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Managing Editor Dave Mason dmason@newspress.com
Life
F R I DAY, N OV E M B E R 5 , 2 0 21
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS-PRESS
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he Santa Barbarabased Pierre Claeyssens Veterans Foundation recently interviewed Francis Gary Powers. Jr., author of “Spy Pilot” and “Letters from a Soviet Prison.” He is also the founder and chairman emeritus of The Cold War Museum outside Washington, D.C. Mr. Powers will be the guest speaker during the foundation’s 24th annual Military Ball, set for 5 to 10 p.m. Saturday at the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort. In addition to his address, the event will feature live music, a cocktail hour, a silent auction, a three-course meal and dancing. During the veterans’ foundation interview, Mr. Powers talked about his father, Cold War “spy-turnedhero” Francis Gary Powers Sr., remembering the Cold War and its connection to the renewed importance of Veterans Day. His father, Francis Gary Powers Sr. (1929-1977), was the American pilot whose CIA Lockheed U-2 spy plane was shot down during a reconnaissance mission in Soviet airspace, which led to the 1960 U-2 incident. He later worked as a helicopter pilot for KNBC-TV in Los Angeles and died in a 1977 helicopter crash, but was honored posthumously when the fact that the U-2 mission was a military operation became declassified. The News-Press appreciates the Pierre Claeyssens Veterans Foundation presenting it with the transcript of the interview, which is being published here for the first time. PCVF: Gary, you’re the guest speaker at the 24th Annual Military Ball, sponsored by Pierre Claeyssens Veterans Foundation in Santa Barbara. The organization’s mission statement in the words of Pierre, is, “To be killed in Wars, is not the worst that can happen. To be lost is not the worst that can happen. To be forgotten is the worst.” It seems to me like that mission is very much connected to your mission as well. GPJ: That’s correct, and I never really thought of it that way, but that’s a very well-said mission statement. The purpose of The Cold War Museum is to be dedicated to education, preservation and research on the global ideological and political confrontations between East and West. From the end of World War II to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. So that is our mission: to preserve; do research on and acknowledge this time period. The vision statement for the museum is to inform the present and influence the future through an understanding of the past with exhibitions of artifacts, documents and events related to the Cold War era. Veterans are a key component of the Cold War that we are looking to honor and recognize and remember. PCVF: So your message is to let Cold War vets know that you’re one of those people that will be their voice, which is a noble endeavor; to represent these people and acknowledge that they are part of your part of living history. GPJ: Correct. I’m doing everything I can to make sure that people, especially students, are aware of what the Cold War was. Why it took place; everything that is happening in the world today as a direct result of the end of the Cold War. There are tieins to the Cold War and the war on terror, and a lot of people just don’t understand that. So, to me, it’s very important to recognize the Cold War era and specifically the veterans who served during the time period. I don’t want the Cold War veteran to be forgotten or overlooked. When it comes to Veterans Day, which is upon us, we should embrace all of our veterans, from the Revolutionary War to the present. We need to honor them; respect them; thank them for their service and make sure that our children understand how important their job is, so that we’re free here at home. PCVF: What is the topic of your presentation at the PCVF Military Ball on Saturday? GPJ: I will be talking about the Cold War, the U-2 incident. I will dispel the misinformation and help to set the record straight. I will reference the Steven Spielberg movie “Bridge of Spies” (2015) during my talk and how that also contributes to misinformation. It’s Hollywood.
VLADIMIR ZHABRIKOV PHOTO © URA.RU
Francis Gary Powers Jr. visits a Russian museum in 2017.
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
Exploring Cold War history Francis Gary Powers Jr. talks about his famous father ahead of Military Ball in Santa Barbara
FRANCIS GARY POWERS COLLECTION/NATIONAL AIR & SPACE MUSEUM
Francis Gary Powers Sr. was the pilot of a U-2 plane that went on a CIA reconnaissance mission into Soviet air space.
