Approved for Release: 2013/06/25
Secret NOFORN
Chapter 5
195
5
U-2 Operations After
May 1960
The loss of Francis Gary Powers’ U-2 over the Soviet Union on 1 May 1960 marked the end of the aircraft’s use over the Soviet Bloc. Soon after the May Day incident, President Eisenhower ordered an end to overflights. Similarly, his successor, John F. Kennedy, told a 25 January 1961 press conference, “I have ordered that the flights not be resumed, which is a continuation of the order given by President Eisenhower in May of last year.” This was not a binding pledge, as John A. McCone (who became DCI in November 1961) pointed out to President Kennedy’s successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, on 15 January 1964 in response to the new President’s request for information on U-2 overflight policies:
> Contrary to popular assumption, President Kennedy did not make any pledge or give an assurance, at least publicly, that there would be no further overflights. He limited his response to a statement that he had ordered that the flights not be resumed. An order, obviously, is valid only until countermanded.¹
Technically, McCone was correct, but no President was likely to order a resumption of overflights of the Soviet Union without very good reason, and such a situation never developed, in part because satellite photography gradually began to fill the gap left by the end of U-2 coverage.
Although there were several proposals to resume overflights of the Soviet Union in the years that followed, none reached the mission planning stage. The Kennedy administration came closest to resuming
---
¹ Memorandum for President Johnson from DCI McCone, “Response to Query Concerning U-2 Overflight Policy,” 15 January 1964, DCI records, job 80-B-1676R, box 17, folder 14 (TS Codeword).
Secret
Approved for Release: 2013/06/25