Gary is the Founder and Chairman Emeritus of The Cold War Museum, a 501(c) (3) charity located at Vint Hill, VA 45 minutes west of Washington, DC. He founded the museum in 1996 to honor Cold War veterans, preserve Cold War history, and educate future generations about this time period. As Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee for the Cold War Theme Study he worked with the National Park Service and leading Cold War experts to identify historic Cold War sites for commemorating, interpreting, and preservation. Recently, he consulted for a Steven Spielberg Cold War thriller, Bridge of Spies, about James Donovan who brokered the 1962 spy exchange between KGB spy Rudolph Abel and CIA U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers, Sr.
In the mid 1990s, as President of the Downtown Fairfax Coalition, Gary founded the City of Fairfax Saturday Morning Community Farmers Market, established the Chocolate Challenge for the Chocolate Lover’s Festival, and produced Old Town Fairfax merchant guides. As CEO of the Vienna Regional Chamber of Commerce between 2000-2005, he led the successful transition from the Vienna Chamber to the Vienna Tysons Regional Chamber which is now the Tysons Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Gary is the author of Letters from a Soviet Prison (2017), Spy Pilot (2019), and Enemy Territory (2022) which help to dispel the misinformation surrounding the U-2 Incident. He is a past Board Member of the Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum near Omaha, NE and an Honorary Board Member of the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. Because of his efforts to honor Cold War veterans the Junior Chamber of Commerce selected him as one of the “Ten Outstanding Young Americans” for 2002. Gary lectures internationally and appears regularly on C-SPAN, the History, Discovery, and A&E Channels. He is married and has one son. (webpage http://garypowers.com/ )
Garp Powers Sr. and Jr. Gary Powers Jr
1. How and when did you get hooked on history?
When I founded The Cold War Museum in 1996 to honor Cold War veterans, preserve Cold War history, and educate future generations about this time period, I realized I needed to know as much as I could about this time period. Having grown up within a historic Cold War family, I already had a good grasp on what the Cold War was but I started to research as much as I could on all aspects of Cold War by reading various books, visiting military, espionage, and military museums, and seeking out and talking with veterans from the Berlin Airlift, Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis, Corona Spy Satellite program, USS Liberty, USS Pueblo, SR-71 and U-2 programs, Nike, Titan, and Minuteman Missile programs, etc.
2. What role does history play or has it played in your personal life?
As a result of growing up with a famous Cold War figure, history has always played a part in my life both personally and professionally. Because of my efforts to form The Cold War Museum, I was able to help collect a multimillion-dollar collection of international Cold War related objects, photographs, oral and written histories, artifacts, and related material. In addition, my research, specifically into the U-2 Incident, led to the US government posthumously awarding my father the POW Medal in 2000 and the Silver Star in 2012.
3. How does history play a part of your professional life/career?
For the past 12 years I have been an author, historian, and speaker (www.GaryPowers.com). I lecture internationally on the Cold War, U-2 Incident, and the need to honor Cold War veterans, preserve Cold War history, and educate future generations about this time period. I am the Founded and Chairman Emeritus of The Cold War Museum, an honorary Board Member of the International Spy Museum, and a past Board Member of the Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum. I have published three books, Letters from a Soviet Prison, Spy Pilot, and Enemy Territory, which is a graphic novel. I am currently working on a fourth book, Cold War Virginia, that will showcase Cold War and espionage sites, personalities, and areas throughout the Commonwealth.
4. Why is studying/knowing history important?
History is not rigid, it is fluid. In order to understand the world we live in today and the War on Terror, we need to understand the Cold War and how the end of it shaped international politics and policies over the last 30+ years. This goes for every time period. WWI flows into WWII, WWII flows into the Cold War, the Cold War flows into the War on Terror and so on and so on for thousands of years. As philosopher George Santayana wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” which is often quoted as, "Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.”
5. What is your favorite period or aspect of history to learn about and why?
My focus is the Cold War time period from Sept 2, 1945, the end of WWII, to Dec 26, 1991, the collapse of the Soviet Union. As a result of my interest in this time period I decided to pursue a second Master's Degree in US History focusing on the Cold War time period. My thesis for this degree ended up being my second book, Spy Pilot: Francis Gary Powers, the U-2 Incident, and a Controversial Cold War Legacy. I wanted to earn a Master's Degree in US History so that I would be a full-fledged historian and not just the son of a Cold War figure or a Cold War enthusiast. I wanted the credentials that came with this advanced degree.
6. What was it like growing up as the son of not only a major historical figure, but also one of the most polarizing figures of 20th Century American history?
When I was growing up, I had a normal childhood hiking, biking, fishing, with my dad, taking family vacations, and going to school. As an added bonus, since my dad was a pilot, I was able to fly with him when he was working for radio and television stations in Los Angeles. I was aware that my father was shot down over the Soviet Union, tried for espionage, and later exchanged for a Soviet spy. As a kid, however, I thought all dads went through something like this. I was 12 years old when that perception changed on August 1, 1977 when my father died in a helicopter crash while working for KNBC News out of Los Angeles. That is when I realized that not everybody's father gets shot down, imprisoned, exchanged, or buried at Arlington National Cemetery by a Presidential decree from Jimmy Carter. Once my father died, I could no longer ask him any questions which is why in college I started to do research on the U-2 Incident, the conspiracy theories, and all the rumors and speculation that surround my father. I wanted to find out the truth of what took place so that I could answer questions being asked of me. As a result of my research, I founded The Cold War Museum (www.coldwar.org), earned my MPA and MA in US History, and helped to set the record straight.
7. What can readers learn from your recent books about your father, the U2 incident, and the Cold War?
They can learn the truth. Spy Pilot is based on newly available information, the son of famed U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers presents the facts and dispels misinformation about the Cold War espionage program that turned his father into a Cold War icon. One of the most talked-about events of the Cold War was the downing of the American U-2 spy plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers over the Soviet Union on May 1, 1960. The event was recently depicted in the Steven Spielberg movie Bridge of Spies. Powers was captured by the KGB, subjected to a televised show trial, and imprisoned, all of which created an international incident. Soviet authorities eventually released him in exchange for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel. On his return to the United States, Powers was exonerated of any wrongdoing while imprisoned in Russia, yet, due to bad press and the government's unwillingness to heartily defend Powers, a cloud of controversy lingered until his untimely death in 1977. Now his son, Francis Gary Powers Jr. and acclaimed historian Keith Dunnavant have written this new account of Powers' life based on personal files that had never been previously available. Delving into old audio tapes, letters his father wrote and received while imprisoned in the Soviet Union, the transcript of his father's debriefing by the CIA, other recently declassified documents about the U-2 program, and interviews with the spy pilot's contemporaries, Powers and Dunnavant set the record straight. The result is a fascinating piece of Cold War history. This is also a book about a son's journey to understand his father, pursuing justice and a measure of peace. Almost sixty years after the fact, this will be the definitive account of one of the most important events of the Cold War.
In Letters from a Soviet Prisons are the never-before published journal of my father’s thoughts as a Prisoner of War, along with more than 150 personal letters written and received by my father during his captivity. This book shows my father' thoughts and feelings, hopes and despairs of being a Soviet prisoner during the height of the Cold War.
Enemy Territory is a graphic novel and is geared towards a younger audience. It is the story of the U-2 Incident and my father's role in Cold War history.
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