May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking
the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May,
around halfway between the Northern Hemisphere’s
Spring equinox and Midsummer solstice.
International Workers’ Day is also observed on May 1st.
On May 1, 1960, a U-2 flight piloted by Francis Gary Powers
disappeared while on a flight over Russia.
The U.S. government issued a cover statement indicating that
a weather plane had veered off course and supposedly crashed somewhere in the Soviet Union.
With no small degree of pleasure, Khrushchev pulled off one
of the most dramatic moments of the Cold War by producing
not only the mostly-intact wreckage of the U-2, but also the
captured pilot-very much alive.
A chagrined Eisenhower had to publicly admit that it was
indeed a U.S. spy plane.
The pilot, Francis Gary Powers, was released in 1962 in
exchange for a captured Soviet spy.
Francis Gary Powers (center) sits accused in Moscow’s Hall
of Columns, during the opening of his espionage trial, 17
August 1960. (AP)
Francis Gary Powers (1929 – 1977)
Citizen Kane, now revered as one of the greatest movies in
history, made its debut at the RKO Palace Theater on May
1, 1941.
It had originally been intended to open at Manhattan’s Radio
City Music Hall. But months before its release, Orson Welles’
landmark film began generating such controversy that the
venue eventually refused to show it.
