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By 1937, the peak of Stalin's [[Great Purge|Great Terror]]<ref>Robert Conquest,''The Great Terror: A Reassessment'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), ISBN 0195071328</ref> (whose victims would number over ten million),<ref>Norman Davis, "[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CEFD6123FF930A25756C0A966958260 Now It Can Be Told, Even in Russia]," ''The New York Times'',  May 13, 1990</ref> Hiss was delivering packets of documents to [[Whittaker Chambers]] at intervals of a week or ten days, according to [[Oleg Gordievsky]], the [[KGB]] London station chief who defected in 1985.<ref>Peter B. Niblo, ''Influence: The Soviet Task Leading to Pearl Harbor, the Iron Curtain, and the Cold War'' (Oakland, OR: Elderberry Press, 2002) ISBN 1930859147, p. 65</ref>

By 1937, the peak of Stalin's [[Great Purge|Great Terror]]<ref>Robert Conquest,''The Great Terror: A Reassessment'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), ISBN 0195071328</ref> (whose victims would number over ten million),<ref>Norman Davis, "[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CEFD6123FF930A25756C0A966958260 Now It Can Be Told, Even in Russia]," ''The New York Times'',  May 13, 1990</ref> Hiss was delivering packets of documents to [[Whittaker Chambers]] at intervals of a week or ten days, according to [[Oleg Gordievsky]], the [[KGB]] London station chief who defected in 1985.<ref>Peter B. Niblo, ''Influence: The Soviet Task Leading to Pearl Harbor, the Iron Curtain, and the Cold War'' (Oakland, OR: Elderberry Press, 2002) ISBN 1930859147, p. 65</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 [[Édouard Daladier]] informed Bullitt that two brothers named Hiss, both in the U.S. government, were Soviet agents.

<ref>Testimony of Ambassador William Bullitt, April 8, 1952, “Communist influence on U.S. policies in the Far East,” Hearings Before the Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and other Internal Security Laws of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Eighty-Second Congress, Second Session. Hearings: March 13, 1951 to June 20, 1952; Report: July 2, 1952</ref><ref>"French in 1939 Called Hiss Red, Bullitt Says", ''Washington Post'', April 9, 1952</ref><ref>Jim Caldwell, “[http://w4.pica.army.mil/voice/voice2002/020419/KoreaApr4-10.htm Korea - 50 years ago this week, April 4 - 10, 1952],” Army News Service, April 1, 2002</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, French Premier [[Édouard Daladier]] informed Bullitt that two brothers named Hiss, both in the U.S. government, were Soviet agents.

Also that year, NKVD illegal [[Iskhak Abdulovich Akhmerov]] cabled Moscow that [[Michael Straight]] (code-named "Nigel"), an American member of the NKVD's [[Cambridge Five|Cambridge spy ring]]<ref>Richard Norton-Taylor, "[http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2004/jan/09/guardianobituaries.usa Michael Straight: Cambridge spy whose testimony was crucial in exposing Anthony Blunt]," ''The Guardian'', January 9, 2004</ref> (and future publisher of ''The New Republic''), then working at the State Department, mentioned Hiss as someone with "progressive" views "who occupied a responsible position."<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Random House, 1997 ed.), pp. 183-184</ref> Akhmerov worried that Straight "might guess that Hiss belongs to our family" or "find out Hiss's nature" as a [[GRU]] agent.<ref>John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, ''Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999) ISBN 0300077718, pp. 155-156</ref>

<ref>Testimony of Ambassador William Bullitt, April 8, 1952, “Communist influence on U.S. policies in the Far East,” Hearings Before the Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and other Internal Security Laws of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Eighty-Second Congress, Second Session. Hearings: March 13, 1951 to June 20, 1952; Report: July 2, 1952</ref><ref>"French in 1939 Called Hiss Red, Bullitt Says", ''Washington Post'', April 9, 1952</ref><ref>Jim Caldwell, “[http://w4.pica.army.mil/voice/voice2002/020419/KoreaApr4-10.htm Korea - 50 years ago this week, April 4 - 10, 1952],” Army News Service, April 1, 2002</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> Also that 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>

