Tag: 1960

todaysdocument: U-2 cover story Dated May 2, 1960, this cover story was drafted to conceal the actual mission of the U-2 spy plane which was shot down over Soviet air space on May 1, 1960.  Much of the U-2’s wreckage was recovered by the Soviets, and its pilot, Captain Francis Gary Powers, captured alive, even though President Eisenhower was told that the U-2 spy plane had a self-destruct mechanism that would prevent them from discovering its true purpose.  More on the U-2 Incident via the Eisenhower Presidential Library »