Letters From a Soviet Prison and Private Correspondence of CIA U-2 Pilot Francis Gary Powers   

Francis Gary Powers Sr. was a CIA U-2 pilot who was shot down in the midst of the Cold War, on May 1, 1960, while flying in Soviet airspace. After his capture, he was tried for espionage and then served nearly two years in a Soviet prison until his eventual release in exchange for Soviet Colonel Rudolf Abel, a senior KGB spy who was caught in the United States in the late 1950s. During this program Francis Gary Powers Jr. will talk about his father's letters to and from prison as well as the journal he kept while incarcerated. Reading excepts from this primary source document, Gary will explain what it was like for his father to be shot down over the Soviet Union, interrogated by the KGB, and ultimately exchanged for a Soviet spy.

Note: This program will focus on the individual book, but will have some overlap with Spy Pilot: Francis Gary Powers, the U-2 Incident, and a Controversial Cold War Legacy.