Also in 1938, NKVD illegal [[Iskhak Abdulovich Akhmerov]] cabled Moscow that [[Michael Straight]] (code-named "Nigel"), an American member of the NKVD's [[Cambridge Five|Cambridge spy ring]]<ref>Richard Norton-Taylor, "[http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2004/jan/09/guardianobituaries.usa Michael Straight: Cambridge spy whose testimony was crucial in exposing Anthony Blunt]," ''The Guardian'', January 9, 2004</ref> (and future publisher of ''The New Republic''), then working at the State Department, mentioned Hiss as someone with "progressive" views "who occupied a responsible position."<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Random House, 1997 ed.), pp. 183-184</ref> Akhmerov worried that Straight "might guess that Hiss belongs to our family" or "find out Hiss's nature" as a [[GRU]] agent.<ref>John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, ''Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999) ISBN 0300077718, pp. 155-156</ref>

Also in 1938, [[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>

In 1939, Hiss became personal aide to [[Stanley Hornbeck]], the State Department's adviser on Far Eastern Affairs. During the [[Hitler-Stalin pact]], Communist Party official [[Roy Hudson]] and Soviet agent [[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 1939, Hiss became personal aide to [[Stanley Hornbeck]], the State Department's adviser on Far Eastern Affairs. During the [[Hitler-Stalin pact]], Communist Party official [[Roy Hudson]] and Soviet agent [[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>

When news of the [[Hitler-Stalin pact]] broke on August 23, 1939, [[Walter Krivitsky]], former chief of [[GRU|Soviet military intelligence]] in Europe, who had defected in Paris two years earlier,<ref>Roman Brackman, ''The Secret File of Joseph Stalin: A Hidden Life'' (Florence, Ky: Routledge, 2001) ISBN:0714650501, p. 299</ref> warned his ''Saturday Evening Post'' ghostwriter, [[Isaac Don Levine]], "Everything that went on in the [U.S.] embassy [in Moscow], especially the major communications between Washington and Bullitt, were quickly relayed to the Soviet secret police."<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, p. 191</ref>

The year before, in Paris, defecting former [[GRU]] chief in Europe [[Walter Krivitsky]]<ref>Roman Brackman, ''The Secret File of Joseph Stalin: A Hidden Life'' (Florence, Ky: Routledge, 2001) ISBN:0714650501, p. 299</ref> had identified Hiss as an agent of [[GRU|Soviet military intelligence]], according to [[Alexander Barmine]], former Charge d'Affairs at the Soviet Embassy in Athens, who had defected in 1937.<ref>FBI Report: Alger Hiss, February 4, 1949</ref> When news of the [[Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact]] (which Krivitsky had predicted)<ref>Julien Steinberg, ''Verdict of Three Decades: From the Literature of Individual Revolt Against Soviet Communism, 1917-1950'' (Manchester, NH: Ayer Publishing, 1971) ISBN 0836920775, p. 358</ref> broke on August 23, 1939, Krivitsky warned his ''Saturday Evening Post'' ghostwriter, [[Isaac Don Levine]], "Everything that went on in the [U.S.] embassy [in Moscow], especially the major communications between Washington and Bullitt, were quickly relayed to the Soviet secret police."<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, p. 191</ref> (Krivitsky would be found shot dead in his Washington hotel room in 1941.<ref>Roland Perry, ''Last of the Cold War Spies: The Life of Michael Straight&mdashThe Only American in Britain's Cambridge Spy Ring'' (Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Press, 2006) ISBN 030681482X, p. 131</ref> Although he had warned his friends that if he were to be found dead, then he had been murdered, his death was ruled a suicide.<ref>Phillip Knightley, "[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4159/is_20061126/ai_n16876480 Ignore the conspiracies. Spies never forgive a traitor],"

