#gary powers

DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Executive Secretariat

August 19, 1960

FOR: Brig. Gen. Goodpaster

The White House

SUBJECT: Highlights of Powers Trial

FROM: John A. Calhoun

Attached is a summary prepared by the Department of highlights of the Powers trial on August 19, 1960.

Highlights of Powers Trial - August 19

The trial ended in the early afternoon and, after several hours recess to consider the verdict, the court reconvened to announce that Powers had been sentenced to ten years confinement -- five years less than what the Soviet prosecutor, Rudenko, had demanded. The morning session consisted of the summation by Rudenko, a short recess, defense lawyer Grinev's plea for leniency, and then Powers' final statement.

Rudenko's Summation. For the first time in the trial since the reading of the indictment the stops were pulled out and a bitter verbal denunciation of the U.S. and its foreign policy became a part of the court record. Rudenko in essence repeated and elaborated on what has been the standard theme of Soviet media in past months, stating that the trial "unmasks completely the criminal aggressive actions of U.S. ruling quarters, the actual inspirers and organizers of the monstrous crimes directed against the peace and security of the peoples" and "has proved once again that in the struggle against the forces of peace the reactionary forces of the United States do not scruple to use any means, criminally trample underfoot elementary norms of international law, and violate the national sovereignty of other states with a view to pursuing the bankrupt 'brinkmanship' policy."

Rudenko somewhat tediously reviewed the testimony and evidence presented in the trial, stressing primarily the points that the flight was planned in advance, the equipment was U.S. military equipment for intelligence purposes, CIA and the Air Force were the agencies intimately involved, and other material carried by the pilot and the plane made it clear that the flight was to be over the USSR. While concentrating his remarks on the responsibility of U.S. ruling circles, Rudenko did not mitigate Powers' responsibility and stressed that Powers was not an ordinary spy nor a robot but a specially and carefully drilled criminal.

Aggression in Soviet Airspace. Rudenko argued that while there was only one plane involved, the act must be considered aggression since it could have been carrying a "deadly load" or have been the advance reconnaissance plane for squadrons of nuclear weapon-carrying bombers, and there was no way to know from the ground what type of plane it was. He, moreover, stated without reservation that "an indisputable principle of international law is the principle of full and exclusive sovereignty of a state over its territory, including the entire airspace above it."

Complicity of Other Countries. Rudenko pointed out that the irrefutable judicial evidence was provided by U.S. leaders themselves