Mayday: Eisenhower, Khrushchev, and the U-2 Affair

 

Mayday: Eisenhower, Khrushchev, and the U-2 Affair – by Michael Beschloss

My guess is that the majority of people might only be vaguely familiar with the failed U-2 flight over Russia in 1960.  I would further venture that more people are more familiar with the Irish Rock band than they are with the event that gave the band their moniker.  This book is a good (great, actually) place to learn more about not only the tragic incident, but the many “before and afters” of the affair as well.

Author Michael Beschloss is slowly starting to become one of my favorites.  This is his second book that he wrote.  I’ve also read his first (about the relationship of Joseph Kennedy and FDR) as well as his third (between JFK and Khrushchev).   His first book was only “pretty good”, but his third was outstanding, as was this one, his second.  What I would recommend though, is for the curious reader to read THIS one before the third one.  In many ways the stories are sequential.  There is a lot of Khrushchev in this book, as it details his relationship with President Eisenhower.  The third offering by Beschloss details Khrushchev’s somewhat tumultuous relationship with Ike’s successor, so it’s probably better to read these two accounts back to back as they happened (and as they were written).

The “U-2” portion of this book isn’t really told in quite as much detail as one might think.  Yes, we read an awful lot about the mission, but the focus of this book is more geared towards the Eisenhower-Khrushchev relationship during the 1950s, and how the downed U-2 served as a catalyst that caused the relationship between the two world leaders to quickly go sour.

For those who might not be too familiar, the U-2 spy plane was a CIA project where planes could fly over “enemy” territory at extremely high altitudes and yet take incredibly detailed photographs of the terrain.  The CIA assured President Eisenhower that if a U-2 plane was ever shot down, there was simply no way that the pilot could survive, so an elaborate cover story could be doctored without the offended country knowing our true intentions.  Well, guess what?  The CIA was wrong.  In May of 1960, a plane was shot down over Russia and the pilot did, in fact, survive.  Although it was never really said out loud, the bulk of the high brass in the U.S. felt that the pilot should have ended his life as opposed to being captured (an elaborate cyanide pill was issued to the U-2 pilots).

Once the Russians had a live prisoner, they could easily see past the U.S. ruse, and the tensions rapidly escalated.  Again, the actual flight is only a small part of the story.  What Beschloss does is give us elaborate backgrounds of not only the development of the ingenious spy plane, but also the details of the relationship between Eisenhower and Khrushchev in the post-war environment.  We read a detailed account of the Russian leader’s visit to the U.S. shortly before the U-2 event happened.  We then read about the proposed “next steps” – a summit in Paris and a reciprocated visit by Ike to Moscow.  Shortly after the plane is downed, though, the plans abruptly change. The summit in Paris does occur, but it’s a fiasco.  Khrushchev demands that Eisenhower apologize.  Eisenhower refuses, so the world leaders throw temper tantrums.  Why should Ike apologize?   Countries spy on each other all the time. Right?  The author seems to suggest that Khrushchev agrees with this assessment to an extent, but within the fragile leadership circles of Communist Russia, Khrushchev must save face.  If he isn’t tough enough on the enemy, who’s to say how long his time at the top will actually be?

So, yes, there’s a LOT of politics in this book. A lot of speculation. A lot of Monday Morning Quarterbacking. And on and on.   It’s all a fascinating read, though.  I was rarely ever bored.  It was great to read a lot of the pontificating on “what could have happened if….”   The author does a masterful job of “jumping around” and focusing on the many different aspects of the story without the reader feeling confused, lost, or somewhat cheated.  Example: after we read of the downed plane and the pilot (Francis Powers) being captured, we then shift gears and the author tells a tremendously detailed back story about the building of the plane, and then the detailed relationship of the two countries.  For a while, I completely forgot about the imprisoned pilot, yet didn’t really care since wherever the author took me, I enjoyed the ride.

A couple minor gripes about the book.  The last chapter that was titled something like “Who Killed Detente?” seemed unnecessary.  It seemed like a “Cliffs Notes” of all the events that we had already read about in previous chapters, and it was a bit of a slog. (Although the Epilogue of the book was a welcome read as it basically told us “Where are they now?”)  Another gripe (and this is true for all the books that I’ve read by this author) is that he’s far too stingy when it comes to illustrations.  A book like this calls for a massive supplement of pictures and images, yet there are only a very small handful. And NONE of the pilot himself!!  Fortunately, modern readers can do a Google search when their curiosity is aroused.

This was a great book, that also serves as a wonderful partner to the author’s follow-up work which essentially details the ongoing relationship Khrushchev and the American leaders.  These two books are excellent resources if one wants to better understand the post-war relationship between the two superpowers when Nikita Khrushchev was in power in the USSR and was calling the shots.