John T. 'Jack' Downey was a 1951 Yale University graduate who joined the Central Intelligence Agency soon after graduation and became one of two CIA officers (the other was Richard G. Fecteau, a Boston University graduate) who survived the shoot-down of their mission over the People's Republic of China in November 1952, were captured, and spent approximately the next two decades in Chinese prisons before release. Year 1951 ( MCMLI) was a Common year starting on Monday. Events of 1951 January near as long as it used to be several months ago It has been actively summarized and split into sub-articles and there is a dynamic talk page discussion of all Richard Fecteau of Lynn, Massachusetts was captured by the Chinese during the CIA -sponsored flight over China during the Korean War For similarly-named academic institutions see Education in Boston MA. Talk People's Republic of China) PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES Events in November All Saints' Day (formerly All Hallows Day a Christian holy day is celebrated on November 1, the day after Halloween Year 1952 ( MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Today, the episode is less well known than that of Gary Powers, the United States Air Force spy plane pilot who was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960. Francis Gary Powers ( August 17, 1929 &ndash August 1, 1977) was an American pilot whose CIA U-2 spy plane WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Year 1960 ( MCMLX) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.
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Capture
During the Korean War, China was an ally of North Korea against the U. The Korean War refers to a period of military conflict between North Korean and South Korean regimes with major hostilities lasting from June 25 1950 until the North Korea is the commonly used short form name for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (or DPRK) a State located in East Asia, S. -backed South Koreans. South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often referred to as Korea ( Korean: 대한민국 tɛː Fecteau, Downey and fellow aircraft crew were trying to pick up an anti-communist Chinese agent when they came under fire in the sky over Manchuria on November 29, 1952. Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based Manchuria ( Romanized Manchu: Manju,, Маньчжурия Mongolian: Манж is a historical name given to a vast geographic region in northeast Events 1777 - San Jose California, is founded as el Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe Initially, all of those on the aircraft were presumed by the U. S. Government to be lost. Downey was 22 years old and Fecteau was 25 at the time of their capture. The pilots, Robert Snoddy and Norman Schwartz, lost their lives.
Two years later, the men saw each other for the first time, and their survival was first confirmed to the world outside of China, when they were put on secret trial and convicted of spying. These developments drew strong protests from the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The President of the United States is the Head of state and Head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in United States by Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (October 14 1890 – March 28 1969 was President of the United States from 1953 until 1961 and a five-star general But owing to the fact that their status as CIA officers was a secret, the U. S. Government did not acknowledge their true affiliation for much of the period of their incarceration, saying instead that they were civilian United States Army employees, which necessarily complicated the efforts of U. The United States Army is a military organization whose primary mission is to "provide necessary forces and capabilities. S. officials, family members and others to press for their release, or even to make their plight widely known.
Release
Due to efforts by Downey's mother, Mary Downey, and President Richard Nixon, Downey was released 21 years into his life sentence, in March 1973, the year after Nixon's visit to China. Year 1973 ( MCMLXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the 1973 Gregorian calendar. (Fecteau had been released in December 1971 after serving nineteen years of a 20-year sentence) The backdrop was President Nixon's early 1970s' historic opening to China. This article is about the Decade 1970-1979 For the Year 1970 see 1970. Three years later, at age 43, Downey graduated from Harvard Law School (after Yale Law School declined to admit him), ultimately becoming a judge. Harvard Law School (also known as Harvard Law or HLS) is one of the professional Graduate schools of Harvard University. Yale Law School, or YLS, is the Law school of Yale University in New Haven Connecticut.
Post-release
Judge Downey was married (in 1975, to a Chinese-born wife) and they have an adult son. Year 1975 ( MCMLXXV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. (Richard Fecteau returned to his alma mater as assistant athletic director at Boston University, retiring in 1989. )
Judge Downey's latter judicial career was honored when the New Haven, Connecticut Juvenile Matters Courthouse and Detention Center was named for him following his retirement after reaching the position of Chief Administrative Judge for Juvenile Matters. [1] The courthouse ceremony occurred on Sept. 25, 2002.
On June 18, 2007, the Connecticut Bar Association honored Judge Downey with its highest honor for a judge, the Henry J. Naruk Judiciary Award, for his outstanding contributions to the judicial field in Connecticut. https://www.ctbar.org/article/articleview/812/1/64
CIA Medal
In late June 1998, CIA Director George Tenet awarded Downey and Fecteau the CIA Director's Medal for their service to their country, in a private ceremony described in an Associated Press article on July 3, 1998. Year 1998 ( MCMXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar) George John Tenet (born January 5, 1953) was the Director of Central Intelligence for the United States Central Intelligence Agency Events 324 - Battle of Adrianople Constantine I defeats Licinius, who flees to Byzantium. The AP account quoted Ambassador James R. Lilley, a retired CIA officer and Yale classmate of Downey's who served as U. James R Lilley (born January 15 1928 in Tsingtao, China was the Director of the American Institute in Taiwan from 1981 to 1984 S. envoy in both Seoul and Beijing a speaker at the event, saying that Downey was released after Nixon publicly admitted he had been on a CIA operation. Seoul ( soʊl is the Capital and largest City of South Korea.
References
Visitors to the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC can learn more about the incident, as well as find brief accounts in references such as
- Studies in Intelligence (unclassified edition), CIA 2006, Vol. 50 No. 4 [files/prisnors.html# ftnref24]
- William Colby and Peter Forbath, Honorable Men: My Life in the CIA
- James Lilly, China Hands (New York: Public Affairs)
- John Ranelagh, The Agency: The Rise and Decline of the CIA (Simon & Schuster)
- William Leary, Perilous Missions: Civil Air Transport and CIA Covert Operations in Asia (University of Alabama Press).
Press accounts of the 1998 CIA ceremony include The Washington Post, 24 June 1998, Page A17 and Associated Press, 03 July 1998, "CIA Honors Its China Spies" [ http://www.pownetwork.org/bios/d/d602.htm]
External links
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