Fallout
Page 23
U-2 details and challenges: Whittell, Bridge of Spies, 59; F. G. Powers, Operation Overflight, 33–35; Reel, Brotherhood of Spies, 95–96.
“Why do you have to go”: F. G. Powers Jr., Spy Pilot, 49.
Eisenhower’s mixed feelings on U-2: Beschloss, Mayday, 6; Reel, Brotherhood of Spies, 102.
Soviet reaction to first overflight: Reel, Brotherhood of Spies, 118; S. Khrushchev, “Day We Shot Down the U-2.”
Khrushchev’s love of proverbs: Sergei Khrushchev describes this and refers to many of his father’s favorites throughout his book Nikita Khrushchev; every Khrushchev biography covers this, including Taubman, Khrushchev.
We Will Bury You
“Most of these are still in progress:” Bernikov, Abel, 11; Silverman, “Spy Who Duped My Dad.”
“Whether you like it or not”: “Ambassadors Walk Out: Protest at Speech by Mr. Khrushchev,” Times (London), November 19, 1956, in Whittell, Bridge of Spies, 44; Reeves, President Kennedy, 37.
Abel’s frustrations with Hayhanen: Gibney, “Russian Master Spy,” 126; Whittell, Bridge of Spies, 29–30.
“I’m an officer in the Soviet intelligence service”: FBI Rudolf Abel case file 15, p. 5.
Abel arrest scene: FBI Rudolf Abel case file 6, pp. 38–46; Whittell, Bridge of Spies, 93–94.
59“WE CONGRATULATE YOU”: Lamphere, FBI-KGB War, 274.
Headlines: “Brooklyn Artist Arrested as Red Spy,” Santa Cruz (CA) Sentinel, August 7, 1957; “Top Russian Spy Caught,” Corpus Christi (TX) Times, August 7, 1957; “U.S. Unmasks Master Spy,” Vancouver (BC) Sun, August 7, 1957.
“Ladies and gentlemen”: Reel, Brotherhood of Spies, 145.
“America sleeps under a Soviet moon”: “Yuri Gagarin: The Man Who Fell to Earth,” Independent (London), April 3, 2011.
Abel’s trial and conviction: See J. Donovan, Strangers, 115–265, for full coverage of trial, including testimony; Whittell, Bridge of Spies, 101–3.
“This is an offense directed at our very existence”: Whittell, Bridge of Spies, 108.
Barbara Powers was lonely: B. Powers, Spy Wife, 26.
Man or Monster?
“I might as well tell you”: B. Powers, Spy Wife, 27–28.
“There she is, the U-2!”: B. Powers, Spy Wife, 60.
L-pill described: Reel, Brotherhood of Spies, 106; Whittell, Bridge of Spies, 69.
“Khrushchev: Man or Monster?”: This series of articles ran in the New York Daily News, September 8–12, 1959.
Khrushchev in America: The American Experience film Cold War Roadshow, first aired in 2014, covers this story, with extensive footage of the visit; also Carlson, “Nikita Khrushchev Goes to Hollywood”; Taubman, Khrushchev, 424–35.
“Just now, I was told that I could not go”: Carlson, “Nikita Khrushchev Goes to Hollywood.”
Khrushchev and Eisenhower at Camp David: Taubman, Khrushchev, 435–38; N. Khrushchev, Khrushchev Remembers, 519; Reel, Brotherhood of Spies, 160.
Eisenhower continues overflights: Beschloss, Mayday, 9.
Hollow Coin #2
Powers gets the hollow silver dollar: F. G. Powers, Operation Overflight, 70–71.
“What if something happens”: F. G. Powers, 72.
Powers describes his May 1 flight: F. G. Powers, 74–84.
Khrushchev gets news of overflight: S. Khrushchev, Nikita Khrushchev, 369; Taubman, Khrushchev, 442.
“They’ve flown over us, again”: S. Khrushchev, “Day We Shot Down the U-2”; S. Khrushchev, Nikita Khrushchev, 369; Taubman, Khrushchev, 443.
“My God!” and shoot-down details: F. G. Powers, Operation Overflight, 84–90.
May Day parade: Taubman, Khrushchev, 446; F. G. Powers Jr., Spy Pilot, 71; Associated Press, “Millions Attend May Day Fetes,” Los Angeles Times, May 2, 1960.
Zugzwang
Eisenhower at Camp David on May 1: Beschloss, Mayday, 33; Reel, Brotherhood of Spies, 186.
“One of our reconnaissance planes”: Beschloss, Mayday, 34.
“It would be impossible, if things should go wrong”: Reel, Brotherhood of Spies, 107.
Khrushchev’s family home: Dobbs, One Minute to Midnight, 33; Sergei Khrushchev also described this home to me in a phone interview, May 7, 2020.
