Reunion in Vienna: Vogeler Freed on Spy Charge

Red talks about how he got this photo. Listen (3:17)

American Robert Vogeler was living in Vienna and working for I T & T in Hungary. He was arrested in Hungary and accused of spying for the U.S. and was sentenced to serve out his time in a Hungarian jail. Seventeen months later the State Department notified the press that they had bargained for an early release of Vogeler. A large press corps gathered to cover his return, but Grandy befriended the security guards, found out what car would deliver him and where, and snapped this picture of Vogeler embracing his wife Lucille outside their Vienna home before other photographers could get there. In order to get his scoop in print, Grandy took the overnight Orient Express to Munich, and borrowed a company car to Darmstadt in the afternoon. It appeared first in Stars and Stripes, and was picked up by the wire services for newspapers and magazines, including the Saturday Evening Post. AP selected it as the second best news photo of the year, behind the Eisenhower photo. 28 April 1951.

Photo © 1951 Stars and Stripes