''The Independent on Sunday'',  November 26, 2006</ref> Krivitsky had been liquidated by one of the NKVD's Mobile Groups for Special Tasks, according to former Soviet espionage official Alexander Orlov.<ref>Alexander Orlov, ''The Secret History of Stalin’s Crimes'' (Norwich, Norfolk: Jarrold's, 1954), pp. 232-233</ref> Orlov's account is corroborated by the Nicolaevsky and Honeyman collections in the archives of the [[Hoover Institution]]).<ref>Katya Drozdova, "Dark Memories," ''Hoover Digest'', 2007, Number 3</ref>

The year before, [[Whittaker Chambers]] confessed to Levine that he had been a courier for the Communist underground. On September 2, 1939, as the joint Nazi-Soviet invasion of Poland was gearing up, Levine arranged a dinner with Chambers and Assistant Secretary of State for Security [[Adolf Berle]], at which Chambers told Berle of an underground apparatus of the Communist Party for employees of the Federal government in Washington, D.C. Its organizer, said Chambers, was [[Harold Ware]], its treasurer [[Henry Collins]];<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> among its members he identified [[Lee Pressman]], [[Nathan Witt]], and the brothers Alger and [[Donald Hiss]].<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,811892,00.html The Case of Alger Hiss]," ''Time'', February 13, 1950</ref>

In 1938, [[Whittaker Chambers]] confessed to Levine that he had been a courier for the Communist underground. On September 2, 1939, as the joint Nazi-Soviet invasion of Poland was gearing up, Levine arranged a dinner with Chambers and Assistant Secretary of State for Security [[Adolf Berle]], at which Chambers told Berle of an underground apparatus of the Communist Party for employees of the Federal government in Washington, D.C. Its organizer, said Chambers, was [[Harold Ware]], its treasurer [[Henry Collins]];<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> among its members he identified [[Lee Pressman]], [[Nathan Witt]], and the brothers Alger and [[Donald Hiss]].<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,811892,00.html The Case of Alger Hiss]," ''Time'', February 13, 1950</ref>

While Chambers talked, Berle took notes. Under the heading “Underground Espionage Agent,” he listed several names, including “Alger Hiss,” with the notation, “Ass’t. to Sayre—CP—1937,” and “Member of the Underground Com.—Active.”<ref>[http://www.johnearlhaynes.org/page100.html Adolf Berle’s Notes on his Meeting with Whittaker Chambers]</ref> In Berle's diary, the first entry after his visit with Levine and Chambers reads:

While Chambers talked, Berle took notes. Under the heading “Underground Espionage Agent,” he listed several names, including “Alger Hiss,” with the notation, “Ass’t. to Sayre—CP—1937,” and “Member of the Underground Com.—Active.”<ref>[http://www.johnearlhaynes.org/page100.html Adolf Berle’s Notes on his Meeting with Whittaker Chambers]</ref> In Berle's diary, the first entry after his visit with Levine and Chambers reads:

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>

In 1941, the [[House Committee on Un-American Activities|Dies committee]] obtained the membership list of the [[Washington Committee for Democratic Action]], which would eventually be listed on Attorney General [[Tom Clark]]'s [[list of subversive organizations]] as a Communist front, per [[President Truman]]'s [[executive order 9835]]. Included was the name of Priscilla Hiss,<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, p. 329</ref><ref>G. Edward White, ''Alger Hiss's Looking-glass Wars: The Covert Life of a Soviet Spy'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) ISBN 0195182553, p. 48</ref> with the notation appended, "Husband with State Department."<ref>[http://ultra-secret.info/PDFs/splitfiles/splitprocessed/Silvermaster082_Folder/Silvermaster082_page120.pdf FBI Report: Underground Soviet Espionage Organization (NKVD) in Agencies of the United States Government, p. 109 (PDF p. 120)]</ref> In 1941-42 the FBI conducted a [[Hatch Act]] investigation of Hiss, in the course of which one of Hiss' former colleagues at the AAA told investigators that Hiss and his circle were fellow travelers, if not Communists. Hiss denied everything, although he said he thought his wife might have been a member of the [[League of Women Shoppers]], a [[Popular Front]] group<ref>Michael Denning, ''The Cultural Front: The Laboring of American Culture in the Twentieth Century'' (New York: Verso, 1998) ISBN 1859841708, p. 410</ref> identified as a [[Communist front]] by the committee in 1939.<ref>Meg Jacobs, ''Pocketbook Politics: Economic Citizenship in Twentieth-century America'' (Princeton University Press, 2005) ISBN 0691086648, p. 171</ref> In 1942, the FBI sent a report of this investigation to the Secretary of State.<ref>FBI memorandum: Ladd to Hoover, January 28, 1949, p. 2 (FBI file: Hiss-Chambers, Vol. 44)</ref>