“Mr. President, I have received word”: Beschloss, Mayday, 37.
“The most powerful weapon in chess”: Chernev, 200 Brilliant Endgames, 59.
Khrushchev lays his trap: Zubok and Pleshakov, Inside the Kremlin’s Cold War, 203.
Khrushchev visits trade fair: Associated Press, “Khrushchev Rings the Bell with a Rifle Shot,” Los Angeles Times, May 4, 1960; “Khrushchev Fires a Rifle and Barbs,” New York Times, May 4, 1960.
Operation Alert, New York City details: Garrison, Bracing for Armageddon, 26; Reel, Brotherhood of Spies, 3–6; Peter Kihss, “Nation Takes Cover in Air-Raid Alert,” New York Times, May 4, 1960; Peter Kihss, “Governor Thanks Workers in Alert,” New York Times, May 5, 1960; “Civil Defense Drill Briefly Halts Business and Baseball,” Wall Street Journal, May 4, 1960.
President Eisenhower’s phony cover story: United Press International, “AF Searching for Lost Plane,” Miami News, May 4, 1960.
Alive and Kicking
“Comrade Deputies, I must report to you”: Beschloss, Mayday, 43.
“Correct! Correct!” and other responses from officials: Beschloss, Mayday, 44; Union of Soviet Journalists, Aggressors Must Be Sent to the Pillory: The Truth About the Provocative Intrusion of the American Plane in the Air Space of the USSR (Moscow, 1960), 2, in “Soviet Version of the U-2 Incident,” CIA, June 9, 1960, cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP80T00246A074400420001-9.pd.CIA report.
“Where’s my husband?”: B. Powers, Spy Wife, 67.
Operation Alert 1960, White House details: Reel, Brotherhood of Spies, 7; Graff, Raven Rock, 90.
“I am not sure whether I would really want to be living”: Graff, Raven Rock, 86.
Mount Weather details: Reel, Brotherhood of Spies, 7–8; Graff, Raven Rock, 86; George, Awaiting Armageddon, 45; Gup, “Civil Defense Doomsday Hideaway.”
“It is entirely possible”: Reel, Brotherhood of Spies, 191.
“Comrades, I must let you in on a secret”: Beschloss, Mayday, 58.
Center Stage
“Unbelievable”: Beschloss, Mayday, 65.
“Why should I bother answering”: F. G. Powers, Operation Overflight, 134.
“But they’re in Russian”: F. G. Powers, 128.
Khrushchev meets the student: “Strolling Russian Greets Parisians,” New York Times, May 17, 1960.
“We are gathered here for the Summit”: Taubman, Khrushchev, 462.
“President de Gaulle, Prime Minister Macmillan”: “Texts of Khrushchev and Eisenhower Statements on Summit and the Plane Case,” New York Times, May 17, 1960.
“I’m just fed up!”: Beschloss, Mayday, 290.
“If you boo us and attack us”: Flanner, Letter from Paris, 150; Beschloss, Mayday, 299; Pravda, May 19, 1960, in Taubman, Khrushchev, 466.
“Tonight I want to talk with you”: Dwight D. Eisenhower, “Radio and Television Report to the American People on the Events in Paris,” May 25, 1960, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, audio, 28:02 mins., eisenhowerlibrary.gov/eisenhowers/speeches.
Powers Moscow trial: F. G. Powers, Operation Overflight, 163–96; B. Powers, Spy Wife, 99–106.
Little Boy Blue
“Drop dead, you scum!”: Beschloss, Mayday, 338.
“Roses are red”: Taubman, Khrushchev, 474.
Castro-Khrushchev meeting: Szulc, Fidel, 526–27; Fursenko and Naftali, “One Hell of a Gamble,” 60; S. Khrushchev, Nikita Khrushchev, 411.
Castro at the U.N.: Anita Ehrman, “U.S. Plans Attack, Castro Charges,” San Francisco Examiner, September 27, 1960; Peter Wallenberg, “Castro Heaps Abuse on Nixon, Kennedy,” Daily News (New York), September 27, 1960; “What Is the Longest Speech Given at the United Nations?,” Dag Hammarskjöld Library, United Nations, Oct. 15, 2019, as
k.un.org/friendly.php?slug=faq/37127.
The CIA and Johnny Rosselli: Details of the assassination plot can be found in the agency’s “Family Jewels” file—seriously, that’s what the agency called it. In 1973, the CIA director ordered employees to tell him about all agency activities, current or past, that might be illegal. The full seven-hundred-page collection of agency misdeeds was declassified and released in 2007. The document can be downloaded from the CIA Library, cia.gov/library/readingroom/collection/family-jewels. Searchable files can be found at the National Security Archive, nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB222/.
“The Soviets have made a spectacle”: Beschloss, Mayday, 339.
