Cold War Summit Collapses: Khrushchev Demands U-2 Apology
Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev demanded a formal apology from President Dwight Eisenhower for U-2 spy flights over Soviet territory at the opening of the Big Four summit in Paris on May 16, 1960. Eisenhower had already admitted the flights were authorized but refused to apologize. Khrushchev stormed out, and the summit collapsed before any substantive negotiations began. The incident destroyed the fragile detente that had developed after Khrushchev's 1959 visit to the United States and Camp David talks. Eisenhower had ordered the U-2 flights suspended before the summit, but one last mission was authorized for May 1, and that was the flight the Soviets shot down. The episode convinced both sides that personal diplomacy could not overcome the structural tensions of the Cold War.
May 16, 1960
66 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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