The_Info_Web/40 - EVENTS/INTELLIGENCE_SCANDALS/U-2 Incident.md

title	aliases	created	updated	category	tags	summary	start	location
U-2 Incident	U-2 Incident U-2 Affair Powers Incident	2026-05-17	2026-05-17	Intelligence Scandal	Event ColdWar Espionage 1960s	1960 shooting down of an American U-2 spy plane over the Soviet Union, causing a major diplomatic crisis and collapse of the Paris Summit.	1960-05-01	Soviet Union

The U-2 Spy Plane Incident refers to the shooting down of an American U-2 spy plane over the Soviet Union on May 1, 1960. The incident, involving pilot Gary Francis Powers, caused a major international crisis and led to the ruin of Dwight D. Eisenhower's Paris summit meeting scheduled for a few weeks later. It also prompted Eisenhower to order an end to all reconnaissance flights over Russia.¹

Footnotes

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1. Hersh, Seymour M. The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy. Random House, 1991. Chapter 4, 6. ↩︎