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

by Francy Gary Powers Jr., Keith Dunnavant, Sergei Khrushchev (Foreword by)

Overview

Based on newly available information, the son of famed U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers presents the facts and dispels misinformation about the Cold War espionage program that turned his father into a Cold War icon..One of the most talked-about events of the Cold War was the downing of the American U-2 spy plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers over the Soviet Union on May 1, 1960. The event was recently depicted in the Steven Spielberg movie Bridge of Spies. Powers was captured by the KGB, subjected to a televised show trial, and imprisoned, all of which created an international incident. Soviet authorities eventually released him in exchange for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel. On his return to the United States, Powers was exonerated of any wrongdoing while imprisoned in Russia, yet, due to bad press and the government's unwillingness to heartily defend Powers, a cloud of controversy lingered until his untimely death in 1977. Now his son, Francis Gary Powers Jr. and acclaimed historian Keith Dunnavant have written this new account of Powers's life based on personal files that had never been previously available. Delving into old audio tapes, letters his father wrote and received while imprisoned in the Soviet Union, the transcript of his father's debriefing by the CIA, other recently declassified documents about the U-2 program, and interviews with the spy pilot's contemporaries, Powers and Dunnavant set the record straight. The result is a fascinating piece of Cold War history. This is also a book about a son's journey to understand his father, pursuing justice and a measure of peace.Almost sixty years after the fact, this will be the definitive account of one of the most important events of the Cold War.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781633884694
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	01/22/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	312
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Francis Gary Powers Jr. is the founder and chairman emeritus of The Cold War Museum, a 501(c) (3) charity in Vint Hill, Virginia, near Washington, DC. As chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee for the Cold War Theme Study, he works with the National Park Service and leading Cold War experts to identify historic Cold War sites for commemorating, interpreting, and preservation. He served as a consultant to Steven Spielberg's Cold War thriller, Bridge of Spies. He lectures internationally and appears regularly on the History, Discovery, and A&E Channels.

Keith Dunnavant is the author of six books, including definitive biographies of Joe Montana, Bart Starr, and Bear Bryant, often striking at the collision of sports and culture. The founder of four award-winning specialty magazines, he is a former editor for Adweek and Atlanta, and was a sportswriter for the revolutionary all-sports newspaper The National, covering everything from network television to college football.

Read an Excerpt

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.


INTRODUCTION

Sometimes, it is the little things that linger, like the scruff of a father’s beard.

Every night, when I was a young boy, my dad came to my room, tucked me into bed, and kissed me on the cheek, the day-long growth of his nine o’clock shadow pressing firmly against my still-smooth skin. There was love in that moment. There was security.

I’ll never forget the last time we shared this ritual. It was the night before my world shattered.

In those days, Dad piloted a traffic helicopter for KNBC-TV, the NBC-owned station in Los Angeles. We lived very comfortably in the San Fernando Valley town of Sherman Oaks: father; mother; elder sister, Dee; and me. Life was good.

The first day of August in 1977 was an ordinary workday for my forty-seven-year-old father, but something went terribly wrong. His helicopter ran out of gas and crashed near a golf course in Encino. When someone from the station came to tell the family about the crash, I was left confused, thinking he must have broken a few bones and probably would be confined to a hospital bed for a few days. No one pulled me aside to reveal the awful truth.

Later that afternoon, with the house full of people and a somber tone permeating the place, I stood behind several adults in the living room, watching Channel 4’s evening newscast. Jess Marlow was a giant in Los Angeles television, the personification of the stone-faced, detached anchorman. Hearing from this iconic figure that my father was dead, at the same time much of Southern California learned the news, was shocking . . . and so was watching him choke up and actually shed a tear on live television. There was no crying on television in those days, but Marlow could not help himself. He had lost a colleague and a friend. I was devastated beyond words. My life would never be the same.

Several adults went out of their way to comfort me, including another dear family friend, the actor Robert Conrad. At one point, Conrad called me on the telephone and gave me what amounted to a pep talk: “Your father was a good man,” he said, stressing that, “no matter what you might hear,” your dad was a patriot who sacrificed greatly for his country.

“Be proud of him. His legacy is now in you. . . .”

No matter what I might hear?

I tried to process what Mr. Conrad said, but on the day my father died, I was still too young and too sheltered to fully appreciate the burden associated with being Francis Gary Powers Jr., because I didn’t really know my father. I didn’t know him at all.

I knew the helicopter pilot. The man who patiently helped me with my homework. The man who carefully taught me how to shoot a .22-caliber rifle. The man who gently kissed me good night. But I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

In time, I would feel compelled to solve the riddle of Conrad’s cryptic consolation, to learn the haunting truth about my father.

