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Summary:

"In 1952, John T. "Jack" Downey, a twenty-three-year-old CIA officer from Connecticut, was shot down over Manchuria during the Korean War. The pilots died in the crash, but Downey and his partner Richard "Dick" Fecteau were captured by the Chinese. For the next twenty years, they were tortured, put through show trials, held in solitary confinement, placed in reeducation camps, and toured around China as political pawns. Other prisoners of war came and went, but Downey and Fecteau's release hinged on the United States acknowledging their status as CIA assets. Not until Nixon's visit to China did Sino-American relations thaw enough to secure Fecteau's release in 1971 and Downey's in 1973. Lost in the Cold War is the never-before-told story of Downey's decades as a prisoner of war and the efforts to bring him home. Downey's lively and gripping memoir-written in secret late in life-interweaves horrors and deprivation with humor and the absurdities of captivity. He recounts his prison experiences: fearful interrogations, pantomime communications with his guards, a 3,000-page overstuffed confession designed to confuse his captors, and posing for "show" photographs for propaganda purposes. Through the eyes of his captors and during his tours around China, Downey watched the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, and the drastic transformations of the Mao era. In interspersed chapters, Thomas J. Christensen, an expert on Sino-American relations, explores the international politics of the Cold War and tells the story of how Downey and Fecteau's families, the CIA, the U.S. State Department, and successive presidential administrations worked to secure their release"-- [Provided by publisher]
In 1952, John T. "Jack" Downey, a twenty-three-year-old CIA officer, was shot down over Manchuria. He was captured by the Chinese and held for the next twenty years. Lost in the Cold War is the never-before-told story of Downey's decades as a prisoner of war and the efforts to bring him home.

Table of Contents:

• Machine generated contents note: 1. Perfect Ambush
• 2. American Hero On A Fools Mission
• 3. Who I Am, Where I Came From
• 4. Korean Watershed: The Cold War Begins For Downey And America
• 5. Making Of A Mission
• 6. Flight Over China
• 7. Interrogation Days In Shenyang
• 8. Of Soldiers And Spies
• 9. Man In A Box
• 10. Long Confession
• 11. Trial
• 12. B-29 Crew Were Released From China
• 13. China I Saw, With America In My Mind
• 14. "Your Government Does Not Want You Back": The Failure Of U.S.-Prc Negotiations At Geneva
• 15. Prison Life
• 16. Cellmates
• 17. Keepers And Comrades
• 18. Pinhole View On A Massive Tragedy: 1958-1970
• 19. Family Visits
• 20. U.S.-Prc Rapprochement And Jack Downey's Release: 1968-1973

• 21. Coming Home.

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Author/Creator:

Downey, John T., 1930-2014 , author

Contributors:

Christensen, Thomas J., 1962- , author

Downey, Jack Lee , author

Christensen, Thomas

Languages:

English

Language Notes:

Item content: English

Main Work:

Lost in the Cold War: the story of Jack Downey, America's longest-held POW [by Downey, J.T.]

Other Related Resources:

Print version: Lost in the Cold War [by Downey, J.T.] (New York : Columbia University Press,c2022)

Related Series:

A Nancy Bernkopf Tucker and Warren I. Cohen Book on American-East Asian Relations

Subjects:

Downey, John T., 1930-2014

Korean War, 1950-1953 — Secret service — United States

United States Central Intelligence Agency — Officials and employees — Biography

Korean War, 1950-1953 — Prisoners and prisons, Chinese

Prisoners of war — United States — Biography

Prisoners of war — China — Biography

Korean War, 1950-1956 — Military intelligence — United States

New Haven County (Conn.) — Biography

Cold War

Physical Description:

1 online resource.

Call Numbers:

DS921.5.S8 D69 2022eb

ISBNs:

9780231552950 (electronic book)
0231552955 (electronic book)

OCLC Numbers:

1336404149

Other Control Numbers:

EBC6806386 (source: MiAaPQ)
[Unknown Type]: ybp302955259