Letters from a Soviet Prison: The Personal Journal and Correspondence of CIA U-2 Pilot Francis Gary Powers | Brown Bag Lecture with Franis Gary Powers Jr.
Monday, October 29, 2018 - 8:30am to 9:30am
Many will recall the Cold War incident when CIA U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers was shot down in the midst of the Cold War on May 1, 1960, while flying in Soviet airspace. Following his capture he was tried for espionage and then served nearly two years in a Soviet prison, until eventually exchanged for a senior KGB spy. Powers' son, Francis Gary Powers, Jr.'s will give a Brown Bag lecture covering the Cold War, the U-2 incident, the controversy that surrounded his father, the Spielberg movie, Bridge of Spies, and the work of the Powers family to set his record straight. Much of the story is told through his father's journal and letters written and received during his time of captivity. The senior Powers was a graduate of Milligan College in Elizabethton, Tennessee.
Books will be available for purchasing and signing following the lecture. Interestingly, the preface to the book, Letters from a Soviet Prison, is by Professor Sergei Khrushchev, son of former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev.
The program is presented by the East Tennessee Historical Society and is free and open to the public. The lecture will begin at 12:30 p.m., Monday, October 29, at the East Tennessee History Center, 601 S. Gay Street, Knoxville.