Heinlein, Robert A – Expanded Universe

ducked out without our guide. I picked up some pidgin Russian but never learned to

speak it-I could give directions, ask directions, order a meal, pay a bill- and

swear in Russian (essential!).

The article below I wrote in Hotel Torni, Helsinki, immediately after

“escaping” (that’s how it felt) from the Soviet Union. The lighter article following

“PRAVDA” I wrote a couple of weeks later in Stockholm. By then my nerves had relaxed

in the free air of Scandinavia and I could see humor in things that had not seemed

at all funny at the time.

“PRAVDA” Means “TRUTH”

“Pravda” means “truth.”

That’s what it says, right here in my English-Russian dictionary:

Pravda-Truth. Surely one may depend on the dictionary.

In Al Smith’s bleak, skeptical words: “Let’s take a look at the record.”

On May Day, 1960, a United States U-2 reconnaissance plane made some type of

unplanned landing in the Soviet Union. This much is both “truth” and “pravda.”

Beyond this bare fact, “truth” and “pravda” diverge widely.

TRUTH: On May 1 this U-2 plane grounded near Sverdlovsk in the heartland of

the Soviet Union about 1,500 miles from the border it crossed. The plane was wrecked

but the pilot was not killed. Much of the equipment in the plane, such as radio

gear, was undamaged. The pilot’s survival and the condition of the wreckage, plus

the undamaged equipment, suggest a forced landing in rough country, such as would

result from engine failure.

The U-2 is extremely fast and it cruises at very high altitude, 60-70,000

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feet. The kinetic energy stored in a moving object varies as the square of its

velocity (E = 1/2MV2). A staggering amount of kinetic energy is stored in a U-2. If

such a plane is hit by anti-aircraft rocket fire what happens in the next split

second would make a head-on collision between two hot-rodders

seem like a mother’s loving pat. The anti-aircraft damage merely triggers the

disaster; the major violence comes from the plane’s great speed-it explodes!

Suddenly the sky is filled with junk.

The chance of the pilot’s surviving is small. He may escape if the plane’s

ejection capsule is not damaged when the plane is hit. But there is only the tiniest

chance that radios and other relatively fragile pieces of equipment would reach the

ground undamaged. Nevertheless, such items were “recovered” from the “shot-down”

U-2. A crate of eggs, uncracked, would be equally convincing.

We may never know the exact truth of what happened to that U-2. Only Soviet

officials talked to unlucky pilot Powers before his trial.

But the nervous nellies among us should stop beating their breasts over the

shame of it all. Photo reconnaissance is not the same thing as a bombing run. An

overflight by an unarmed plane is not in the same league with what Khrushchev did to

Budapest. What we are dealing with here is the security of the United States

and-very possibly-the survival, and certainly the freedom, of the entire human race.

Espionage is not illegal under International Law. Neither is it immoral. The

penalty for getting caught at it is very high. It usually means the spy’s neck. It

is not illegal under U.S. laws for us to attempt to spy on the U.S.S.R., nor is it

illegal under Soviet law for them to attempt to spy on us. Nor, in either case, is

it an act of war. Throughout history every country has striven to learn the military

secrets of any potential enemy, and to protect its own. Spying is wise and necessary

insurance against utter military disaster.

That we have been conducting photo reconnaissance over the Soviet Union so

successfully and for four vital years is the most encouraging news in the past

decade. Among other things it means we have accurate maps by which to strike back.

The Soviet Union does not have to send spy planes over us to obtain sim

ilar information. Excellent large-scale maps with our military installations and

industrial complexes clearly marked may be obtained free from Standard Oil or

Conoco. Still better maps may be ordered by the Soviet Embassy from our Coast and

Geodetic Survey at very low prices. Soviet agents move freely among us and many of