Nation: The Flights Go On

This time the U.S. was ready for the Russian screams before they came. The pilot of a U-2 reconnaissance plane, returning from a mission, reported that his plane had strayed over the fortified Russian island of Sakhalin, off the Siberian coast and reaching down to within 26 miles of Japan. Word was swiftly passed to Washington—and, with the warning in hand, it was barely 3½ hours after the inevitable Russian protest note arrived that the U.S. reply was written, approved by Secretary of State Dean Rusk and President Kennedy, and delivered to Soviet...