The U-2 Incident abruptly ended the thaw. An American U-2 spy plane was shot down in the U.S.S.R. in May 1960. The Soviet Union captured the pilot, Francis Gary Powers, who confessed he was a spy. Eisenhower accepted personal responsibility for the flight. He admitted that U-2 planes had been flying over the U.S.S.R. taking photographs for four years. When the summit conference began on May 15, Khrushchev demanded that Eisenhower …showed first 75 words of 6470 total…

…showed last 75 words of 6470 total…left Paris sadly convinced that US-Soviet relations had been dealt a serious setback. In conclusion, the end to the Cold War was apparent in May 1960 with an agreed United States-Solviet Summit in Paris. But the likelihood to end the Cold War collapsed when President Eisenhower authorized a U-2 spy plane mission over Soviet airspace which was shot down. Because of the U-2 incident the end of the Cold War was not securable for over 30 years.