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At some point in 1935-37, [[Whittaker Chambers|Chambers]] [[#refHUAC8-17-48|gave Hiss a rug]] from Bokhara, in [[Soviet]] [[Uzbekistan]]. Just before [[Christmas]] 1936, [[Soviet]] [[Colonel]] [[Boris Bykov]], head of [[GRU|Soviet military intelligence]] in the U.S.,<ref>[[#refSpies09|Haynes, Klehr, Vassiliev 2009]]: 639</ref> had given Chambers $800 (equivalent to approximately [[#refBLS|$13,000 today]]) to buy four [http://justiceiro.smugmug.com/photos/113296067-M.jpg Bokhara rugs] for Hiss, [[Harry Dexter White]], [[George Silverman]], and [[Julian Wadleigh]], according to Chambers; Hiss would later claim that Chambers had given him his rug in 1935 in partial payment for rent.

At some point in 1935-37, [[Whittaker Chambers|Chambers]] [[#refHUAC8-17-48|gave Hiss a rug]] from Bokhara, in [[Soviet]] [[Uzbekistan]]. Just before [[Christmas]] 1936, [[Soviet]] [[Colonel]] [[Boris Bykov]], head of [[GRU|Soviet military intelligence]] in the U.S.,<ref>[[#refSpies09|Haynes, Klehr, Vassiliev 2009]]: 639</ref> had given Chambers $800 (equivalent to approximately [[#refBLS|$13,000 today]]) to buy four [http://justiceiro.smugmug.com/photos/113296067-M.jpg Bokhara rugs] for Hiss, [[Harry Dexter White]], [[George Silverman]], and [[Julian Wadleigh]], according to Chambers; Hiss would later claim that Chambers had given him his rug in 1935 in partial payment for rent.

Chambers' version was corroborated by [[Marxist]]<ref>Alan Wallach, "Marxist Art Historian: Meyer Schapiro, 1904-1996," ''Against the Current'' 62 (May–June 1996), p. 52</ref> [[Columbia University]] [[art]] historian [https://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/04/us/meyer-schapiro-91-is-dead-his-work-wove-art-and-life.html Meyer Schapiro], who confirmed that he arranged the purchase (and produced the canceled check dated December 23, 1936); by the [[Massachusetts]] Importing Company of [[Manhattan]], which confirmed selling him the rugs (and produced the [[Bill of Sale]]); by White's widow and Silverman (who confirmed that they had received their rugs sometime between late 1936 and the fall of 1938); and by Wadleigh, [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00611FE345F177B93CBA91789D95F4D8485F9 who confessed] to having been a member of Chambers' apparatus and delivering documents to him, confirmed that he had received his rug for [[New Year's Day|New Year's]] 1937,<ref>[[#refHK06|Haynes, Klehr 2006]]: 117-118</ref> and conceded that he understood the rug to be a gift [[#refCohen93|from the Soviets]].

Chambers' version was corroborated by [[Marxist]]<ref>Alan Wallach, "[https://solidarity-us.org/atc/62/p2424/ Marxist Art Historian: Meyer Schapiro, 1904-1996]," ''Against the Current'' 62 (May–June 1996), p. 52</ref> [[Columbia University]] [[art]] historian [https://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/04/us/meyer-schapiro-91-is-dead-his-work-wove-art-and-life.html Meyer Schapiro], who confirmed that he arranged the purchase (and produced the canceled check dated December 23, 1936); by the [[Massachusetts]] Importing Company of [[Manhattan]], which confirmed selling him the rugs (and produced the [[Bill of Sale]]); by White's widow and Silverman (who confirmed that they had received their rugs sometime between late 1936 and the fall of 1938); and by Wadleigh, [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00611FE345F177B93CBA91789D95F4D8485F9 who confessed] to having been a member of Chambers' apparatus and delivering documents to him, confirmed that he had received his rug for [[New Year's Day|New Year's]] 1937,<ref>[[#refHK06|Haynes, Klehr 2006]]: 117-118</ref> and conceded that he understood the rug to be a gift [[#refCohen93|from the Soviets]].

By 1937, the peak of [[Stalin]]'s [[Great Purge|Great Terror]]<ref>[[#refConquest91|Conquest 1991]]</ref> (the victims of which would number [https://www.nytimes.com/1990/05/13/books/now-it-can-be-told-even-in-russia.html?pagewanted=all over ten million]), Hiss was delivering packets of documents to [[Whittaker Chambers]] at intervals of a week or ten days, according to Oleg Gordievsky, the [http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4126872,00.html highest-ranking] [[KGB]] officer ever to defect.<ref>[[#AG90|Andrew, Gordievsky 1990]]: 230. In 2008, Gordievsky would become [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7333382.stm partially paralyzed], as a result, he told Scotland Yard, of what he suspected was an assassination attempt.</ref> That June, [http://americanthinker.com/2014/07/diana_and_ron_what_was_going_on_.html at Stalin's behest], FDR abolished the State Department's Eastern European Division, headed by the anti-Communist Robert F. Kelley,<ref>Cathal J. Nolan, ed., ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=kZMeeXLSQhsC Notable U.S. Ambassadors Since 1775: A Biographical Dictionary]'' (Greenwood Publishing Group, 1997) ISBN 0313291950, p. 207</ref> reassigning its staff and dispersing its excellent library.

By 1937, the peak of [[Stalin]]'s [[Great Purge|Great Terror]]<ref>[[#refConquest91|Conquest 1991]]</ref> (the victims of which would number [https://www.nytimes.com/1990/05/13/books/now-it-can-be-told-even-in-russia.html?pagewanted=all over ten million]), Hiss was delivering packets of documents to [[Whittaker Chambers]] at intervals of a week or ten days, according to Oleg Gordievsky, the [http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4126872,00.html highest-ranking] [[KGB]] officer ever to defect.<ref>[[#AG90|Andrew, Gordievsky 1990]]: 230. In 2008, Gordievsky would become [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7333382.stm partially paralyzed], as a result, he told Scotland Yard, of what he suspected was an assassination attempt.</ref> That June, [http://americanthinker.com/2014/07/diana_and_ron_what_was_going_on_.html at Stalin's behest], FDR abolished the State Department's Eastern European Division, headed by the anti-Communist Robert F. Kelley,<ref>Cathal J. Nolan, ed., ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=kZMeeXLSQhsC Notable U.S. Ambassadors Since 1775: A Biographical Dictionary]'' (Greenwood Publishing Group, 1997) ISBN 0313291950, p. 207</ref> reassigning its staff and dispersing its excellent library.