PCVF: Tell us about your family history which led to your interest in preserving Cold War history. GPJ: My father was shot down on May 1, 1960, spent 21 months in a Soviet prison through Feb. 10, 1962. He came home, met my Mom at the CIA headquarters where she worked; romance ensued. They were married in 1963, and I was born in June of 1965. PCVF: Your father was Francis Gary Powers Sr. who is wellknown in history as the notorious Air Force pilot who endured a dramatic series of events on behalf of the country he served. He flew secret missions over the Soviet Union during the Cold War for the U.S. government and was shot down in his U2 aircraft by the Soviet military. He was captured, deemed a spy and imprisoned for quite some time. The American people at that time, and even now, don’t know his true story, which you have told in your best-selling books, and have set the record straight on his military service and reputation. He was thought of as a double spy and persona non grata. Once he’s freed after a prisoner exchange with a Soviet spy held by the U.S, he returns to American society and was branded a traitor,
held in contempt by the public and “espionage” and not an “act of disrespected as a veteran. Tell us war.” the true backstory. Now jump forward to 1998. GPJ: This was a very unique There’s a declassification situation with my father and the conference hosted by the CIA early U2 pilots in general. All of the in the Air Force at Fort McNair U2 pilots were military personnel in Washington D.C. During that recruited from conference, it is the Air Force revealed that it to work as a was a military civilian for operation. Tickets are being sold until the CIA. And It was the 5 p.m. today for the Pierre Claeyssens in the 1950s, U.S. Air Force Veterans Foundation’s 24th annual it had to be a working handMilitary Ball. Tickets cost $175 per civilian project. person. To purchase, go to pcvf.org/ in-hand with the Eisenhower CIA for the U2 military-ball. did not want a program in the Besides a three-course meal and military person 1950s. One could dancing, the event will feature an in a military not be separated address by Francis Gary Powers Jr., plane, flying from the other. author of “Spy Pilot” and founder over a foreign Once that word, and chairman emeritus of The Cold hostile country; War Museum. For more about the “military,” was that would have museum, go to coldwar.org. declassified, and been an act of it was shown to war, provoking be a military World War III operation, that’s with the Russians. He wanted when the American military was to gather intelligence, and so he able to finally recognize my father mandated and basically ordered as a hero to our country. that the program be headed He was awarded posthumously up by the CIA. Allen Dulles, in 2000 with the POW medal and who was the director and his in 2012 with the Silver Star, but he subordinate, Richard Bissell, couldn’t be awarded that prior to oversaw the program, and it was 1998. Because at that time, it was a civilian program because it was a civilian program, and civilians
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were not entitled to those types of decorations or honors. So it took a declassification conference to finally reveal the truth that it was a military operation. PCVF: When your father came back home to the States, there was negative press about what went on. Can you shed light on how he viewed that? It must have been a very difficult situation knowing he couldn’t divulge the true story and was treated badly by his fellow citizens. GPJ: Right. Back in 1960 when my father was shot down, he was in prison for almost two years in the Soviet prison. When he came back home and was repatriated after being exchanged for Soviet spy Rudolf Abel in February of 1962, he was shocked to discover that there were negative articles written about him while he was incarcerated. There were editorials and articles, written saying that he defected, he spilled his guts and told the Soviets everything he knew or that he hadn’t followed orders. All of that was mistruths: Fake news of the time. It’s very easy for someone in America, a general, a politician, a newspaper reporter, to talk about what they think
someone should or should not have done. But only the people who served like my father know he did everything he was supposed to do, he was cleared by the CIA. When he returned home, he was exonerated by the U.S. Senate, but he was not cleared by the court of public opinion because of the negative press he received while incarcerated, which tarnished his reputation. And that’s one of the reasons I ended up doing all this research over the last 35 plus years is to find out the truth of what took place, so I could answer questions because people were curious about what my Dad did or did not do. As a result of my research, I’ve discovered many things about my Dad and the program. I have a book out called “Spy Pilot: Francis Gary Powers, The U-2 Incident, and a Controversial, Cold War Legacy,” that basically takes Dad’s reputation from infamy and controversy in the ’60s to that of an American hero today. It goes through the behind-the-scenes process as to how the American government finally awarded him with the POW Medal and the Silver Star. I started this research, not to honor my father, not to vindicate him or anything like that. All I wanted to do was to find out the truth, so I know how to answer questions, and it snowballed as a result of my research. I discovered that my Dad is very well known in the history books because he was caught spying for our country, but there are hundreds of thousands of other men and women who fought — who died during the Cold War time period — that have not been honored or recognized for their service. That’s one of the reasons I founded The Cold War Museum in 1996 — to honor veterans, preserve history and educate kids on this time period. PCVF: Your father must have had some mixed feelings about the meaning of Veterans Day after his Soviet ordeal and the negative aftermath once he was back home. GPJ: My Dad’s reputation was tarnished because of the fake news and the misinformation of the time, but he had a very good head on his shoulders, and he didn’t let that bother him and he didn’t let it get under his skin. He didn’t allow it to negatively impact his life. He knew that what he did was the right thing to do. Under the circumstances he found himself in he often would say that he do the exact same things again, given the exact same set of circumstances. He continued to be a pilot; he continued to do what he loved to do, which was flying airplanes, first for Lockheed as a test pilot upon his return home. PCVF: Were your Dad’s military benefits and career path negatively affected by the U2 incident? GPJ: My Dad served seven years in the Air Force. He served seven years with the CIA, and he served seven years with Lockheed. Lockheed was a civilian contractor. So he wasn’t a government employee per se. So that does not add up to 20 years of military service. Even though he was shot down, imprisoned (for 21 months), then exchanged for a Soviet spy, he did not have enough total time in the military to draw a pension. He did not have PX privileges. He did not have VA Privileges, and that’s one of the things that I was hoping to do, to right the wrong. But again, his military service once everything was counted with only 14 years. And so, my Dad got the short end of the stick by our government at the time, basically, in that he was not allowed to go back in the military. He was not allowed or able to retire in eight more years from the military, and he lost out on the military retirement package. Eventually, back in 1970, and I’ll get into this during my talk, there was a retirement package provided to my father in lieu of an Air Force retirement, but it had to go through legal channels, to be negotiated, and it was a secret nondisclosure agreement that needed to be signed, and only in 2017 was it declassified. PCVF: Do you recall anything your Dad shared with you about how veterans were thought of back in the ’60s? During the Vietnam War, vets and those actively serving were not respected for their military service by some people. There was a lot of negativity toward people who had served at least, you Please see POWERS on B2