In 1962, the United States and the Soviet Union exchanged spies in a prisoner exchange. The American spy was Rudolf ABEL, a four-letter name, who had been arrested in 1957 for espionage. ABEL was exchanged for Francis Gary Powers, an American U-2 pilot who had been shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960. This exchange marked the first time that the two superpowers had engaged in a direct exchange of prisoners.