Editor’s note: This story was originally published on Feb. 10, 2025.
A look back at local, national and world events through Deseret News archives.
The big trade in 1962 happened on Glienicke Bridge, not in the NBA or between baseball clubs.
On Feb. 10, 1962, on the Glienicke Bridge connecting West Berlin and East Germany, the Soviet Union exchanged captured American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers for Rudolf Abel, a Soviet spy held by the United States.
The exchange
According to accounts in the Deseret News and other news reports, the two men were brought to separate sides of the Glienicke Bridge, which connects East and West Berlin across Lake Wannsee. As the spies waited, negotiators talked in the center of the bridge where a white line divided East from West.
Finally, Powers and Abel were waved forward and crossed the border into freedom at the same moment — 8:52 a.m., Berlin time. Just before their transfer, Frederic Pryor — an American student held by East German authorities since August 1961 — was released to American authorities at another border checkpoint.
Upon returning to the United States, Powers was cleared by the CIA and the Senate of any personal blame for the U-2 incident. In 1970, he published a book, “Operation Overflight,” about the incident.
Powers died in the crash of a helicopter that he flew as a reporter for a Los Angeles television station in 1977.
Here are some stories from Deseret News archives about Powers, the U-2 incident, and the prisoner exchange:
“Sons of 1960 U-2 figures meet”
“U2 Spy plane wasn’t hit by a missile”
“Spy plane outlasts Cold War, but not defense cuts”
“Ex-Soviet spy who defected dies at 81″
“Spielberg’s ‘Bridge of Spies’ delivers suspense and compelling historical perspective”
“This week in history: Russia leader Nikita Khrushchev reveals the U-2 Incident”
“CIA declassifies 1992 study on U-2 Cold War spy missions”
“Victim of Cold War found on remote isle”
“U.S. spy planes played big but quiet role in war”
“Russian spy claims swap in works for spies in U.S.”
“China gets increasingly aggressive about spying”
“Deseret News archives: U.S. pilot Gary Powers sentenced to 10 years in Russian prison”
