3/20/2023 0 Comments Algier hiss![]() Hiss had accompanied President Franklin D. Hiss was accused in 1948 of having been a Communist spy while working in the State Department in the 1930's.īy the time the charge surfaced in the late 1940's, Mr. Nixon to national attention and helped lay the groundwork for McCarthyism, Mr. government by the Soviets during the Cold War.Alger Hiss, the erudite diplomat and Harvard-trained government lawyer who was convicted of perjury in an espionage case that became one of the great riddles of the Cold War, died yesterday at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. Sixty-three years ago today, he was sentenced to five years in prison, ending an important case that helped further confirm the increasing penetration of the U.S. In 1949, the first trial resulted in a hung jury, but in 1950, Hiss was convicted. ![]() An extensive FBI investigation helped develop a great deal of evidence verifying Chambers’ statements and revealing Hiss’ cover-ups. Hiss was charged with perjury he could not be indicted for espionage because the statute of limitations had run out. It was the smoking gun the Justice Department needed. The two revelations, which became known as the “Pumpkin Papers,” contained images of State Department materials-including notes in Hiss’ own handwriting. Then, in early December, Chambers provided the committee with a package of microfilm and other information he had hidden inside a pumpkin on his Maryland farm. Who was telling the truth, Hiss or Chambers? And should either be charged with perjury?Ī key turn of events came in November 1948, when Chambers produced documents showing both he and Hiss were committing espionage. In later testimony, Hiss admitted knowing Chambers in the 1930s, but he continued to deny any ties to communism and later filed a libel suit against his accuser. It could have ended there, but members of the committee-especially then-California Congressman Richard Nixon-prodded Chambers into disclosing information suggesting there was more to his story and his relationship with Hiss. View Soviet spy Elizabeth Bentley’s FBI file. After all, Chambers had offered no proof that Hiss had committed espionage or been previously connected to Bentley or the communist group. In later testimony, Hiss vehemently denied the accusation. He ultimately acknowledged he was part of the communist underground in the 1930s and that Hiss and others had been members of the group. Details leaked to the press, and the investigation became national news and embroiled in partisan politics in the run up to the 1948 presidential election.Ĭhambers, who had renounced the Communist Party in the late 1930s, testified reluctantly that hot summer day. As the investigation into Bentley and related matters deepened in 19, Congress became aware of and concerned about the case. The FBI immediately began probing her claims to ensure those who were credibly named-including Hiss-did not continue to have access to government secrets or power. ![]() One official she named as possibly connected to the Soviets was Alger Hiss. ![]() In August 1948, Whittaker Chambers-a senior editor at Time magazine-was called by the House Committee on Un-American Activities to corroborate the testimony of Elizabeth Bentley, a Soviet spy who had defected in 1945 and accused dozens of members of the U.S. The central issue of the trial was espionage. The verdict? Guilty on two counts of perjury.Īlger Hiss, a well-educated and well-connected former government lawyer and State Department official who helped create the United Nations in the aftermath of World War II, was headed to prison in Atlanta for lying to a federal grand jury. The jury returned from its deliberations on January 21, 1950-63 years ago this month.
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