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Oscar Countdown

In the Best Picture category for The 88th Academy Awards 2016 that will take place on Sunday, February 28, today we cover Bridge of Spies: During the Cold War, an American lawyer is recruited to defend an arrested Soviet spy in court, and then help the CIA facilitate an exchange of the spy for the Soviet captured American U2 spy plane pilot, Francis Gary Powers. Powers was an American pilot whose Central Intelligence Agency U-2 spy plane was shot down while flying a reconnaissance mission in Soviet Union airspace, causing the 1960 U-2 incident. Directed by Stephen Spielberg, the film boasts an amazing cast including Tom Hanks, Mark Ralance and Alan Alda. Hollywood on the Potomac loves spy stories, especially ones based on true stories.

Here’s the take: The U-2 incident (no, not Bono) caused an international diplomatic crisis May of 1960. “Confronted with the evidence of his nation’s espionage, President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969) was forced to admit to the Soviets that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had been flying spy missions over the USSR for several years. The Soviets convicted Powers on espionage charges and sentenced him to 10 years in prison. However, after serving less than two years, he was released in exchange for a captured Soviet agent in the first-ever U.S.-USSR “spy swap.” The U-2 spy plane incident raised tensions between the U.S. and the Soviets during the Cold War (1945-91), the largely political clash between the two superpowers and their allies that emerged following World War II.” History Channel