On
May 1, 1960, while flying a CIA reconnaissance mission in
a U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, Gary Powers was shot down over
the Soviet Union. Although he parachuted to safety, Powers
and his plane wreckage were captured. Soviet Premier Nikita
Khrushchev accused the United States of spying. The international
turmoil resulted in the cancellation of a summit meeting scheduled
between President Eisenhower and the premier.
The incident only increased the tension between the two countries at the height of the Cold War. Following the accusations of spying, U.N. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge revealed the fact that the Soviets had been spying on the U.S. ambassadors in Moscow since 1945 using a microphone hidden inside a copy of the Great Seal of the United States. After its discovery in 1952, the CIA and National Security Agency examined the Great Seal and found that it was a very effective listening device.
The National Cryptologic Museum has the only piece of Gary Powers’ aircraft on display in the United States. It was given to the museum by the Armed Forces Museum in Moscow where the plane’s wreckage is exhibited.