In 1941, the [[House Committee on Un-American Activities|Dies committee]] obtained the membership list of the [[Washington Committee for Democratic Action]], which would eventually be listed on Attorney General [[Tom Clark]]'s [[list of subversive organizations]] as a Communist front, per [[President Truman]]'s [[executive order 9835]]. Included was the name of Priscilla Hiss,<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, p. 329</ref><ref>G. Edward White, ''Alger Hiss's Looking-glass Wars: The Covert Life of a Soviet Spy'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) ISBN 0195182553, p. 48</ref> with the notation appended, "Husband with State Department."<ref>[http://ultra-secret.info/PDFs/splitfiles/splitprocessed/Silvermaster082_Folder/Silvermaster082_page120.pdf FBI Report: Underground Soviet Espionage Organization (NKVD) in Agencies of the United States Government, p. 109 (PDF p. 120)]</ref> In 1941-42 the FBI conducted a [[Hatch Act]] investigation of Hiss, in the course of which one of Hiss' former colleagues at the AAA told investigators that Hiss and his circle were fellow travelers, if not Communists. Hiss denied everything, although he said he thought his wife might have been a member of the [[League of Women Shoppers]], a [[Popular Front]] group<ref>Michael Denning, ''The Cultural Front: The Laboring of American Culture in the Twentieth Century'' (New York: Verso, 1998) ISBN 1859841708, p. 410</ref> identified as a [[Communist front]] by the committee in 1939.<ref>Meg Jacobs, ''Pocketbook Politics: Economic Citizenship in Twentieth-century America'' (Princeton University Press, 2005) ISBN 0691086648, p. 171</ref> In 1942, the FBI sent a report of this investigation to the Secretary of State,<ref>FBI memorandum: Ladd to Hoover, January 28, 1949, p. 2 (FBI file: Hiss-Chambers, Vol. 44)</ref> the first of what would become a veritable avalanche of FBI memos and reports on Hiss disseminated to the State Department, Attorney General and White House over the ensuing five years.

Also in 1942, the Bureau interviewed Chambers for the first time.<ref>Douglas Linder, [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/hisschronology.html The Trials of Alger Hiss: A Chronology], Famous Trials: The Alger Hiss Trials, 1949-50 (University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, 2003)</ref> He repeated his identification of Hiss, among others, as a Communist. In 1943, the FBI obtained the notes Berle had taken during his dinner four years earlier with Chambers and Levine.<ref>John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, ''Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999) ISBN 0300077718, p. 92</ref> That year, an encrypted cable (decrypted in the Venona project and released in 1995) from Pavel B. Mikhailov (code-named "Mol'er"), who (under cover as Soviet Vice Consul in New York) was controller of military intelligence for the [[NKVD]],<ref>G. Edward White, ''Alger Hiss's Looking-glass Wars: The Covert Life of a Soviet Spy'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) ISBN 0195182553, p. 224</ref> to [[NKVD]] chief of foreign intelligence [[Pavel Fitin]] (code-named "Viktor")<ref>[http://www.nsa.gov/venona/releases/09_Feb_1944_R1_p2.gif Venona 195 New York to Moscow 9th February 1944]</ref> in Moscow, identifying the real names and code names of several agents in the U.S., said the [[GRU]] (code-named "Neighbors") reported someone "from the State Department by the name of Hiss."<ref>[http://www.nsa.gov/venona/releases/28_Sept_1943_R4_m1_p1.gif Venona 1579 New York to Moscow, 28 September 1943]</ref>

