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James Britt Donovan (February 29, 1916 – January 19, 1970) was an American lawyer and
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
officer in the
Office of Scientific Research and Development The Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) was an agency of the United States federal government created to coordinate scientific research for military purposes during World War II. Arrangements were made for its creation during May 1 ...
and the
Office of Strategic Services The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the intelligence agency of the United States during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all branc ...
(OSS, predecessor of the
Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
), ultimately becoming general counsel of the OSS, and an international diplomatic negotiator. Donovan is widely known for negotiating the 1960–1962 exchange of captured American U-2 pilot
Francis Gary Powers Francis Gary Powers (August 17, 1929 – August 1, 1977) was an American pilot whose Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Lockheed U-2 spy plane was shot down while flying a reconnaissance mission in Soviet Union airspace, causing the 1960 U-2 in ...
and American student Frederic Pryor for Soviet spy
Rudolf Abel Rudolf Ivanovich Abel (russian: Рудольф Иванович Абель), real name William August Fisher (11 July 1903 – 15 November 1971), was a Soviet intelligence officer. He adopted his alias when arrested on charges of conspiracy by ...
, and for negotiating the 1962 release and return of 9,703 prisoners held by Cuba after the failed
Bay of Pigs Invasion The Bay of Pigs Invasion (, sometimes called ''Invasión de Playa Girón'' or ''Batalla de Playa Girón'' after the Playa Girón) was a failed military landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in 1961 by Cuban exiles, covertly fin ...
. Donovan was portrayed by
Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...
in the 2015 feature film '' Bridge of Spies''.


Early life and early career

James Britt Donovan was born on February 29, 1916, in
the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...
to of Harriet (née O'Connor), a piano teacher, and John J. Donovan, a surgeon. His brother was New York state senator John J. Donovan Jr. Both sides of the family were of Irish descent. He attended the Catholic All Hallows Institute. In 1933, he began his studies at
Fordham University Fordham University () is a private Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its original campus is located, Fordham is the oldest Catholic and Jesuit un ...
, where he completed a
Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
degree in English in 1937. He wanted to become a journalist but his father convinced him to study law at
Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each c ...
, beginning in autumn of 1937, where he completed his
Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Ch ...
degree in 1940. After graduating from law school, Donovan started work at a private lawyer's office. He was a
commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...
in the Navy during World War II. In 1942, he became associate general counsel at the
Office of Scientific Research and Development The Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) was an agency of the United States federal government created to coordinate scientific research for military purposes during World War II. Arrangements were made for its creation during May 1 ...
. From 1943 to 1945, he was
general counsel A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department. In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...
at the
Office of Strategic Services The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the intelligence agency of the United States during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all branc ...
. In 1945, he became assistant to Justice
Robert H. Jackson Robert Houghwout Jackson (February 13, 1892 – October 9, 1954) was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician who served as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1941 until his death in 1954. He had previously served as Unit ...
at the
Nuremberg trials The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies of World War II, Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II. Between 1939 and 1945 ...
in Germany. Donovan was the presenter of visual evidence at the trial. While he prepared for the trials he also worked as an advisor for the documentary feature '' The Nazi Plan''. In 1950, Donovan became a partner in the New York-based law office of Watters and Donovan, specializing in insurance law.