“kind of man Mr. Khrushchev”: Associated Press, “Economic Proposals Attacked: Republican Talks in Pennsylvania,” Charlotte (NC) Observer, October 25, 1960.
“As we Russians say”: Kempe, Berlin, 37.
“the deciding ballot”: Beschloss, Mayday, 341.
“that young whippersnapper” and “Little Boy Blue”: Reeves, President Kennedy, 22.
“It’s a high-stakes poker game”: Reeves, President Kennedy, 32.
Nuclear football details: Rasenberger, Brilliant Disaster, 108; Kempe, Berlin, 49; Dobbs, “Real Story of the ‘Football.’”
“Watch this”: Reeves, President Kennedy, 30; “Kennedy Given Example of Fast Helicopter Service,” Washington Post, January 20, 1961.
Francis Gary Powers’s life in prison: F. G. Powers, Operation Overflight, 208–28.
Barbara Powers’s life in Georgia: B. Powers, Spy Wife, 117–18.
Rudolf Abel’s life in prison: Bernikov, Abel, 248.
Reino Hayhanen’s life in hiding: Bernikov, Abel, 246.
Jimmy Bozart details: Jim Dwyer, “Sidelight to a Spy Saga: How a Brooklyn Newsboy’s Nickel Would Turn into a Fortune,” New York Times, November 3, 2015.
Rosselli’s team: Server, Handsome Johnny, 319–86, covers the plot in great detail.
“No easy matters will ever come to you”: Reeves, President Kennedy, 23.
Origin Story
“This is how it feels to be killed”: Hersey, “Survival.”
“Everybody into the water!”: R. Donovan, PT 109, 110.
“I’ll take McMahon with me”: Doyle, PT 109, 116.
PT-109 details: Doyle, Donovan, and Hersey cover this story in great detail; Paul Vitello, “Eroni Kumana, Who Saved Kennedy and His Shipwrecked Crew, Dies at 96,” New York Times, August 16, 2014; Brown, “Solomon Islanders.” The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library has extensive records of the story, most of which are available at jfklibrary.org/.
Kumana and Gasa find PT-109 survivors: Doyle, PT 109, 143–48.
“Navy! Navy!”: R. Donovan, PT 109, 48.
“And so, my fellow Americans”: A film and full transcript of Kennedy’s inaugural address are available at the JFK Library website, jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/historic-speeches/inaugural-address; detail of him practicing in tub and at breakfast: Reeves, President Kennedy, 34.
“It was easy—they sank my boat”: Sorensen, Kennedy, 18.
Kennedy inauguration details: Rasenberger, Brilliant Disaster, 114–16; Lincoln, My Twelve Years, 227; Reeves, President Kennedy, 35–36; Edward T. Folliard, “Kennedy Takes Oath as President,” Washington Post, January 21, 1961.
“Let every nation know”: John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961, transcript, JFK Library.
First Pitch
Evelyn Lincoln arrives at the White House and interior details: Lincoln, My Twelve Years, 227–30; O’Donnell and Powers, “Johnny,” 288; Salinger, With Kennedy, 107, 130.
“This desk is too big”: Lincoln, My Twelve Years, 229.
Jacqueline Kennedy remodels: Lincoln, My Twelve Years, 240; O’Donnell and Powers, “Johnny,” 288.
North Carolina H-bomb accident: Schlosser, Command and Control, 245–47; Lacey-Bordeaux, “Declassified Report”; Ed Pilkington, “U.S. Nearly Detonated Atomic Bomb over North Carolina: Secret Document,” Guardian (Manchester, UK), September 20, 2013.
“By the slightest margin of chance”: Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs, “State-Defense Meeting on Group I, II and IV Papers,” memorandum of conversation, January 26, 1963, National Archives Record Group 59, available at “Documents on Predelegation of Authority for Nuclear Weapons Use,” National Security Archive, nsarchive2.gwu.edu/news/predelegation/pd15_01.htm; “You Won’t Believe How Close North Carolina Came to Total Nuclear Annihilation,” Time, June 12, 2014, video, 2:02 mins., time.com/2866020/north-carolina-nuclear-bombs/.
Rosselli plot details: Rasenberger, Brilliant Disaster, 142–43; U.S. Senate, Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders, interim report of the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (November 20, 1975), 74–82.
“It sounds like D-Day”: Reeves, President Kennedy, 70.
“Did you see the paper?”: Senate, Alleged Assassination Plots, 82.
Kennedy throws out first pitch: Edward T. Folliard, “Kennedy Throws Out First Ball, Eats Hot Dog as Senators Lose,” Washington Post, April 11, 1961; Arthur Edson, “Baseball Frontier,” Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, NY), April 11, 1961.
San Román leads men toward invasion: Johnson, Bay of Pigs, 77.
The Countdown
R-7 taken to launch pad: Cadbury, Space Race, 231.
