ESPIONAGE: It Was Love

As the afternoon recess was called, spectators in the Washington courtroom clung to their seats like grim death, eyes riveted on slim, black-haired Judith Coplon. After seven weeks of sitting by, as loud-mouthed little Defense Attorney Archie Palmer contested espionage charges against her, Judy was going to take the stand. She pushed back her chair at the defense table, walked a few feet, and knelt beside her mother, Mrs. Rebecca Coplon, a black-clad, sorrowing woman.

Mrs. Coplon bit her lips, began to twist a handkerchief. From across the room Archie Palmer rasped: "Try to smile, Mrs. Coplon." The old...