Release of Gary Powers

In 1957, Donovan defended the Soviet spy
Rudolf Abel Rudolf Ivanovich Abel (russian: Рудольф Иванович Абель), real name William August Fisher (11 July 1903 – 15 November 1971), was a Soviet intelligence officer. He adopted his alias when arrested on charges of conspiracy by ...
in what was known as the Hollow Nickel Case after many other lawyers refused.The Man Who 'Sprung' Powers
. ''The Milwaukee Journal'', 16 February 1962, page 8
He later brought in
Thomas M. Debevoise Thomas M. Debevoise (August 10, 1929 – February 1, 1995) was a Vermont attorney who served as Vermont Attorney General from 1960 to 1962. Biography Thomas McElrath Debevoise 2d was born in New York City on August 10, 1929. He was the son of p ...
to assist him. Abel was convicted at trial, but Donovan was successful in persuading the court not to impose a death sentence. He appealed Abel's case to the
Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
, which in '' Abel v. United States'' was rejected by a 5–4 vote. Donovan's argument was that evidence used against his client had been seized by the FBI in violation of the Fourth Amendment. Chief Justice of the United States
Earl Warren Earl Warren (March 19, 1891 – July 9, 1974) was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served as the 14th Chief Justice of the United States from 1953 to 1969. The Warren Court presided over a major shift in American constitutio ...
praised him and publicly expressed the "gratitude of the entire court" for his taking the case. In 1962, Donovan, who was lead negotiator, and CIA lawyer
Milan C. Miskovsky Milan Carl Miskovsky (May 11, 1926 – October 15, 2009) was an American who served as a member of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He helped negotiate the release of Gary Powers in 1962 and over 1,000 prisoners captured during the 1961 Ba ...
negotiated with Soviet mediators to free captured American pilot
Francis Gary Powers Francis Gary Powers (August 17, 1929 – August 1, 1977) was an American pilot whose Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Lockheed U-2 spy plane was shot down while flying a reconnaissance mission in Soviet Union airspace, causing the 1960 U-2 in ...
. Donovan successfully negotiated for the exchange of Powers, along with American student Frederic Pryor, for the still-imprisoned Rudolf Abel, whom Donovan had defended five years earlier.Donovan, James Britt
in: ''Encyclopedia of the Kennedys: The People and Events That Shaped America.'', page 193, ABC-CLIO, 2012,
This negotiation and preceding events were dramatized by the 2015 historical thriller '' Bridge of Spies'', by Steven Spielberg.


Involvement in Cuba

In June 1962, Donovan was contacted by Cuban exile Pérez Cisneros, who asked him to support the negotiations to free the 1,113 prisoners of the failed
Bay of Pigs Invasion The Bay of Pigs Invasion (, sometimes called ''Invasión de Playa Girón'' or ''Batalla de Playa Girón'' after the Playa Girón) was a failed military landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in 1961 by Cuban exiles, covertly fin ...
.FBK-Dokumentation Nr. 9 – Seite 4
, fg-berlin-kuba.de, access date 23 June 2015
Donovan offered ''
pro bono ( en, 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. In the United States, the term typically refers to provision of legal services by legal professionals for pe ...
'' legal service for the Cuban Families Committee of prisoners' relatives. A few months later, he traveled to Cuba for the first time. Donovan managed to create confidence with Castro, who was pleased Donovan brought his (Donovan's) teenage son with him to Cuba. On December 21, 1962, Castro and Donovan signed an agreement to exchange all 1,113 prisoners for $53 million in food and medicine, sourced from private donations and from companies expecting tax concessions. Donovan had the idea to exchange the prisoners for medicine after he had found out that the Cuban medicine didn't help him with his own
bursitis Bursitis is the inflammation of one or more bursae (fluid filled sacs) of synovial fluid in the body. They are lined with a synovial membrane that secretes a lubricating synovial fluid. There are more than 150 bursae in the human body. The bursae ...
. By the end of the negotiations, July 3, 1963, Donovan had secured the release of 9,703 men, women and children from Cuban detention. Donovan was once again teamed up with CIA lawyer
Milan C. Miskovsky Milan Carl Miskovsky (May 11, 1926 – October 15, 2009) was an American who served as a member of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He helped negotiate the release of Gary Powers in 1962 and over 1,000 prisoners captured during the 1961 Ba ...
on these negotiations. For his work, Donovan received the
Distinguished Intelligence Medal The Distinguished Intelligence Medal is awarded by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency for performance of outstanding services or for achievement of a distinctly exceptional nature in a duty or responsibility. Recipients This list includes only ...
.


Later life and death

From 1961 to 1963, Donovan was vice president of the New York Board of Education, and from 1963 until 1965, he was the president of the board. In June 1962, his alma mater Fordham presented Donovan with an honorary degree. In 1962, he was the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in New York but lost in November 1962 to Republican incumbent
Jacob K. Javits Jacob Koppel Javits ( ; May 18, 1904 – March 7, 1986) was an American lawyer and politician. During his time in politics, he represented the state of New York in both houses of the United States Congress. A member of the Republican Party, he a ...
. In 1968, Donovan was appointed president of
Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was founded in 1887 ...
. He died of a heart attack on January 19, 1970, in Brooklyn's Methodist Hospital in New York, after being treated for
influenza Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptom ...
.Alt URL
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Personal life

In 1941, Donovan married Mary E. McKenna, who was also an
Irish American , image = Irish ancestry in the USA 2018; Where Irish eyes are Smiling.png , image_caption = Irish Americans, % of population by state , caption = Notable Irish Americans , population = 36,115,472 (10.9%) alone ...
. The couple had a son and three daughters, and lived in
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, New York, while also maintaining seasonal residences in Spring Lake on the
Jersey Shore The Jersey Shore (known by locals simply as the Shore) is the coastal region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. Geographically, the term encompasses about of oceanfront bordering the Atlantic Ocean, from Perth Amboy in the north to Cape May P ...
,
New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...
, and Lake Placid,
New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. sta ...
, where Donovan is buried alongside his wife and daughter. He was a rare book collector, golfer, tennis player and gin rummy player. A collection of his papers is held at
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...
's Hoover Library & Archives.


