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More than a year ago, Donovan got a letter from East Berlin, signed by someone purporting to be Abel's wife. It inquired about the chances for pardon or commutation of Abel's sentence. Donovan promptly took it to the Justice Department. The official answer was negative: there was no legal reason for letting Abel off early. But unofficially, Donovan was encouraged to look into the prospects of an Abel-Powers exchange. He continued his correspondence with East Berlin. By last month, matters had progressed to the point where Donovan, with the full knowledge and approval of the Kennedy Administration, traveled to East Berlin to negotiate with parties still unidentified.
Desire for Improvement. Donovan's mission was successful. He sent word to Washington that the Communists were agreeable to an exchange of spies. Last week, under a commutation order signed by President Kennedy and Attorney General Robert Kennedy, Russia's Abel was secretly taken from the Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta in preparation for his flight to Berlin.
Within five minutes of the exchange last weekend, word was flashed to the White House, where President Kennedy had slipped away from a dinner-dance to await the news. When it came, at 2:52 a.m. (E.S.T.), Press Secretary Pierre Salinger had White House correspondents phoned at their homes, routed from bed and summoned to the White House. In Moscow, the announcement of Powers' release was made later—and was explained as being motivated by the Kremlin's desire "for an improvement in relations between the U.S.S.R. and the U.S.A." There was not a word about Spy Abel, who is still an unperson in the U.S.S.R.