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In early 1938, in Paris, defecting former [[GRU]] chief in Europe [[Walter Krivitsky]] (who would be found shot dead in his Washington hotel room in 1941) told [[Alexander Barmine]], former Charge d'Affairs at the Soviet Embassy in Athens, who had defected the year before, that Alger Hiss was an agent of Soviet military intelligence, according to Barmine.<ref>FBI Report: Alger Hiss, February 4, 1949</ref>

In early 1938, in Paris, defecting former [[GRU]] chief in Europe [[Walter Krivitsky]] (who would be found shot dead in his Washington hotel room in 1941) told [[Alexander Barmine]], former Charge d'Affairs at the Soviet Embassy in Athens, who had defected the year before, that Alger Hiss was an agent of Soviet military intelligence, according to Barmine.<ref>FBI Report: Alger Hiss, February 4, 1949</ref>

The same year, French Premier [[Edouard Daladier]] informed Bullitt that two brothers named Hiss, both in the U.S. government, were Soviet agents.<ref>Ralph de Toledano, “[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_n3_v13/ai_19048238 Embarrassment aided and abetted the Top Soviet spy - Alger Hiss],” ''Insight on the News'', January 27, 1997</ref> Bullitt “laughed it off as a tall tale, never having heard their names.”<ref>Ralph De Toledano, “The Last Word,” ''Insight on the News'', December 17, 2001</ref> The same year, [[Whittaker Chambers]] made his final break with the Communists,<ref>Whittaker Chambers, ''Witness'' (Regnery Publishing, 1952) ISBN 0-89526-789-6, p. 25</ref> asking his wife's nephew<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, p. 319</ref> to hide a packet of copies of documents, hand-written memos and microfilm of documents for him.<ref>Whittaker Chambers, ''Witness'' (Regnery Publishing, 1952) ISBN 0-89526-789-6, p. 40-41</ref>

The same year, French Premier [[Edouard Daladier]] informed Bullitt that two brothers named Hiss, both in the U.S. government, were Soviet agents.<ref>Ralph de Toledano, “[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_n3_v13/ai_19048238 Embarrassment aided and abetted the Top Soviet spy - Alger Hiss],” ''Insight on the News'', January 27, 1997</ref> Bullitt “laughed it off as a tall tale, never having heard their names.”<ref>Ralph De Toledano, “The Last Word,” ''Insight on the News'', December 17, 2001</ref> The same year, [[Whittaker Chambers]] made his final break with the Communists,<ref>Whittaker Chambers, ''Witness'' (Regnery Publishing, 1952) ISBN 0-89526-789-6, p. 25</ref> asking his wife's nephew<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, p. 319</ref> to hide a packet of copies of documents, hand-written memos and microfilm of documents for him.<ref>Whittaker Chambers, ''Witness'' (Regnery Publishing, 1952) ISBN 0-89526-789-6, p. 40-41</ref>

During the [[Hitler-Stalin pact]], [[Roy Hudson]] and [[Robert Minor]] were discussing an attack on the Communist Party organ ''The Daily Worker'' at the National Headquarters of the [[Communist Party]]. Someone mentioned that [[Nathan Witt]] and [[Lee Pressman]] could not be of much help as they, too, were under attack at the time; Alger Hiss was then mentioned as a good Comrade who would be helpful, according to former [[CPUSA]] Politburo member Louis Budenz, editor of the ''Daily Worker''.<ref>FBI memorandum: Ladd to Hoover, January 28, 1949 (FBI file: Hiss-Chambers, Vol. 44), p. 30</ref>

During the [[Hitler-Stalin pact]], [[Roy Hudson]] and [[Robert Minor]] were discussing an attack on the Communist Party organ ''The Daily Worker'' at the National Headquarters of the [[Communist Party]]. Someone mentioned that [[Nathan Witt]] and [[Lee Pressman]] could not be of much help as they, too, were under attack at the time; Alger Hiss was then mentioned as a good Comrade who would be helpful, according to former [[CPUSA]] Politburo member Louis Budenz, editor of the ''Daily Worker''.<ref>FBI memorandum: Ladd to Hoover, January 28, 1949 (FBI file: Hiss-Chambers, Vol. 44), p. 30</ref>

