Spy Pilot: Francis Gary Powers, the U-2 Incident, and a Controversial Cold War Legacy

FOREWORD ^{by Sergei Khrushchev}

For more than two decades, I have watched Francis Gary Powers Jr. work tirelessly to honor and preserve the memory of his father, an ordinary American who was caught up in extraordinary circumstances.

I, too, have made great efforts to honor and preserve the legacy of my father, Nikita Khrushchev.

This is something Gary and I have in common.

During those difficult days of the Cold War, when my father led the Soviet Union (1953–1964), he managed to avert nuclear disaster while working with American presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy. He helped move the two superpowers toward peaceful coexistence. Not peace, but peaceful coexistence.

Still, it was an acknowledged fact that both countries spied on each other. The war of secrets was important in helping East and West avoid armed confrontation.

It is interesting to me how two spies destined to be linked forever in the history books were treated very differently by their respective countries.

In 1957, Colonel Rudolf Abel was captured by American authorities in New York City and rightly convicted of espionage and sentenced to a long prison term.

In 1960, after being shot down while flying a U-2 spy plane over the Soviet Union, Francis Gary Powers was rightly convicted of espionage and sentenced to a long prison term.

Both men were patriots who loved their country, believed fervently in their nation’s ideals, and worked for the cause of world peace, before running out of luck.

When these two Cold War figures were exchanged in 1962, in a deal orchestrated by American lawyer James B. Donovan, their fates quickly diverged.

Upon his return to the Soviet Union, Abel was awarded the Order of Lenin, the USSR’s highest civilian honor, and the state established a pension for him. He was considered a hero of the Soviet people.

By contrast, Powers returned to the United States under a cloud of suspicion.

Fortunately, Gary has dedicated much of his life to learning and communicating the truth about his father, including the writing of this important book about the Cold War.