Korolev and R-7 details: Harford, Korolev, 92; Cadbury, Space Race, 139.
Ivan Ivanovich story details: Doran and Bizony, Starman, 75; Teitel, “Ivan Ivanovich”; Garber, “The Doll.” Ivan now lives in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.
“The West will think the cosmonaut has lost his mind”: Doran and Bizony, Starman, 76.
Gagarin training: Doran and Bizony, Starman, 29–38; Burchett and Purdy, Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, 105–6; Golovanov, Our Gagarin, 54–60.
Gagarin and Titov before launch: Golovanov, Our Gagarin, 104; Doran and Bizony, Starman, 88–89.
“It’s been ages since I’ve had anything so tasty”: Golovanov, Our Gagarin, 123.
Prelaunch details: Doran and Bizony, Starman, 91–102.
“Yura,” he whispered: Doran and Bizony, Starman, 94.
“Complete silence in the control room”: Golovanov, Our Gagarin, 133.
Control room radio conversation: Golovanov, Our Gagarin, 133–34; Cadbury, Space Race, 234–37.
“Poyekhali”: Doran and Bizony, Starman, 102.
Over America
“T-plus seventy” and other lines between Gagarin and Korolev: Doran and Bizony, Starman, 102; Golovanov, Our Gagarin, 138.
Gagarin’s flight details: Cadbury, Space Race, 238–40; Golovanov, Our Gagarin, 135–140; Doran and Bizony, Starman, 104–6.
Science of weightlessness: There are lots of explanations and diagrams online; one good explanation is provided in S. May, “What Is Microgravity?”
“How far?”: Doran and Bizony, Starman, 106.
“Why is the radio off?”: Golovanov, Our Gagarin, 143.
“The world’s first satellite ship”: Cadbury, Space Race, 239.
Gagarin’s reentry details: Harford, Korolev, 173–74; Cadbury, Space Race, 240; Doran and Bizony, Starman, 112–13.
“I’m a friend, comrades!”: Doran and Bizony, Starman, 119.
“It’s 3 in the morning”: United Press International, “Puts Snooze Before News,” Daily News (New York), April 13, 1961.
Headlines: “Spokesman Says U.S. Asleep”: Shepard and Slayton, Moon Shot, 97, in Doran and Bizony, Starman, 114; “Puts Snooze Before News”: Daily News (New York), April 13, 1961.
“Tell me, how did you feel”: Doran and Bizony, Starman, 124.
“What can we do? How can we catch up”: Doran and Bizony, Starman, 142.
“Well,” Kennedy began: John F. Kennedy, press conference, Washington, DC, April 12, 1963, in Reeves, President Kennedy, 86.
Castro watches Kennedy: Rasenberger, Brilliant Disaster, 185.
The Bay of Pigs
“Have no fear” and Castro revolution details: Perrottet, “How Cuba Remembers”; Szulc, Fidel, 376–459; Triay, Bay of Pigs, 3–5; “Fidel Castro, Cuban Revolutionary Who Defied U.S., Dies at 90,” New York Times, November 26, 2016.
Bay of Pigs landing details: Triay, Bay of Pigs: An Oral History, includes many accounts from San Román’s brigade; Johnson, Bay of Pigs, 103–11; Rasenberger, Brilliant Disaster, 231–37; Dille, “We Who Tried,” 21–33, 69–83.
“Chico,” Castro said: Rasenberger, Brilliant Disaster, 239.
General Cabell meets with Rusk: Rasenberger, Brilliant Disaster, 240–41.
“Sea Fury!”: Rasenberger, Brilliant Disaster, 248.
“I don’t think it’s going as well”: Reeves, President Kennedy, 92.
“I don’t understand Kennedy”: Kempe, Berlin, 177.
“We really blew this one”: Salinger, With Kennedy, 196.
“Let me take two jets”: Rasenberger, Brilliant Disaster, 282.
“He must be the loneliest man”: O’Donnell and Powers, “Johnny,” 314; Salinger, With Kennedy, 196.
“Have you quit?”: Rasenberger, Brilliant Disaster, 295.
“I have nothing”: Johnson, Bay of Pigs, 167.
“We look like fools”: C. L. Sulzberger, “And Nothing Fails Like Failure,” Foreign Affairs, New York Times, April 22, 1961.
“How could I have been so far off base?”: Sorensen, Kennedy, 309.
“No one knows how tough this job is”: Ambrose, Eisenhower, 638.
The Headless Spy
Powers describes his food fantasies: F. G. Powers, Operation Overflight, 237.
“Hey, listen” and trade idea: Whittell, Bridge of Spies, 202; J. Donovan, Strangers, 352.
“I beg you to help me”: Schecter and Deriabin, Spy, 5–6.
142Embassy officials meet in the “bubble”: Schecter and Deriabin, Spy, 11.