In 1940, after Levine informed Bullitt of what Chambers had told him about Hiss, Bullitt relayed to Hiss' superior, [[Stanley Hornbeck]], what Daladier had told him. Bullitt advised [[Alice Roosevelt Longworth]] and de Toledano that he also took this information directly to FDR.<ref>Ralph De Toledano, “The Last Word,” ''Insight on the News'', December 17, 2001</ref>

In 1940, after Levine informed Bullitt of what Chambers had told him about Hiss, Bullitt relayed to Hiss' superior, [[Stanley Hornbeck]], what Daladier had told him. Bullitt advised [[Alice Roosevelt Longworth]] and de Toledano that he also took this information directly to FDR.<ref>Ralph De Toledano, “The Last Word,” ''Insight on the News'', December 17, 2001</ref>

Levine also told [[David Dubinsky]], president of the [[International Ladies Garment Workers Union]], about Chambers' revelations. Dubinsky, wrote Levine, "took up the Chambers matter with the President at the first opportunity and was brushed off with an amiable slap on the back." Levine wrote that he also told fellow journalist [[Walter Winchell]] of "a ring of six Soviet agents operating within the State Department alone. In his broadcast of December 12, Winchell announced that he had carried my information to President Roosevelt. Still there was no action."<ref>Isaac Don Levine, ''Eyewitness To History: Memoirs and Reflections of a Foreign Correspondent for Half a Century'' (Stroud, Glos.: Hawthorn Books, 1973) ASIN B000ONBAW0, pp. 197-9</ref> Winchell's posthumously published memoir confirms Levine's story.<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, p. 331</ref>

Levine also told [[David Dubinsky]], president of the [[International Ladies Garment Workers Union]], about Chambers' revelations. Dubinsky, wrote Levine, "took up the Chambers matter with the President at the first opportunity and was brushed off with an amiable slap on the back." Levine wrote that he also told fellow journalist [[Walter Winchell]] of "a ring of six Soviet agents operating within the State Department alone. In his broadcast of December 12, Winchell announced that he had carried my information to President Roosevelt. Still there was no action."<ref>Isaac Don Levine, ''Eyewitness To History: Memoirs and Reflections of a Foreign Correspondent for Half a Century'' (Stroud, Glos.: Hawthorn Books, 1973) ASIN B000ONBAW0, pp. 197-9</ref> Winchell's posthumously published memoir confirms Levine's story.<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, p. 331</ref>

Hiss was now among a handful of the Soviets' most important agents, who were run individually and not through spy networks, according to [[Oleg Gordievsky]]. Hiss' wartime controller, wrote Gordievsky, was the leading [[NKVD]] illegal in the United States, [[Iskhak Abdulovich Akhmerov]],<ref>Douglas O. Linder, [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/hissvenona.html The VENONA Files and the Alger Hiss Case]," Famous Trials: The Alger Hiss Trials, 1949-50 (University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law)</ref> who, in a lecture before a [[KGB]] audience, identified Hiss as a Soviet agent during World War II.<ref>Christopher Andrew and Oleg Gordievsky, ''KGB: The Inside Story of Its Foreign Operations from Lenin to Gorbachev'' (New York: Harpercollins, 1990) ISBN 0060166053, p. 287</ref>

Hiss was now among a handful of the Soviets' most important agents, who were run individually and not through spy networks, according to [[Oleg Gordievsky]]. Hiss' wartime controller, wrote Gordievsky, was the leading [[NKVD]] illegal in the United States, [[Iskhak Abdulovich Akhmerov]],<ref>Douglas O. Linder, [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/hissvenona.html The VENONA Files and the Alger Hiss Case]," Famous Trials: The Alger Hiss Trials, 1949-50 (University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law)</ref> who, in a lecture before a [[KGB]] audience, identified Hiss as a Soviet agent during World War II.<ref>Christopher Andrew and Oleg Gordievsky, ''KGB: The Inside Story of Its Foreign Operations from Lenin to Gorbachev'' (New York: Harpercollins, 1990) ISBN 0060166053, p. 287</ref>

