The 1959 film "The FBI Story" is about the life and service of a US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent played by James Stewart. The film begins with a modern (1955) airplane bombing, then moves to middle-aged Agent Hardesty (Stewart) giving a talk to younger agents on director J. Edgar Hoover and the history of the FBI. Agent Hardesty's FBI jobs include stopping the Ku Klux Klan, solving the murders of American Indians who have become wealthy from oil wells, battling various 1930's gangsters and bank robbers including John Dillinger, then working in South America monitoring Nazi smuggling activity. Along the way he marries Lucy, has three children including a son who joins the Marines and is killed in action in World War II, and ends as a senior agent heading the investigation into a pair of Russian spies in New York City. Only the Russian spy episode features a coin, a Franklin half dollar modified to hold small coded messages. The coin accidently comes into the hands of the FBI and leads them to the spies.

After World War II ends, the FBI is ordered to investigate and apprehend spies working for Russia, also known then as the Soviet Union. In early 1950's New York City Bronx section, workers at a cleaning and pressing shop make a discovery.

A worker pressing a suit sees a familiar image.

He asks his partner "when will people learn" to clean out their pockets, the pulls out the coin and throws it onto a table. The coin, a half dollar, splits in half revealing a small piece of microfilm.

The coin is a Franklin half dollar dated 1950. They are named after American Benjamin Franklin who appears on the obverse. These coins were made from 1948 to 1963. The prop coin is a hollow Magician's coin normally used for magic performances.

Silver, 30.60 mm, 12.5 gm

The worker spots the microfilm and calls the FBI who send an agent over. The FBI discovers that the man who owns the suit was a member of various communist groups but dropped out of all of them two years before. The FBI copies the microfilm and returns the coin to the man, who is given the code name "Whitey." Agent Hardesty is sent to New York City and is put in charge of the case.

At a zoo Whitey meets Metzger, a known Russian spy who the FBI has been following for some time. At the New York office, Agent Hardesty gets a call on the red phone.

The red telephone takes calls from only one person, the FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. While Agent Hardesty stays at the office, other agents follow the spies around New York, ending up at Yankee Stadium, the home of the New York Yankees baseball team. Mr. Hoover calls Agent Hardesty again and orders him to have the spies arrested when they pass the coin.

The spy leaves the stadium and then is followed to "Broadway Joe", a small establishment.

Whitey and Metzger meet, watched by FBI agents.

Whitey slides the special coin to Metzger.

An agent grabs the coin which breaks open. Other agents arrest the two men for espionage.

James Stewart as John 'Chip' Hardesty
Vera Miles as Lucy Hardesty
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Writers: Richard L. Breen, John Twist, Don Whitehead (book)