in the fall of 1959, khrushchev accepted an invitation to visit the united states. the visit, and his meetings with president eisenhower, created hope for a permanent "thaw" in the cold war. to reduce tensions further, the two leaders planned a conference with great britain and france in may 1960, to discuss the divided nation of germany. but, on may 1, 1960, the russians shot down a high-altitude american spy plane called a u-2, which was flying over soviet territory. at first, the u.s. government said it was only a weather plane, but soviet leader khrushchev revealed that the pilot of the plane was alive and had confessed. the meeting that had been planned quickly collapsed, and the cold war continued.
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