Francy Powers Jr. - Spy Pilot - Francis Gary Powers, the U-2 Incident, and a Controversial Cold War Legacy

The declassified documents revealed that some officials in the government were prepared to offer Dad three choices:

1.) Retirement from the Air Force at the rank of lieutenant colonel… crediting him with his time in the Air Force, CIA, and working on government contracts with Lockheed.

2.) Crediting him with his CIA and Air Force active duty time totaling twelve years and reinstating him in the Air Force for the next eight years until twenty years’ federal service are completed.

3.) Reinstatement with assignment as to CIA as a U-2 mission planner. 5

According to an October 19, 1971, memorandum written by CIA general counsel Lawrence R. Houston, the agency authorized as much as $250,000 for Powers’s settlement, with the Air Force agreeing to assume half of the cost.

“The Air Force has determined that they cannot see their way clear to restore him to active duty,” the memo said. “In lieu thereof, a proposal has been approved by Secretary of the Air Force Seamans and Secretary of Defense Laird whereby a sum of up to $250,000 would be offered to Powers in lieu of all claims. This sum would be placed in a trust to be administered by a corporate trustee. The mechanics of the movement of money and arrangements for the trust will be accomplished by the agency so that there will be no traceable record back to the Government.” 6

Three days after his death, evidence of the confidential deal consummated six years earlier was confirmed in a secret CIA memo:

4 August 1977

FROM: [REDACTED]

SUBJECT: Francis Gary Powers

1.) A trust was established with $175,000 on 27 October 1971, which was to provide Mr. Powers with $8,750 per annum. This trust was established in lieu of Powers’ having been reinstated on active duty in the Air Force. When the trust was established, Mr. Powers signed a release and discharge. Included in that release are the essential elements of a secrecy agreement, to keep forever secret any information relating to the trust agreement and all other classified information gained by virtue of Mr. Powers’ association with the U.S. Government. The release states specifically that any disclosure of classified information could result in the revocation of the trust with the reversion of the monies in the trust to the grantor.

2.) The general terms of the trust agreement are that upon Gary Powers’ death the income will be paid to his wife unless they are legally separated or estranged. Upon his wife’s death, payments shall be made to the issue of Francis Gary Powers.

3.) Originally, the trustee was a Los Angeles lawyer by the name of [REDACTED] was subsequently appointed a judge in a Los Angeles County court and the Agency agreed that a corporate trustee would be substituted for [REDACTED]. On 11 October 1974 the CIA General Counsel wrote to [REDACTED] setting forth the relationship of the Bank as trustee for the CIA.

4.) Please comment on the following:

(1) I think we should contact the trustee and present him with written notification of the death of Gary Powers and of the change in beneficiary. This would normally require a death certificate and is in according with the terms of the trust agreement.

(2) [REDACTED]

(3) I think we should also discuss with Mr. Powers’ attorney how we might enforce the secrecy agreement with Mrs. Powers since she did not sign the release.

(4) What do you think about an official Agency representation at the Powers funeral which is now scheduled for Arlington Cemetery?

(5) I have talked with Major General Harold R. Vague, Air Force Judge Advocate. (He participated with John Warner in meeting the attorney in California.) General Vague has no objections to our proceeding with the above actions. General Vague has cleared the following responses with the Air Force Vice Chief of Staff: The only Air Force participation in the funeral will be the Honor Guard at Arlington Cemetery. No high ranking Air Force personnel will attend. The Air Force has no objection to any CIA representation at the funeral. 7

This was a shocking revelation. I never thought these documents would see the light of day.

During my high-school years, Mom had told me about the trust, which helped pay my private-school tuition. After Dad died, she was afraid that the money would be revoked and she would lose out on the monthly stipend at a time when the family needed it the most.

At her request, the money was eventually moved to her personal bank account, alleviating her fear that it would eventually disappear.

While the documents demonstrated the Air Force’s unwillingness to take my father back, I was gratified to learn that the Air Force and CIA had worked together to try to help my family. These backroom deals done in secret almost fifty years ago need to be taken in context of the time period of the Cold War and not through a modern lens.

Another once-secret document suggested something I had been told but could never prove.

A memo dated October 27, 1972, stated, “After Lockheed felt it could no longer support Powers, the Agency funded an extension to enable Powers to alleviate his own situation.” 8

This passage raised more questions than it answered, but it appeared to confirm my longtime belief that the CIA had paid part of Dad’s salary while he was employed at Lockheed.

Exactly why Kelly Johnson fired my father was one of those questions I continued to wonder about: Was it because of budget cutbacks, Johnson’s sensitivity to the publicity generated by Frank’s book, or pressure from Washington?

A top secret document provided as part of the 2017 FOIA release showed the CIA reporting on my father’s comments during a 1971 appearance at California State University–Northridge, my alma mater, concerning his separation from Lockheed:

Mr. Powers talked about his experiences and said in the course of his talk in about 1970, two weeks after having submitted his book to CIA for review before publishing, he was laid off at Lockheed. He was asked if he meant that CIA had pressured Lockheed to fire him; his answer was something like, “Yes, I do, but you can draw your own conclusions for these facts.” 9

This left me with another question unlikely to ever have answered: Was the CIA violating American law by spying on an American citizen on American soil?

Mom told me that our home phone was tapped, and that during Dad’s book tour, he was convinced that he and Curt Gentry were tailed. Noticing an agent at an airport, and eager to have some fun, Frank walked up to the young man, introduced himself, and told him where they were going that day. The man appeared flustered and eventually disappeared into the crowd.

I still didn’t have all the answers, of course, which is one reason why I arranged to return to Moscow in early December 2017, after putting together a couple of business deals to offset expenses.

After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russian authorities finally acknowledged a long-concealed instance of friendly fire: One of the MiG fighters dispatched to try to shoot Powers out of the sky had been hit by an SA-2 missile, killing the pilot, Sergei Safronov. Always determined to chase every lead, I was happy when the pilot’s son contacted me through The Cold War Museum. We shared a long conversation.

He said his mother did not blame my father for her husband’s death. She understood that her husband was following orders and my father was following orders, and that it was not my father’s fault that her husband had died. I was very touched by this.

I wanted to show my respects to the MiG pilot, so on the day after attending a conference, as snow drifted from the sky, I walked up the steps to the granite memorial to the fallen Soviet hero, adorned with his photograph and a portion of the plane’s tail section.