The Old Dominion's defense of democracy... The Commonwealth played a central role in United States involvement in the Cold War. With doomsday planning operations underway for World War III, c onstruction of the Pentagon, CIA and other federal agencies established Northern Virginia as an epicenter of decision-making. As Virginia military bases readied for a potential surprise attack by the Soviet Union, local research facilities played a paramount role in the Space Race. In 1960, the Soviet shoot down of U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers, a Virginia native, created a superpower crisis of epic proportions. Cold War historians Francis Gary Powers, Jr. and Christopher Sturdevant tell these and other tales of espionage, heroism and betrayal.