Also in 1942, the Bureau interviewed Chambers for the first time.<ref>Douglas Linder, [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/hisschronology.html The Trials of Alger Hiss: A Chronology], Famous Trials: The Alger Hiss Trials, 1949-50 (University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, 2003)</ref> He repeated his identification of Hiss, among others, as a Communist. In 1943, the FBI obtained the notes Berle had taken during his dinner four years earlier with Chambers and Levine.<ref>John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, ''Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999) ISBN 0300077718, p. 92</ref> That year, an encrypted cable (decrypted in the Venona project and released in 1995) from Pavel B. Mikhailov (code-named "Mol'er"), who (under cover as Soviet Vice Consul in New York) was controller of military intelligence for the [[NKVD]],<ref>G. Edward White, ''Alger Hiss's Looking-glass Wars: The Covert Life of a Soviet Spy'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) ISBN 0195182553, p. 224</ref> to [[NKVD]] chief of foreign intelligence [[Pavel Fitin]] (code-named "Viktor")<ref>[http://www.nsa.gov/venona/releases/09_Feb_1944_R1_p2.gif Venona 195 New York to Moscow 9th February 1944]</ref> in Moscow, identifying the real names and code names of several agents in the U.S., said the [[GRU]] (code-named "Neighbors") reported someone "from the State Department by the name of Hiss."<ref>[http://www.nsa.gov/venona/releases/28_Sept_1943_R4_m1_p1.gif Venona 1579 New York to Moscow, 28 September 1943]</ref>

==The Volkogonov affair==

==The Volkogonov affair==

After the fall of Soviet Communism in 1991, former President Nixon and the director of his presidential library, John H. Taylor, asked the new Russian President Boris Yeltsin to open the former Soviet archives relating to the Hiss-Chambers case. Meanwhile Hiss and his lawyer<ref> Dmitri Volkogonov, Letter to ''Nezavisimaya Gazeta'', November 1992, quoted in John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, ''In Denial: Historians, Communism & Espionage'' (San Francisco: Encounter Books, 2003) ISBN 159403088X, p. 167</ref> Faxed similar appeals to retired Soviet Army General Dmitri Volkogonov and the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), asking for confirmation that Lowenthal's "client, Alger Hiss," had never been "an agent of the NKVD."<ref>Julius Kobyakov, [http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=h-diplo&month=0310&week=b&msg=xPNOEFLppoOgkkWbtl1dQw&user=&pw= Lowenthal and Alger Hiss], H-DIPLO</ref> (This despite the fact that the evidence implicates Hiss as an agent of the GRU, not the NKVD.)<ref>John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, "[http://hnn.us/articles/37456.html#fr2 Hiss Was Guilty]," History News Network (George Mason University)</ref><ref>John R. Schindler, "[http://www.johnearlhaynes.org/page61.html Hiss in VENONA: The Continuing Controversy]," Center for Cryptologic History Symposium, 27 October 2005</ref><ref>Herbert Romerstein and Eric Breindel, ''The Venona Secrets: Exposing Soviet Espionage and America's Traitors'' (Washington: Regnery Publishing, 2001) ISBN 0895262258), p. 140</ref>

After the fall of Soviet Communism in 1991, former President Nixon and the director of his presidential library, John H. Taylor, petitioned the new Russian President Boris Yeltsin to open the Soviet archives relating to the Hiss-Chambers case. Meanwhile Hiss and his lawyer<ref> Dmitri Volkogonov, Letter to ''Nezavisimaya Gazeta'', November 1992, quoted in John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, ''In Denial: Historians, Communism & Espionage'' (San Francisco: Encounter Books, 2003) ISBN 159403088X, p. 167</ref> appealed to retired Soviet Army General Dmitri Volkogonov and the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) for confirmation that Lowenthal's "client, Alger Hiss," had never been "an agent of the NKVD."<ref>Julius Kobyakov, [http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=h-diplo&month=0310&week=b&msg=xPNOEFLppoOgkkWbtl1dQw&user=&pw= Lowenthal and Alger Hiss], H-DIPLO</ref> (This despite the fact that the evidence implicates Hiss as an agent of the GRU, not the NKVD.)<ref>John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, "[http://hnn.us/articles/37456.html#fr2 Hiss Was Guilty]," History News Network (George Mason University)</ref><ref>John R. Schindler, "[http://www.johnearlhaynes.org/page61.html Hiss in VENONA: The Continuing Controversy]," Center for Cryptologic History Symposium, 27 October 2005</ref><ref>Herbert Romerstein and Eric Breindel, ''The Venona Secrets: Exposing Soviet Espionage and America's Traitors'' (Washington: Regnery Publishing, 2001) ISBN 0895262258), p. 140</ref>