Table of Contents

Authors' Note 9

Foreword Sergei Khrushchev 11

Introduction 13

Chapter 1 The Restless Heart 15

Chapter 2 Open Skies 27

Chapter 3 Mayday 61

Chapter 4 Repatriated 103

Chapter 5 Lost in a Crowd 139

Chapter 6 Searching for the Truth 153

Chapter 7 Voice from the Grave 179

Chapter 8 The Last Echo 241

Chapter 9 Unfinished Business 255

Acknowledgments 265

List of Interviews Conducted Keith Dunnavant 269

Notes 271

Index 285

Editorial Reviews

"Biography, autobiography, the unraveling of a Cold War mystery, and a son's mission to see his father honored. This book has it all.” —Vin Arthey, author of Abel: The True Story of the Spy They Traded for Gary Powers“The son of U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers has written an in-depth, detailed account of his father's life, the infamous U-2 shoot-down, and the aftermath. Much is revealed in this book, which is a must-read for those interested in the Cold War, intelligence, and aviation.” —Norman Polmar, author of Spyplane: The U-2 History Declassified and coauthor of Spyplanes“All too often, history has only a public face. When we think of Francis Gary Powers, we recall how on May 1, 1960, his U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union, why he did not use the poisoned pin, and how his case became a Soviet show trial. This part of Powers's life is a touchstone in the Cold War. All true, but history is also deeply personal. Powers's fame cast a long shadow, shaping to various degrees the lives he touched. In Spy Pilot, a wonderfully researched and powerfully written account of Powers's life, Keith Dunnavant and Francis Gary Powers Jr. tell the full story. Read it. It will move you in ways that few histories ever do.” —Randy Roberts, 150th Anniversary Professor and Distinguished Professor of History, Purdue University, and coauthor of A Season in the Sun: The Rise of Mickey Mantle “Spy Pilot is a deeply moving book of a son's lifelong search to uncover the hidden history of his father. Gary Powers Jr. has done himself, his family, and his father proud with this fascinating, detailed, and loving account that is at once a detailed and informative history of the Lockheed U-2 and the men who designed, maintained, and flew it; a compelling biographical inquiry about his famous father, CIA spy pilot Francis Gary Powers, who was shot down over the Soviet Union by a surface-to-air missile on May 1, 1960; and a searching personal memoir of one man's efforts to restore the reputation of his father, who was killed in a tragic news helicopter accident in August 1977. Knowing what pilot Powers actually did, readers will come away feeling dismayed at how badly he was treated upon his return from Soviet captivity, and impressed by the depth of his son's love and devotion. Highly recommended!” —Richard P. Hallion, PhD, aerospace analyst and former historian of the US Air Force“Spy Pilot provides a unique perspective on one of the turning points of the Cold War. Francis Gary Powers Jr. tells the tale of his father's fateful mission, and of his capture and imprisonment in the Soviet Union. The heart of the story, however, focuses on events that occurred after Powers returned to the United States. It is a chronicle of the pilot's battle to salvage his reputation and dignity in the face of an indifferent and at times hostile government, a battle that his son waged for decades after Powers died in a tragic accident. Spy Pilot is also an intensely personal story about the loss of a father, and a son's desperate efforts to understand a man he barely remembers.”—Steven T. Usdin, author of Bureau of Spies and Engineering Communism“Francis Gary Powers was a patriot who got a raw deal, and his son has devoted his life to revealing the truth.” —Robert Conrad, actor, The Wild Wild West and Baa Baa Black Sheep“An interesting account of a son's long effort to ensure his father's proper legacy.” —Chris Pocock, author of The U-2 Spyplane: Toward the Unknown“Francis Gary Powers Jr. brilliantly details his father's painful turmoil as a CIA U-2 pilot. The stain on his father's character, facilitated by America's Cold War fears, caused him anguish that was exacerbated by his first wife's behavior. Gary Jr., always knowing that his father was a true American patriot and a loving parent, helped clear his father's name and bring closure to his life's journey. I can relate to Gary's pain because the crew of the USS Liberty has endured a similar fate, which still continues to this day.”—Ernest A. Gallo, president, USS Liberty Veterans Association“To most of us, Francis Gary Powers was an abstraction, a name in a history book. The same as Charlemagne, Martin Luther, or Gandhi. After Spy Pilot, we can never say that again. Powers is now a son, a husband, a father. Like all of us, he had dreams, fears, passions, courage, rage, and an overwhelming desire to make a difference. Spy Pilot is our chance to finally meet the man behind the legend.”—Vince Houghton, PhD, historian/curator, International Spy Museum“Francis Gary Powers Jr. has been a tireless and admirable advocate on behalf of the legacy of his father, U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers, as well as on the preservation of Cold War history, by establishing the Cold War Museum, and through his many speaking engagements, his meticulous collection of personal artifacts on exhibit at multiple institutions and organizations, and now the publication of this book with Keith Dunnavant. Like our father and grandfather James B. Donovan, whose both defense of Russian spy colonel Rudolf Abel and steadfast commitment to American democratic ideals and the US Constitution were unpopular at the time, Francis Gary Powers was subjected to the same national unpopularity, yet he remained true to the country both he and Donovan served: The United States of America. This book is a personal, poignant, and touching tribute to a man who loved his son and family; a new understanding of an American patriot; and a thoughtful, insightful analysis of the events linking our families together in history, for generations to come.”—Mary Ellen Donovan Fuller, Beth Amorosi, and the entire family of Cold War lawyer James B. Donovan, who was portrayed by Tom Hanks in Steven Spielberg's Bridge of Spies

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