May - This Month in the Cold War

May 1, 1960 - CIA pilot Francis Gary Powers, flying a U-2 spy plane, was shot down over Russia on the eve of a US/Soviet summit meeting. The meeting was cancelled and intensified Cold War tensions. Powers survived the shootdown and convicted by a Soviet court. He was released two years later in exchange for a Soviet spy.

May 7, 1954 - The French fortress of Dien Bien Phu, fell to Vietnamese forces in northern Vietnam, effectively ending the French/Indochina War.

May 12, 1949 – The Berlin Blocka...