Volkogonov, as ''apparatchik'' in charge of Soviet military history under the Communists<ref>Amos Perlmutter, "Western journalists slow to report General Dmitri Volkogonov's explanation of his exoneration of convicted spy Alger Hiss," ''National Review'', January 18, 1993</ref> had written with official blessing<ref> David Remnick, "The Stalin Tragedy Comes Home; With Official Blessings, a Soviet Historian Works on a Biography," ''The Washington Post'', June 30, 1988, p. B1</ref> a 1988 biography of Stalin in which he defended Stalin's claim that a majority in the Baltics favored incorporation into the Soviet Union in August 1940, described Stalin's invasion of Poland as "largely justified," blamed the West for the Cold War,<ref>Steven M. Miner, "The Incubus of Despotism," ''The Washington Post'', September 15, 1991</ref> and accepted the claim that Stalin's purges were provoked by Trotskyist and Nazi agents.<ref>Walter Laqueur, ''The Long Road to Freedom: Russia and Glasnost'' (New York: C. Scribner's, 1989) ISBN 0684190303, p. 68</ref>

Volkogonov, as ''apparatchik'' in charge of Soviet military history under the Communists<ref>Amos Perlmutter, "Western journalists slow to report General Dmitri Volkogonov's explanation of his exoneration of convicted spy Alger Hiss," ''National Review'', January 18, 1993</ref> had written with official blessing<ref> David Remnick, "The Stalin Tragedy Comes Home; With Official Blessings, a Soviet Historian Works on a Biography," ''The Washington Post'', June 30, 1988, p. B1</ref> a 1988 biography of Stalin in which he defended Stalin's claim that a majority in the Baltics favored incorporation into the Soviet Union in August 1940, described Stalin's invasion of Poland as "largely justified," blamed the West for the Cold War,<ref>Steven M. Miner, "The Incubus of Despotism," ''The Washington Post'', September 15, 1991</ref> and accepted the claim that Stalin's purges were provoked by Trotskyist and Nazi agents.<ref>Walter Laqueur, ''The Long Road to Freedom: Russia and Glasnost'' (New York: C. Scribner's, 1989) ISBN 0684190303, p. 68</ref>

The CBS Morning News reported that Hiss was "apparently exonerated."<ref>George F. Will, "[http://www.newsweek.com/id/115963/output/print 'Exoneration' Of Alger Hiss]," ''Newsweek'', February 26, 2008</ref> On NBC's ''Today'', co-host Scott Simon said, "This week's revelations about Alger Hiss may help us remember how vulnerable something as real as a reputation may be...So Mr. Hiss may have lived long enough to feel vindicated, but no one lives so long that they have years to give away to suspicions and mistakes."<ref>"[http://www.mrc.org/mediawatch/1992/watch19921201.asp Sticking Up for Hiss]," ''MediaWatch'' (Media Research Center), December 1992</ref> CNN's Gary Tuchman asked why "Hiss's own government has not exonerated him." ''The New Yorker'' ran a seven-page essay by Tony Hiss on "My Father's Honor."<ref>George F. Will, "[http://www.newsweek.com/id/115963/output/print 'Exoneration' Of Alger Hiss]," ''Newsweek'', February 26, 2008</ref>

