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To: Fedora

"Exhibit A: Compromising the U-2

"In early 1960 Alsop wrote a story for the New York Times hinting at US knowledge of secret Soviet missile developments."

The NYT can be held to blame for a lot of bad things--except this one. The Russians knew about the U-2 from its first flight over the USSR--they were really PO'd about it for 4 years, until they finally shot one down. (They were filing all kinds of diplomatic protests until May 1st, 1960, when they simply said "Who's yer daddy?")


12 posted on 12/19/2005 9:08:54 AM PST by BeHoldAPaleHorse (MORE COWBELL! MORE COWBELL! (CLANK-CLANK-CLANK))
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To: BeHoldAPaleHorse

It would not surprise me if they knew about it before that, though I'd need to see whether what they knew included what Alsop revealed in his article, which referred to a specific missile installation. However there are many unresolved historical issues surrounding the downing of Powers' flight and whether he was simply shot down as reported or whether some type of espionage was involved. In any case, the goal of Alsop's article was to score PR points against Eisenhower by putting him in a position where he could not refute an allegation without revealing classified information, for which the NYT can be blamed independently of whether the Soviets already had information about the U-2, IMO.


23 posted on 12/19/2005 9:20:54 AM PST by Fedora
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