The U-2 incident occurred during the Cold War presidency of Dwight Eisenhower   and the leadership of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, when a United States   U-2 spy plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the   airspace of the Soviet Union on May 1, 1960.   The U.S.government at first denied the plane’s mission, but was forced to admit was a covert surveillance aircraft when the Soviet   government showed the downed aircraft and it’s pilot along with photos of milit