History Paper about : U-2 Incident - Essay Example

U-2 Incident After the consequences of World War II, development of atomic weapons and airplanes became one of the most important objectives of the Soviet Union, which were successfully accomplished by the Soviets.1 In addition, the Soviet Union was successful in the development of missiles for the delivery of the atomic weapons to any base around the globe. Such development of atomic weapons and missiles was a kind of threat for the United States, as it was involved in the War against communism at that time, and most of the war related policies of President Eisenhower were against the Soviet Union.

2 On the other hand, the Soviet Union was busy in developing plans for weakening the American democracy by the destruction of civil liberties in the country, in order to allow the establishment of communist states around the globe, which was possible only with the weakened economy of the United States.3 In response, intentions of Soviets were investigated in a spying manner by the U.S. President, and the deployment of atomic weapons was an imperative task to avoid any human and material losses on the soil of the United States.

In addition, it was expected that a nuclear strike would be utilized for destroying the United States by some Soviet leaders. In this regard, it was very imperative that specific intentions of enemy, as well as, its military deployments should be detected by the United States by any means.4By the year 1960, SAM missiles were developed by the Soviets that were able to cross the height of sixty-five thousand feet. According to some reports, accuracy was not considered at the time of development of such missiles.

Still, a number of risks were present that may destroy the U-2 plane at the time of spying in the Soviet airspace. However, such threat was not discussed or shared with the high security officials of the United States military, as well as, the President Eisenhower. At the months past, security and military advisors requested the U.S President to approve more U-2 flights, as they were successful in their missions on the Soviet soil in the past. Deployment of first generation of ICBM missiles was expected, and therefore, the military commanders once again requested the authorization of U-2 flights, which could provide enough data to avoid and defend in times of any war.

5At this time, significance of the required information was appreciated by the U.S. President who allowed few more flights of U-2 airplane in the month of April 1960. Subsequently, first flight performed its mission on April 9, 1960 that was successful and provided great results. According to the expectations of Central Intelligence Agency of the United States, the flight was not detected by the Soviet Union. The second flight was scheduled a week later, which was delayed due to weather problems.

6 However, on restoration of weather conditions, the U-2 plane was launched by the CIA from the Peshawar secret base in Pakistan on May 1, 1960. Francis Gary Powers was the pilot of plane with the mission. On May 2, 1960, news of shooting down of an American spy plane was announced by Khrushchev. It was announced that plane was shot down when it was flying above Sverdlovsk, a part of the central Russia. 7In response, a press release was issued by the White House, and announced that the U-2 plane was flying for weather research reasons, and was not sent for the spying purpose.

In addition, the American officials publicized that the pilot was having some oxygen problems that may have brought him down to unconsciousness, and incidentally, the plane went into the Russian airspace.8 Such declaration was issued by the White House, as they expected that pilot was not caught by the Soviet forces. However, capturing of the pilot was announced two days later by Khrushchev, which created a number of conspiracies, as parts of the plane was displayed by Soviet officials that included the spying gadgets, cameras, etc.

In retaliation, this U-2 flight was considered as an American act of violation.9At that point, no more lies were published by the U.S officials, and the U.S. President accepted his authorization for a number of U-2 flights on the Russian soil for a period of three years, which were arranged for protecting the country from a surprise nuclear attack from the Soviet Union.10 Due to the acceptance, the summit meeting in Paris that was organized for a nuclear test ban treaty was closed after a few minutes of its opening, as the U.

S President defined this act as an act of defense of his country, which was applauded and appreciated by the American press, as well as, the American people. It is hoped that this paper will be beneficial for the students, teachers, experts, and nonprofessionals in the better understanding of U-2 Incident.Works Cited Anthony O. Edmonds. Eisenhower, Macmillan, and Allied Unity, 1957-1961. Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. Council on Foreign Relations. The United States in World Affairs. Simon and Schuster, 1971.

Curt Gentry. Operation Overflight: a Memoir of the U-2 Incident. Brassey’s, 2003. Deborah Welch Larson. Anatomy of Mistrust. Cornell University Press, 1997. Fred J. Cook. The U-2 Incident, May 1960. F. Watts, 1973. John Kish. International Law and Espionage. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1995. John L. Loos. Great Events from History. Salem Press, 1997. Michael R. Beschloss. Mayday. Harper & Row, 1986. Nigel West. Seven Spies who Changed the World. Secker & Warburg, 1991. Sergei N. Khrushchev.

Nikita Khrushchev and the Creation of a Superpower. Penn State Press, 2000.Word Count: 803 WordsChecked by Turnitin.com & Copyscape.com