A Look Back ... The Cold War: Strangers On
a Bridge
Two men passed each other on a bridge in Berlin on February 10, 1962. Both men were on their way home. In that brief encounter Francis Gary Powers—a prisoner of the Russians since 1960—and Rudolf Abel—captured by the FBI in 1957—were exchanged across the divide between East and West Berlin. Their passage was noted around the world because both had been captured while performing a daring intelligence mission. This was the first of many East-West prisoner exchanges to take place over the next 27 years. more >