== House Committee on Un-American Activities ==

== House Committee on Un-American Activities ==

In 1948, the House Committee on Un-American Activities called [[Whittaker Chambers]]. He testified that Alger Hiss, assisted by his wife Priscilla, had been a member of the underground apparatus of the [[Communist Party of the United States|Communist Party]] in the late 1930s, while he was a Federal official.<ref>[http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/8-3testimony.html Testimony of Whittaker Chambers before the House Committee on Un-American Activities] (August 3, 1948)</ref> The purpose of the [[Ware Group]], he testified, was to promote communist policies in U.S. government.When Chambers testified against Hiss, wrote Sudoplatov, "we considered this to be a setback for [[GRU]] intelligence activities in the United States."<ref>Anatoli Sudoplatov, Pavel Sudoplatov, Leona P. Schecter and Jerrold L. Schecter, ''Special Tasks'' (New York: Back Bay Books, 1995) ISBN 0316821152, p. 228</ref>

In 1948, the House Committee on Un-American Activities called [[Whittaker Chambers]]. He testified that Alger Hiss, assisted by his wife Priscilla, had been a member of the underground apparatus of the [[Communist Party of the United States|Communist Party]] in the late 1930s, while he was a Federal official.<ref>[http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/8-3testimony.html Testimony of Whittaker Chambers before the House Committee on Un-American Activities] (August 3, 1948)</ref> The purpose of the [[Ware Group]], he testified, was to promote communist policies in U.S. government. When Chambers testified against Hiss, wrote Sudoplatov, "we considered this to be a setback for [[GRU]] intelligence activities in the United States."<ref>Anatoli Sudoplatov, Pavel Sudoplatov, Leona P. Schecter and Jerrold L. Schecter, ''Special Tasks'' (New York: Back Bay Books, 1995) ISBN 0316821152, p. 228</ref>

After ''Time'' magazine managing editor [[Whittaker Chambers]] charged him as being a [[Communist]], Alger Hiss voluntarily appeared before the [[House Committee on Un-American Activities]]. Some Committee members had misgivings at first about attacking Hiss, but Congressman [[Richard Nixon]], who was fed information by the Catholic Church's secretive Communist hunter, Father [[John Francis Cronin|John Cronin]], and using materials from the [[FBI]], claimed to have sensed that Hiss was hiding something and pressed the Committee to act. Initially, Hiss denied having ever known Chambers and dared Chambers to repeat the charge.

Two days after Chambers testified, President Truman reviewed Hiss’ FBI file and pronounced Hiss “guilty as hell,” telling White House Special Counsel Samuel Rosenman, “We shouldn't just indict this son of a bitch. We should hang him.” Five minutes later, Truman blustered to a press conference that the Hiss case was just an election-year “red herring.” When Rosenman later asked why he had lied, Truman explained, “You don't understand. The Republicans aren't after Alger Hiss. They're after me. I had to take the political view.”<ref>Ralph de Toledano, “[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_n3_v13/ai_19048238 Embarrassment aided and abetted the Top Soviet spy - Alger Hiss],” ''Insight on the News'', January 27, 1997</ref> The same day, Hiss appeared before the committee to deny Chambers' charges "unqualifiedly."

After Chambers publicly reiterated his charge that Hiss was working for the Soviets on the radio program "Meet the Press," Hiss instituted an unsuccessful slander lawsuit against Chambers, but only after several of his supporters began to publicly question his curious reluctance to file an action. Chambers, in response, presented the "Baltimore Documents", which were copies of a series of government documents that he had obtained from Hiss in the 1930s. The government documents had first been re-typed by Hiss's wife, Priscilla, and these copies were then photographed and passed on to the spy network. Later Chambers produced highly incriminating microfilm evidence which was given to Nixon on December 2nd, from a hollowed-out pumpkin on his Maryland farm (the so-called [[Pumpkin Papers]]).

Truman aide George Elsie wrote to White House Counsel [[Clark Clifford]], "Justice should make every effort to ascertain if Whittaker Chambers is guilty of perjury." No suggestion was made that Justice make any effort at all to ascertain if <i>Hiss</i> might be guilty of perjury, but a handwritten insertion advised "Investigation of Chambers' confinement in a mental institution."<ref>George M. Elsey, [https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/venona-soviet-espionage-and-the-american-response-1939-1957/21.gif Memorandum for Mr. Clifford], 16 August 1948, Harry S. Truman Library, Clark M. Clifford Papers, "Loyalty Investigations," box 11</ref> Again, there was no suggestion that Hiss' mental health might be subject of investigation.