In popular culture

The story of the Abel trial and defense, followed by the negotiation and prisoner exchange, was the basis for the book ''Strangers on a Bridge: The Case of Colonel Abel and Francis Gary Powers'', written by Donovan and
ghost writer A ghostwriter is hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are officially credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often ...
Bard Lindeman, which was published in 1964. Several similar works would come later, but ''Strangers'' was the definitive work and was widely critically acclaimed. The book was re-released by Simon & Schuster in August 2015. In 1967, Donovan published his second book, ''Challenges: Reflections of a Lawyer-at-Large''. James Gregory played Donovan in the 1976 TV movie ''
Francis Gary Powers Francis Gary Powers (August 17, 1929 – August 1, 1977) was an American pilot whose Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Lockheed U-2 spy plane was shot down while flying a reconnaissance mission in Soviet Union airspace, causing the 1960 U-2 in ...
: The True Story of the U-2 Spy Incident'', based on Powers' biography (written with Curt Gentry).
Lee Majors Lee Majors (born Harvey Lee Yeary; April 23, 1939) is an American actor. Majors portrayed the characters of Heath Barkley in the American television Western series ''The Big Valley'' (1965–1969), Colonel Steve Austin in the American televisio ...
played Powers. In 2006, Philip J. Bigger published a biography of Donovan, ''Negotiator: The Life and Career of James B. Donovan''., which was re-released in paperback in January 2017. Though not officially the basis for the movie '' Bridge of Spies'', Donovan's ''Strangers on a Bridge'' is the closest, and is the only first-hand narrative to the dramatic events in the Oscar-winning movie. The 1964 New York Times Best Seller repeated itself in 2015, becoming #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list for espionage books. The book has been widely acclaimed, including by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. The re-issue coincided with the pre-release promotion for the movie, directed by
Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Sp ...
and written by Matt Charman and the
Coen Brothers Joel Daniel Coen (born November 29, 1954) and Ethan Jesse Coen (born September 21, 1957),State of Minnesota. ''Minnesota Birth Index, 1935–2002''. Minnesota Department of Health. collectively known as the Coen brothers (), are American film ...
, which was released on October 16, 2015.
Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...
plays the role of Donovan, with
Amy Ryan Amy Beth Dziewiontkowski, known professionally as Amy Ryan, is an American actress of stage and screen. A graduate of New York's High School of Performing Arts, she is an Academy Award nominee and two-time Tony Award nominee. Ryan began her pr ...
as his wife, Mary.


Honors

In October 2016,
Fordham University Fordham University () is a private Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its original campus is located, Fordham is the oldest Catholic and Jesuit un ...
inducted Donovan into its Hall of Honor in conjunction with its Dodransbicentennial, the 175th anniversary of the school, in a mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral with Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who was also named a founder of the school. Fordham was founded by Archbishop Hughes, who is an ancestor of Donovan. Also in October 2016, Donovan was inducted into the All Hallows School Hall of Fame.


Works

* Donovan, James Britt (1964). ''Strangers on a Bridge, The Case of Colonel Abel.'' Atheneum. * Donovan, James B. (1967). ''Challenges: Reflections of a Lawyer-at-Large.'' Atheneum, with a preface by former Dean of Harvard Law School, Erwin Griswold. * Bigger, Philip. (2005). ''Negotiator: The Life and Career of James B. Donovan; Lehigh University Press, 2005.


References


Further reading

*


External links


Register of the James B. Donovan Papers
an
selected documents online
at th
Hoover Institution Archives
at
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Donovan, James B. 1916 births 1970 deaths American people of Irish descent Fordham University alumni Harvard Law School alumni Lawyers from New York City Military personnel from New York City People of the Central Intelligence Agency Recipients of the Distinguished Intelligence Medal United States Navy officers People from the Bronx Presidents of Pratt Institute School board members in New York (state) 20th-century American lawyers O'Donovan family United States Navy personnel of World War II 20th-century American academics