On May Day, 1960, the USSR shot down a US spy plane, the U2, and captured its pilot, Gary Powers. I was 13 years old, and old enough to read the papers. I was also young and impressionable, and actually believed the cover story President Eisenhower was trying to push, that it was a weather observation plane that had strayed off course. I was furious at the audacity of the Russians at doing this, but slowly the truth started to come out, and I felt betrayed.

It was the first time (that I knew of) my country had been caught red-handed in a lie, and I actually believed that had never happened before. It is a testament to how carefully programmed and indoctrinated we were at school in those days, and how the grown-up press cooperated in the deception. I remember with particular relish how my home town paper "proved" (with imagery analysis!) that a Russki space probe had NOT photographed the back side of the moon. Sooner or later, I knew we would take our own pictures. Not even the Russians could be that stupid.

There were other lies to come, in fact, the Bay of Pigs was less than a year later, but the U2 really hurt the most because it was the first. Later, there was a constant barrage of excuses and evasions in the press, how the Russians didn't have the tech to shoot down this high flyer, that it must have had a flameout and was forced to a lower altitude where it was an easy kill--as if that made any difference. There were excuses everywhere.

I'm grown up now, and a bit more cynical. I know my country lies, and I am not as outraged as I used to be, sometimes it is even necessary to lie, there are ugly games with big stakes out there. Sometimes we get caught in our lies, but I don't see or feel the same sense of betrayal or hypocrisy I used to.
I'm not sure if that's good or bad.

I suppose there's some progress, but after the Pentagon Papers, the Domino Theory, the Cambodian bombing, Watergate, the October Surprise, Iran-Contra,the Iraq WMDs and a host of others, nothing surprises anyone any more, and our press no longer accepts the government line without question. The Kennedy shooting was probably what we were told it was, but the conspiracies could no longer be ruled out from the start. There will always be doubts now.