That year, after reviewing Hiss’ FBI file, President Truman pronounced Hiss “guilty as hell,” telling White House Special Counsel Samuel Rosenman, “We shouldn't just indict this son of a bitch. We should hang him.” Five minutes later, Truman blustered to a press conference that the Hiss case was just an election-year “red herring.” When Rosenman later asked why he had lied, Truman explained, “You don't understand. The Republicans aren't after Alger Hiss. They're after me. I had to take the political view.”<ref>Ralph de Toledano, “[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_n3_v13/ai_19048238 Embarrassment aided and abetted the Top Soviet spy - Alger Hiss],” ''Insight on the News'', January 27, 1997</ref>

Hiss dared Chambers to repeat his charges outside of the immunity afforded in congressional hearings, so Hiss could sue him. On NBC's ''Meet the Press,'' Chambers called Hiss' bluff, saying, "Alger Hiss was a Communist and may be now."<ref>[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17982730/page/5/ Meet the Press Transcript for April 8, 2007, p. 5]</ref> Embarrassment mounted among Hiss' supporters as a month dragged by and still no suit was filed. Even the ''Washington Post'' began to have doubts.<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, p. 162</ref> Finally, on September 28, Hiss filed his long-threatened slander suit against Chambers.

Shortly before the Hiss indictment in 1948, the New York bureau of the ''Christian Science Monitor'' teletyped this message to the home office in Boston:

 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas J. Donegan told the FBI that Assistant Attorney General Alexander M. Campbell, head of the Criminal Division at Truman Justice, “now wants to institute perjury charges against Chambers” for not revealing the documents before this. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover's handwritten addendum comments, “I wonder why they don't move against Hiss also.”<ref>FBI memorandum: Ladd to Hoover, November 23, 1948 (FBI file: Hiss-Chambers, Vol. 1)</ref> The following week

 

On December 2, in response to a subpoena, Chambers led HUAC investigators to highly incriminating microfilm evidence, which he had secreted in a hollowed-out pumpkin on his Maryland farm (the so-called [[Pumpkin Papers]]). The same day, on an FBI memorandum detailing the investigation of Chambers for perjury ordered by Truman Justice, Hoover penned, "I can't understand why such effort is being made to indict Chambers to the exclusion of Hiss."<ref>FBI memorandum: Fletcher to Ladd, December 2, 1948 (FBI file: Hiss-Chambers, Vol. 2)</ref> As late as December 6, the day the grand jury was convened, Truman Justice was still contemplating "bringing an indictment against Chambers for perjury."<ref>FBI memorandum: Fletcher to Ladd, December 6, 1948 (FBI file: Hiss-Chambers, Vol. 2)</ref>

 

On December 15, Hiss testified before the grand jury that he never gave any documents to Whittaker Chambers, and that he had no contact with Chambers after January 1, 1937. Later that day, the grand jury indicted Hiss on two counts of perjury, charging that he lied under oath in both these statements. Because the statute of limitations had expired, the grand jury could not consider espionage charges.

 

Shortly before the indictment, the New York bureau of the ''Christian Science Monitor'' teletyped this message to the home office in Boston:

{{cquote|From a thoroughly reliable contact [Arnold Beichman, then publicity director for New York's Liberal Party, of which former Assistant Secretary of State Berle was chairman]: According to this informant Berle has said privately that classified material which Hiss was handling was reaching the Russians. It was coded stuff. Berle took the handling out of Hiss' hands and the leaks stopped. <ref>Ralph de Toledano, “[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_n3_v13/ai_19048238 Embarrassment aided and abetted the Top Soviet spy - Alger Hiss],” ''Insight on the News'', January 27, 1997</ref>}}

{{cquote|From a thoroughly reliable contact [Arnold Beichman, then publicity director for New York's Liberal Party, of which former Assistant Secretary of State Berle was chairman]: According to this informant Berle has said privately that classified material which Hiss was handling was reaching the Russians. It was coded stuff. Berle took the handling out of Hiss' hands and the leaks stopped. <ref>Ralph de Toledano, “[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_n3_v13/ai_19048238 Embarrassment aided and abetted the Top Soviet spy - Alger Hiss],” ''Insight on the News'', January 27, 1997</ref>}}