© Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures



suffered no abuse

struck in the face by an FBI agent

Donovan had been head legal counsel in the OSS, helping to organize its successor, the CIA

The US repeatedly violates Soviet airspace until one of their spy planes is shot down. Despite the pilot's refusal to denounce the criminal activity of his government, he receives a very light sentence in comparison to America's treatment of captured Soviet agents.



Some time later, a CIA spymaster shows up in East Berlin demanding the release of three American spies in exchange for one Soviet spy. Although this naturally strikes the Soviets as unfair, they decide to cooperate. Colonel Abel returns home to a hero's welcome, while Francis Powers is held incommunicado by the CIA for "debriefing" for nearly a month, then is denounced by the media and received by much of the American public as a traitor (all true)!

Donovan, James B. Strangers on a Bridge. New York: Atheneum, 1967.

Powers, Francis Gary (with Curt Gentry). Operation Overflight. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970.a

In this new Cold War hit, set in the 1950's, a home-town lawyer is chosen to defend a captured Soviet spy, as anti-communist hysteria sweeps the US. Later, the lawyer,to negotiate the release of captured American spies, including U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers, captured by the Soviets after his spy plane was shot down in Soviet airspace, in exchange for the Russian Colonel Abel.The tortured tagline of the film sums up the propaganda point to be driven home: "In the shadow of war, one man showed the world what we stand for." What we (the US) stand for is supposedly a just and humane society where even a communist spy is entitled to a fair trial, compared to the supposed tyranny and cruelty of communist regimes.. Many, while facts are presented out of historical context. Unfortunately, most Americans will accept this movie as a true recounting of historical events without question or further study.I could discuss every single propaganda element in the film, such as the dark and gloomy atmosphere in East Berlin; the scowling faces of the East German border guards; the menacing and hostile demeanor of various communist officials, or scenes of torture. Instead, I will provide that facts that this film is supposedly based on, using the memoirs of the two primary American participants in these events - James Donovan and Francis Powers.We can start by comparing the details and outcomes of the Abel trial in the US with the Powers' trial in the Soviet Union. Both spies were caught red-handed, so was no doubt as to their guilt. The purpose of the trials should have been to gather all available facts in order to arrive at punishments that fit the crime.Powers was told by the Soviets that, but. In fact, only a few years before Abel's trial in 1957, the Rosenbergs had been sent to the electric chair for activities on behalf of the Soviet Union. Finally,The Soviets were accused of subjecting Powers to a "show trial," but this is exactly what the Americans did with Rudolf Abel. As it turns out, despite all the blather about the high ideals of the American legal system, Donovan and his co-conspirators were mainly interested in promoting the idea of the so-called superior values of American "fair play".It turns out that, after WWII!All this makes sense in terms of American exceptionalism, but, it might go something like this: