Powers to talk on Cold War

Francis G. Powers/Photo courtesy of Francis G. Powers

ALAMOSA – The Cold War has come and gone, without most of the U.S. population realizing any direct effects. However, for Adams State University Master of Arts candidate Francis G. Powers Jr., the conflict remains personal.

Powers will be on campus to defend his thesis for his master’s in history. While here, he will deliver a public lecture about the Cold War, the U-2 Incident, and the controversy that surrounded his father, U.S. pilot Francis Gary Powers.

This presentation will begin at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 27, in McDaniel Hall 101. The event is free open to the public.

Author of Letters from a Soviet Prison (2017) and Spy Pilot (2019), which both help to dispel the misinformation surrounding the U-2 Incident, Powers consulted for a Steven Spielberg Cold War thriller Bridge of Spies that portrays his father’s exchange for Soviet spy Rudolph Abel in 1962. A book signing will follow the lecture.

Powers, founder and chairman emeritus of The Cold War Museum, is chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee for the Cold War Theme Study. He works with the National Park Service and leading Cold War experts to identify historic Cold War sites for commemorating, interpreting, and preservation.  Powers lectures internationally and appears regularly on C-SPAN, the History, Discovery, and A&E Channels.

He earned a Bachelor of Arts from California State University, Los Angeles, and a master’s degree from George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia.