[ImJustAnotherOkie]

He should have swallowed his capsule before being captured.

That was a big stink back then. He shouldn’t have been captured. We paid a huge price to get him back. We had just captured the biggest Soviet agent in the USA and had to trade him for FGP.

[moonshot925]

He should have activated The U-2’s self-destruct charge, destroyed the camera, photographic film, and all related classified parts.

Then he should have swallowed the “lethal pill”.

[HerrBlucher]

All that trouble we went through to protect us from communism and we end up with Obama as president, and several more commies in the senate and house. Not a shot fired, not a missle launched. Sigh.

[Zhang Fei]

He should have swallowed his capsule before being captured.

That never made sense to me. The only time it does, IMO, is in the middle of a shooting war. Trading the Soviet spy for Powers was more than worthwhile, given the risks Powers took for Uncle Sam every time he zipped up his flight suit and the working-over he absorbed at the hands of his Soviet interrogators.

[Coldwater Creek]

Exactly! My late husband's squadron flew escort for Powers. He was a crypto man and always carried a capsule in his flight suit. He would have destroyed the code books and swallowed the capsule before letting the Russkies have them. Powers should have done the same, but...........

[Drew68]

He should have swallowed his capsule before being captured.

Why should he have killed himself?

Communism collapsed under its own failures.