Random musings: Bridge of Spies

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Bridge of Spies

If you haven't seen the movie yet, you might want to see it before reading today's blog post.

Before I get into the post, a little movie review: I think it was a really good movie...funny, suspenseful and historical, which is what I'm going to write about today.

Who was James B. Donovan?

James Donovan, portrayed by Tom Hanks in the movie "Bridge of Spies", was an American attorney. He is best known, although I didn't know it until I saw the movie, first as the man who defended Soviet spy Rudolph Abel in 1957 and as the man who exchanged Abel for American U2 pilot Francis Gary Powers in 1962.

Donovan was tasked by his law firm to defend Abel in a highly publicized trial to show that the American justice system was fair, even to suspected Soviet agents. Although most people expected Donovan to just go through the motions at the trial, he took his job seriously, defending Abel to the best of his ability. Which didn't make him popular with the American people. A lot of people felt he was a traitor or a "pinko" for defending Abel. Donovan lost the case and Abel was convicted of being a Soviet spy. Donovan argued successfully against the death penalty, arguing that a live Soviet spy may be more valuable as a bargaining chip with the USSR than a dead one.

Three years later, in 1960, Francis Gary powers was shot down while flying a U-2 "spy plane" over the Soviet Union. However, it wasn't until 1962 that the famous prisoner exchange took place on the Glienicke Bridge, a bridge connecting East and West Germany.

Another thing that I didn't know is that Abel was actually exchanged for two American prisoners, Powers and college student Frederic Pryor.