Pulitzer-prize winning reporter and author Jonathan Kaufman discuss potential crises ahead and how the Cuban Missile Crisis’s legacy remains relevant.

After the United States and Soviet Union survived the Cuban Missile Crisis and its immediate aftermath, the next steps for the two superpowers would be critical. This episode looks at Kennedy’s "strategy of peace" speech at American University and the limited test ban treaty negotiated between Khrushchev and Kennedy, that some say saved the world a second time. It looks ahead at the positive and negative steps made towards Kennedy’s vision of a world with fewer nuclear weapons and what challenges today’s leaders face involving the spread of nuclear weapons.

John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev reached an agreement about the Cuban Missile Crisis on October 28, but the crisis wouldn’t end there. Fidel Castro, angered by Nikita Khrushchev’s decision, threatened a serious setback in the negotiations to remove all offensive weapons - including tactical nuclear weapons - from his country.

October 27, 1962, also known as “Black Saturday," was the most dangerous day of the Cuban Missile Crisis as events began to spiral out of control. With two contrasting messages from Chairman Khrushchev, President Kennedy had to find a way to resolve the crisis or risk a nuclear war. Outside of the White House, the crisis took a fatal turn and war was expected to break out at any moment.

By October 22, 1962, after days of long discussions with his advisors, President John F. Kennedy was ready to go public about the Soviet missiles in Cuba. His address to the American people laid out his plan to initiate a naval quarantine to prevent more Soviet ships and weapons from reaching Cuba. He also stressed the uncertainty and danger that lay in the days and months ahead. In Moscow, this announcement stunned and angered Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, who learned that his atomic gambit had failed. As the specter of a devastating nuclear war loomed larger than ever, the White House waited to see how the Soviets would react.

In the first few days of the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Kennedy and his advisors faced an extremely difficult choice on whether to attack Cuba, and how to do it without engulfing the world in a nuclear war. In this episode, you’ll hear some of the conversations from the top secret meetings between Kennedy and his advisors as he considered his options. Meanwhile, the President would have to act in public as if nothing is going on to keep the Soviets from finding out what he knew until he was ready to make a decision. With the public still unaware, the President would face several challenges – including opposition from his top military advisors – as he decided what to do next.

From the moment President Kennedy took office, he warned the country about the dangers of nuclear weapons that could result in the deaths of millions. It would be his decisions and actions that would keep the country from the brink of total nuclear war. In the years leading up to the Cuban Missile Crisis, Kennedy would face a number of embarrassing failures in both Cuba and on the world stage with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. It would be partly these failures and other escalations that would embolden Khrushchev to embark on his Atomic Gambit.

On October 16, 1962, President John F. Kennedy was told the Soviet Union was assembling nuclear warheads on the island of Cuba, just 90 miles from the Florida coastline. Over the course of the next 13 days and beyond, President Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev would make decisions in a crisis that brought the world closer to all-out nuclear war than it has ever been.

Today, we continue to live with the historic legacy of the Cuban Missile Crisis and its lessons of leadership, diplomacy, and ultimately, grace under pressure. Atomic Gambit, a JFK35 podcast special series, takes a deep dive into the history, the players, and the pivotal moments that made this episode a turning point in world history.

First episode premieres on October 13, 2022.