The U2 crisis, 1960 |
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Links:
About.com
site (very good)
Detailed
account
Avalon
project: documents
Spidergram:
•
The
U2 incident
Podcast:
- Giles Hill on
the U2 crisis
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Background
After
1957, tension grew between Russia and America:
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Russia’s
Sputnik satellite (1957) and space orbit (1961) gave them a
psychological advantage. Many
Americans believed America
was in danger.
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In
1959, the Communist
Fidel Castro took power in Cuba, right next to
America. In 1960,
he made a trade agreement with Russia.
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Communist
China was very aggressive.
When Khrushchev visited America in 1959, the Chinese accused
him of going soft; this made Khrushchev demand that America withdraw
from West Berlin
A
summit was planned for May 1960 to discuss Berlin and nuclear weapons.
The American President Eisenhower wanted an 'open skies' agreement - that
Russia and America would let spy planes fly over each other's countries,
so that they could be assured the other wasn't preparing for
war. Khrushchev refused - but Eisenhower did so anyway.
Events
On
5 May 1960 – just 9 days before the summit – the Russians announced that
they had shot down an
American U2 spy-plane on 1 May.
At first, the Americans tried to claim that it was a weather-plane
that had gone off-course. However,
the Russians put the pilot Gary Powers on trial for spying, and it was
clear that he was not a weather-man. The
Americans admitted it was a spy-plane.
Source A
Wreckage of Powers's U2 plane on
display at the Central Army Museum in Moscow
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Did
you know?
When
American Vice-President Nixon visited
Russia in 1959, he was taken round an exhibition at the US Trade Fair.
At the kitchen display, he and Khrushchev had a public argument -
the so-called 'Kitchen
Debate' - about which was
better: Communism or capitalism.
Did
you know?
Eisenhower gave his memoirs of his
time as President 1956-1961 the title: Waging Peace.
It reveals his belief that America had to take an aggressive role in the
Cold War during these years.
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The results were:
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Paris
summit ruined; Cold War continues.
The
summit met at Paris on 14 May 1960. Khrushchev
refused to take part in the talks unless the Americans apologised and
cancelled all future spy-flights.
President
Eisenhower agreed to cancel the spy-flights, but would not apologise –
so
Khrushchev went home; the Paris Summit collapsed.
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Eisenhower’s
planned visit to Russia cancelled.
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Khrushchev
and the Russians grew in confidence.
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Americans
became angry with Eisenhower, who they said was losing the Cold War. After the U2 incident, America became more aggressive.
They elected John F
Kennedy, who promised to be much tougher on communism.
Source B
Let
every nation know that we shall pay any price, bear and burden, meet any
hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, for the survival and
success of freedom.
Now
the trumpet calls again . . . against the enemies of man: tyranny,
poverty, disease and war. Ask
not what your country can do for you: ask what you can do for your
country.
Inaugural
speech of President Kennedy, 1961.
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Did
you know?
During the Cold War, the Americans
rated their intelligence information according to to two standards:
reliability (A-D) and accuracy (1-4). Very rarely was their
information A1(impeccably
reliable and irrefutably accurate); it was usually C3 (usually reliable
and possibly accurate).
GCSE
pupils asked to evaluate a piece of evidence might bear this system in
mind!!!
To
Think About:
Discuss why the U2 incident came at a bad time
for the Americans.
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