CHANCERIESTHE DIPLOMATIC ATLAS

Indonesian Forces Capture American Pilot Allen Pope

18 May 1958

American officials sought to preserve an anticommunist dissident force aligned with the West against Sukarno. [1]

Allen Pope fell into Indonesian hands near Ambon on 18 May 1958 after his aircraft was shot down. The American pilot had been flying bombing missions in support of rebels fighting the central government, and his capture threatened to expose the American operation behind those attacks. [1]

Senior American officials had approved assistance to dissident groups in Sumatra and the Celebes in November 1957, supplying weapons and aircraft. Pilots from Civil Air Transport flew while ostensibly on leave, allowing Washington to portray them as private adventurers and conceal its support for the rebellion. [1]

An Indonesian court sentenced Pope to death in April 1960. By March 1961, Secretary of State Dean Rusk was seeking President John F. Kennedy’s help with an appeal for clemency. Rusk warned that Indonesian leaders knew of American support for the rebels, even as Washington maintained its cover story and sought to save the captured pilot’s life. A later CIA history records that Pope was released to the United States in 1962. [1] [2]

The embassy maintained contact with Pope and Indonesian officials; Ambassador Howard Jones carried a personal letter from Eisenhower, and Pope's wife appealed directly to Sukarno. By 1961, Rusk wanted Kennedy to raise the case during a presidential visit. [1]

Related Diplomats

  1. Moekarto Notowigdo [3] [4]

Sources

  1. Rusk to Kennedy: the Allen Pope case

    FRUS 1961–1963, volume XXIII, document 153 and enclosure

    FRUS 1961–1963, volume XXIII, document 153, enclosure paragraph 1

    FRUS 1961–1963, XXIII, document 153, March 17, 1961; enclosure paragraphs 1, 3–5 on covert aid and diplomatic appeals

  2. L. Britt Snider, The Agency and the Hill, CIA Center for the Study of Intelligence

    Printed p. 265 (PDF p. 283), paragraph on Allen Pope; release in 1962

    Printed page 265 (PDF page 283), paragraph on Allen Pope

  3. Embassy of Indonesia: List of Indonesian Ambassadors to the U.S.
  4. Memorandum of Conversation: U.S.–Indonesian Relations

Notes

  • The capture date follows Rusk’s 1961 memorandum, which gives 18 May 1958. The later CIA history gives 17 May and is cited here for Pope’s release in 1962. [1] [2]

Related Reading

Cite This Article

Indonesian Forces Capture American Pilot Allen Pope. Chanceries Diplopedia. Record 73eb5459ea19d352546b. https://chanceries.org/research/history/indonesia-pope-1958-fca55824b6/

Download citation
Correction note