PROGRAM:         “Letters from a Soviet Prison: The Personal Journal and Correspondence of CIA U-2 Pilot Francis Gary Powers” | a Brown Bag Lecture with Francis Gary Powers, Jr.

DATE:                   12:30 p.m., Monday, October 29, 2018

LOCATION:         East Tennessee History Center

601 South Gay Street

Knoxville, TN 37902

ADMISSION:       FREE | Attendees are encouraged to bring a “brown bag” lunch

Many will recall the Cold War incident when CIA U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers was shot down on May 1, 1960, while flying in Soviet airspace. Following his capture he was tried for espionage, then served nearly two years in a Soviet prison, until eventually being exchanged for a senior KGB spy. In a Brown Bag lecture on Monday, October 29, Powers’ son, Francis Gary Powers, Jr., will discuss the Cold War, the U-2 incident, the controversy that surrounded his father, the Spielberg movie, Bridge of Spies, and the work of the Powers family to set his record straight. Much of the story is told through his father’s journal and letters written and received during his time of captivity. The senior Powers was a graduate of Milligan College in Elizabethton, Tennessee.

Books will be available for purchase and signing following the lecture. Interestingly, the preface to the book, Letters from a Soviet Prison, is by Professor Sergei Khrushchev, son of former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev.
The lecture is presented by the East Tennessee Historical Society and sponsored by the Gentry Griffey Funeral Chapel & Crematorium and is free and open to the public. The lecture will begin at 12:30 p.m. on Monday, October 29, at the East Tennessee History Center, 601 S. Gay Street, Knoxville. Guests are invited to bring a “Brown Bag” lunch and enjoy the lecture. Soft drinks will be available. For more information on the lecture, exhibitions, or museum hours, call 865-215-8824 or visit the website at www.EastTNHistory.org.