Frontiers in History Ideas from the National Archives for NHD
2001 Resources at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library
The U-2 Spy Plane Incident At the height of the "cold war," as
critics of the Eisenhower administration complained about the
growing "missile gap," the United States secretly gathered data
on Soviet missile capabilities through photographs obtained from
U-2 reconnaissance plane overflights of the Soviet Union. In May
1960, plans were finalized for a crucial Paris summit conference
between western nations and leaders of the Soviet Union with
disarmament to be the main focus. Hopes for a successful summit
were dashed when on May 1, May Day, an American U-2 spy plane
piloted by Francis Gary Powers was shot down over Soviet air
space. On the first day of the Paris summit, Soviet Premier
Nikita Khrushchev stormed out after delivering a condemnation of
U.S. spy activities. Manuscript materials, photographs, and a
listing of relevant collections on this topic are available
through the Eisenho