jan 1, 1960 - U-2 Incident

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The U-2 Incident of 1960 was a pivotal moment in the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. It involved the downing of an American U-2 spy plane over Soviet territory and led to a major diplomatic crisis between the two powers. On May 1, 1960, Francis Gary Powers, a pilot for the United States CIA, took off in a U-2 spy plane from a base in Pakistan with the mission of gathering intelligence about Soviet military installations. While flying over Soviet territory, Powers' plane was detected by Soviet radar and shot down by a surface-to-air missile. Powers survived the crash and was captured by the Soviet Union.
The U.S. initially denied the true purpose of the plane, claiming it was a weather research aircraft that had strayed off course. However, the Soviet Union produced evidence to the contrary, including the intact U-2 plane and Powers' confession. The incident caused a major embarrassment for the U.S. and President Eisenhower, who was in the midst of a re-election campaign.
The fallout from the U-2 Incident included the cancellation of a planned summit between Eisenhower and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, a heightening of tensions between the U.S. and Soviet Union, and an increased focus on developing spy satellites for intelligence gathering. It also led to the exchange of Powers for a Soviet spy in a dramatic prisoner swap two years later. Overall, the U-2 Incident served as a reminder of the high stakes and risks of Cold War espionage.

U-2 Spy Incident - History. https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/u2-spy-incident.

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