Download Treaty The Spy Plane Incident

Space Race and U-2 Incident
Introduction
• Beginning in the late 1950’s, the US and
Soviets competed for influence in the
skies. Once the superpowers had ICBM’s
to deliver nuclear warheads and aircraft for
spy missions, they both began to develop
space technology.
The Space Race
• The Cold war affected science and
education programs of the two countries.
• The soviets announced the development
of the ICBM in August of 1957.
• They used this to push Sputnik I into
space on October 4, 1957. It made the
American’s nervous, because they felt as
though they had fallen behind in science
and technology.
• By January 1958, the Americans had launched
their own satellite.
• 1961 – Alan Shepard becomes the first
American in space.
July 20, 1969, the US
puts human beings
on the moon. Buzz
Aldrin claims this as
“one small step for
man… One giant
leap for mankind.”
U.S.-Soviet Relations
Geneva Summit and the “Open Skies” Treaty
• Americans and Soviets met in Geneva, Switzerland, for a
summit meeting in 1955.
• Eisenhower proposed an “open skies” treaty that would allow
each side to fly over the other’s territory to learn more about
its military abilities.
• The Soviets rejected the proposal. U.S. believed in it.
The Spy Plane Incident
• Eisenhower wanted to gain information about the Soviet
military. Remain ahead of the Soviets in military power.
• On May 1, 1960 the Soviets shot down an American U-2 spy
plane sent into the Soviet Union to photograph their military
facilities.
Dwight Eisenhower, decided to take a decisive step
towards ending the Cold War by arranging a summit
meeting with Nikita Khrushchev. He agreed to meet in Paris
on 16th May, 1960.
On 1st May, 1960, a high-altitude American photographic
reconnaissance aircraft, a Lockheed U-2, was shot down
over the Soviet Union and the pilot, Gary Powers, was taken
prisoner.
On the afternoon of May 1st, when Eisenhower was
informed that contact had been lost with the U2, and that
the plane was probably lost, a cover story was devised to be
disseminated to the American people through the media,
which stated that the lost plane was a joint NASA-U.S Air
Force weather service mission which had gone down in a
lake somewhere in Turkey.
U2 Incident – May 1, 1960
Gary Francis Powers
U2 pilot – employed by the CIA
•However four days later, on May 5th, in a speech to the Supreme
Soviet, Khruschev announced that the Soviet military had shot down
the American spy plane and captured the pilot.
•Eisenhower, on receiving the news from Allan Dulles, then met with
his top advisors on the U2 spy program, and devised a second cover
story that would harmonize with the first failed cover story.
•After Eisenhower announced an 'investigation' into the incident, it
was stated that it was possible that the weather plane might have
wandered accidentally into Soviet air space, after the pilot had
problems with his oxygen equipment.
•To bolster the cover story, a U2 spy plane was quickly painted in the
colors of NASA and then paraded before the press on May 6th.
Lockheed U2 Dragon Lady
Purpose: High altitude reconnaissance
Ceiling: 70,000 ft plus (over15 miles) Soviet interceptors had a ceiling of 50,000 feet
Soviets had just developed SAMS capable of reaching 65,000 feet
(not very accurate at that altitude)
Range: 3,500 miles
Originally used by the CIA – authorized by Eisenhower to spy on the
Soviet military
U-2 flights and the U-2 planes themselves
were top secret. U.S. officials did not want
anyone to know that the country had this
kind of technology.
*Khrushchev announced to the world what had
happened and demanded a full apology from the
United States government. President Eisenhower
refuses. However, he argued that the United States
government had the right to protect its security by
collecting the maximum of information about Soviet
military strength.
*On 15th May Nikita Khrushchev made
another appeal to Dwight Eisenhower
to apologize for carrying out aerial
spying on the Soviet Union. When he
refused, the Soviet delegation left
Paris and the summit meeting never
took place. Hopes for peace were
shattered.
Flight Path of U2 – Major Gary
Powers
At this time the American government was
unaware that the pilot was in Soviet custody and
Khrushchev waited almost a week to allow the
American cover story to spread before
embarrassing the White House by announcing to
the world the capture of the pilot and showing
images from the rolls of film, as well as
information that revealed that plane had never
been anywhere near Turkey, but that rather the
flight originated in Pakistan and its end
destination was Norway. Eisenhower then held a
press conference where he in effect admitted to
the cover up and stated that as long as two
powers were in conflict there would be espionage,
and that, while he did not want to be alarmist or
overly dramatic, nevertheless Americans should
never forget the lessons of Pearl Harbor..
“Truth is the first casualty of warfare.”
What does this statement mean?
Is it permissible for the President of the U.S. to
lie to the American people?
What is the cartoon depicting? Give the cartoon a title.
Positive Results
• The Space Race developed out of the
Cold War superpowers’ search for military
dominance. In reality, however, the skies
have provided an opportunity for the
United States and the Soviet Union, and
now Russia, to learn to cooperate and
peacefully coexist.
Today - ISS
• Today, the US astronauts and Russian
cosmonauts work together in a joint Space
Station effort.
• The International Space Station (ISS) was begun
in 1998 and will most likely be complete by 2011.
It is supposed to be in use until at least 2015 and
most likely 2020. It can even be seen from Earth.
• The ISS is home of many scientific efforts,
including biology efforts, physics, astronomy,
and meteorology.
• Operated as a joint project between the
five participant space agencies, the
station's sections are controlled by
mission control centers on the ground
operated by NASA, the European Space
Agency (ESA), the Russian Federal
Space Agency (RKA), the Japan
Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
It is owned through treaties and
agreements of the above agencies.
• It is believed to be the most expensive
object ever constructed, with costs
ranging somewhere around 160 billion
dollars.
Is it worth it?
• Do you believe that an expenditure of this
magnitude is justified? Why or why not?
• If you worked for these agencies, what
would you like to see us get out of a
program like this?
• Several spacecraft have landed on Mars in
the last 15 years. What could be some
reasons for exploring this planet?