Editing Francis Gary Powers (section)

===Portrayal in U.S. media===
Following admission by the White House that Powers had been captured alive, American media depicted Powers as an all-American pilot hero, who never smoked or touched alcohol. In fact, Powers smoked and drank socially.<ref name=Reel>{{Cite book |last=Reel |first=Monte |title=A brotherhood of spies: the U-2 and the CIA's secret war |date=2018 |isbn=978-0-385-54020-9 |location=New York |oclc=1015258913}}</ref>{{rp|201}} The CIA urged that his wife Barbara be given sedatives before speaking to the press and gave her talking points that she repeated to the press to portray her as a devoted wife. Her broken leg, according to the CIA disinformation, was the result of a water-skiing accident, when in fact it happened after she had had too much to drink and was dancing with another man.<ref name=Reel />{{rp|198–99}}

In the course of his trial for espionage in the Soviet Union, Powers confessed to the charges against him and apologized for violating Soviet airspace to spy on the Soviets. In the wake of his apology, American media often depicted Powers as a coward and even as a symptom of the decay of the United States' "moral character."<ref name=Reel />{{rp|235–36}}