Eisenhower and Advisers Respond to Khrushchev’s U-2 Ultimatum at the Paris Summit (1960)

Date: May 16, 1960

Original or Replica: Original

Era: The Cold War, The Presidency

Collection: Eisenhower Presidential Library

Citations: DDE’s Papers as President, DDE Diary Series, Box 50, Staff Notes May 1960 (1); NAID #12010073

This memorandum records a May 15, 1960 conference between President Dwight D. Eisenhower and senior advisers as they prepared for the Paris Summit following the U-2 Incident. Earlier that month, the Soviet Union shot down an American U-2 reconnaissance aircraft conducting a secret intelligence flight over Soviet territory. The pilot survived, exposing the mission and creating a major diplomatic crisis just before Eisenhower was scheduled to meet Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in Paris.

The memorandum describes Khrushchev’s threat to withdraw from the summit unless the United States condemned the U-2 flight, promised to end such operations, and punished those responsible. Eisenhower and his advisers debated whether Khrushchev was seeking concessions or deliberately creating a reason to end the summit.

Eisenhower was willing to support a general condemnation of espionage and potentially discontinue U-2 flights under appropriate circumstances, but rejected a unilateral renunciation that ignored Soviet espionage. The group also considered bringing surveillance and protection against surprise attack before the United Nations. Eisenhower criticized American intelligence officials for underestimating the intensity of the Soviet reaction and argued that espionage had occurred throughout history. The discussion reveals the administration’s efforts to manage the U-2 crisis while attempting to prevent the collapse of the Paris Summit.