Even as he tried to plan for some sort of future, with or without Barbara, my father began angling to improve the conditions of his confinement. He would soon be eligible for a transfer to a work camp, which would allow him to be out in the fresh air.
“This camp business has me worried,” he wrote in his journal.
Here in the prison I have been relatively isolated. I have contact only with my cell mate. In a camp it is my understanding that all the prisoners were free to mingle and more or less govern themselves in the camp. Of course there are guards outside. It is my impression that they are set up somewhat like concentration camps before the war. I have heard that there are fights and groups who oppose each other and I do not know how I will fit into such a situation since I cannot speak the language. I don’t fear any harm to myself because I don’t think the Soviet government would want to cause an international event by exposing a citizen of the US to such conditions in which he might be harmed in any way.60
After marking his second Christmas at Vladimir, Frank wrote his thirty-third letter to his parents:
26 December 61
Dear Mom & Dad,
I haven’t had a letter from you since the ninth of this month. I hope all of you are well.
I have been thinking about all of you a great deal today (25 Dec). I guess it is because of the time of the year. I hope everyone had a good Christmas.
This has been just another day for me and I can’t say that I have much Christmas spirit. I have spent a big part of the day thinking about past Christmases. The ones that I remember best are the ones we all spent together when all of us children were small.
I remember that most all of this year I have had hopes of being able to spend this Christmas with you. There were a couple of times that I felt almost certain that I would be able to do so but it didn’t turn out that way.
There is always the possibility that things may be better next year but I am afraid that I am not too optimistic. Things look too bad for me to have much hope of being released anytime soon. Actually I can not see any reason why the Soviet Union should release me and on the other hand I can see no reason why I should be kept. One thing for certain they will never have to worry about my flying over their country again. I have been taught a lesson that I don’t expect to forget any time soon no matter where I may be.
I had great hopes that there would be some constructive talks on the Berlin and German problems and that tensions would relax in the world but it looks as if things are not going to improve much. I suppose that it wouldn’t change things very much anyway because it seems to me that as soon as things get better in one part of the world, they immediately get worse in another part.
I remember how much hope I had last January when I heard of Khrushchev’s toast that was made New Year’s eve. He was going to forget about the U-2 event and hoped that relations between the countries would get better. Of course I interpreted that to mean that I might be released but that has been one year ago and I am still here. Maybe he has forgotten the event and it appears that Kennedy has also forgotten it but it still remains very strong in my memory.
Then there was the time in June when the meeting between the two K’s took place. If I had had a bag to pack I would probably have packed it then. I was almost positive I would be released as a result of that meeting, but nothing came of it but an increase in tension in the world because of Berlin.
We will probably never know but I feel that I could have been released if Kennedy had made any efforts to have it done. I may be doing him a wrong by thinking that way because I don’t know for certain that he hasn’t but if he has he has certainly been secretive about it.
Now in a few days a new year will begin. Who knows, maybe something will happen then. I have no reason to think that anything will happen but I have hopes. If I didn’t have such hopes I would probably go crazy.
Well, I guess that will be all for this time. Take care of yourselves.
As Oliver continued to try to push his case with officials in Washington, and his appeal for clemency lingered with the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, the prisoner tried to remain optimistic. “I certainly hope this year brings my release,” he said in the journal entry dated January 28, 1962. “I have no particular reason to think it will do so but if there are better relations between the US and SU, I think I stand a good chance of being released. From what I have heard things are not too good at the present time. I am very much afraid that if there is not some kind of disarmament soon there will be a war. There has been no period in history when an arms race has not ended in a war.”62
Eight days later, the KGB colonel asked the rhetorical question that changed my father’s life.
The next letter he wrote would be as a free man.
When the pilot was repatriated, the doubts continued to swirl at Langley.
“After we managed to get Powers back,” McMahon said, “and after all the debriefing of Powers, it proved that he did exactly what he was told, and sure enough he was shot down. McCone didn’t want to accept that…. It was too bad that Powers was not heralded as the hero that he was.”63
His home life remained troubled as well.
Settling into his job at CIA headquarters, while trying to make his marriage work, Dad headed off to bed. Barbara said she was going to stay up a while and write a letter to her mother.
He reported on his tapes the events that followed:
Late in the night, she woke me up, said, “Gary, I’ve just taken a whole bottle of sleeping pills.” Had no idea she would ever attempt anything like this. [I told her] I know you’re just lying to me. Then she fell on the floor. Thinking she was play-acting, I tried to wake her up. Shook her. Slapped her face.
So I contacted a doctor I knew in the agency. Called ambulance. Took her out. Couldn’t revive her. Just a few more minutes she would have been dead….
Went to hospital. Put a tube down her throat. Transferred her to Georgetown [Hospital], where she became alright, sometime after daylight. Got her out of danger….
This same man [from the agency] got word [somebody in the media] got word that she had attempted suicide, and I denied it. I hated to lie, but I did. Told him she had a bad oyster or something.
I think she saw what she was and didn’t like what she saw.64
When I started trying to learn about my father’s life, Mom insisted that I not attempt to contact Barbara as long as my mom was alive. For whatever reason, she didn’t want that connection to my Dad’s previous life. I honored Mom’s wishes but always regretted that I never got the chance to talk with Barbara.
Of course, I will always be connected to my dad’s first wife through his 1960 220SE Mercedes convertible, which Barbara drove while Dad was in prison. The automobile remained in the garage at the Sherman Oaks house for several years after Dad died, fortunately avoiding serious damage when an earthquake destroyed the house in 1994. It belongs to me now. In recent years, I have spent about $12,000 on repairs, but it still needs plenty of tender loving care.
When I take the Mercedes out for an occasional spin, to keep it lubricated, I sometimes flash back to those tender moments when Dad would hold me on his lap and let me steer while we were heading up the last mile to our home in Sun Valley. Since it is the only thing Dad specifically left me in his will, it is very special to me.