The CBS Morning News reported that Hiss was "apparently exonerated."<ref>George F. Will, "[http://www.newsweek.com/id/115963/output/print 'Exoneration' Of Alger Hiss]," ''Newsweek'', February 26, 2008</ref> On NBC's ''Today'', co-host Scott Simon said, "This week's revelations about Alger Hiss may help us remember how vulnerable something as real as a reputation may be...So Mr. Hiss may have lived long enough to feel vindicated, but no one lives so long that they have years to give away to suspicions and mistakes."<ref>"[http://www.mrc.org/mediawatch/1992/watch19921201.asp Sticking Up for Hiss]," ''MediaWatch'' (Media Research Center), December 1992</ref> CNN's Gary Tuchman asked why "Hiss's own government has not exonerated him." ''The New Yorker'' ran a seven-page essay by Tony Hiss on "My Father's Honor."<ref>George F. Will, "[http://www.newsweek.com/id/115963/output/print 'Exoneration' Of Alger Hiss]," ''Newsweek'', February 26, 2008</ref>

But when questioned Volkogonov admitted that he spent only "two days" in the Foreign Intelligence Archive,<ref>Serge Schmemann, “[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10611FE385C0C748DDDAB0994DA494D81&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fH%2fHiss%2c%20Alger  Russian General Retreats on Hiss],” ''The New York Times'', December 17, 1992</ref> and that he had not actually examined any archives. Instead, he had asked Yevgeny Primakov, head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (formerly the KGB), to provide him with the information.<ref>Herbert Romerstein, ''Human Events'', November 28, 1992</ref> Volkogonov said that Primakov said that employees of the foreign intelligence archive said that "A. Hiss was not registered in the documents as a recruited agent."<ref>Herbert Romerstein and Eric Breindel, ''The Venona Secrets: Exposing Soviet Espionage and America's Traitors'' (Washington: Regnery Publishing, 2001) ISBN 0895262258), p. 140</ref>

But when questioned Volkogonov admitted that he spent only two days in the Foreign Intelligence Archive,<ref>Serge Schmemann, “[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10611FE385C0C748DDDAB0994DA494D81&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fH%2fHiss%2c%20Alger  Russian General Retreats on Hiss],” ''The New York Times'', December 17, 1992</ref> and that he had not actually examined any archives. Instead, he had asked [[Yevgeny Primakov]], head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (formerly the KGB), to provide him with the information.<ref>Herbert Romerstein, ''Human Events'', November 28, 1992</ref> Volkogonov said that Primakov said that employees of the foreign intelligence archive said that "A. Hiss was not registered in the documents as a recruited agent."<ref>Herbert Romerstein and Eric Breindel, ''The Venona Secrets: Exposing Soviet Espionage and America's Traitors'' (Washington: Regnery Publishing, 2001) ISBN 0895262258), p. 140</ref>

“The Ministry of Defense also has an intelligence service, which is totally different,” admitted Volkogonov.<ref>Serge Schmemann, “[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10611FE385C0C748DDDAB0994DA494D81&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fH%2fHiss%2c%20Alger  Russian General Retreats on Hiss],” ''The New York Times'', December 17, 1992</ref> He admitted that he had "not seen anything from the GRU archive" and that without going through the files there, there was "no basis for saying anything that would shed greater light on the question of Hiss.”<ref>[http://www.thenation.com/bletters/20070430/navasky/date Mark Kramer, “The Hiss Case and General Volkogonov: A Comment on Victor Navasky's Article,” Web Letters, ''The Nation'', May 17, 2007]</ref> “I looked only through what the KGB had,” said Volkogonov. “There's no guarantee…that it was not in other channels….”<ref>Serge Schmemann, “[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10611FE385C0C748DDDAB0994DA494D81&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fH%2fHiss%2c%20Alger  Russian General Retreats on Hiss],” ''The New York Times'', December 17, 1992</ref>

“The Ministry of Defense also has an intelligence service, which is totally different,” admitted Volkogonov.<ref>Serge Schmemann, “[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10611FE385C0C748DDDAB0994DA494D81&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fH%2fHiss%2c%20Alger  Russian General Retreats on Hiss],” ''The New York Times'', December 17, 1992</ref> He admitted that he had "not seen anything from the GRU archive" and that without going through the files there, there was "no basis for saying anything that would shed greater light on the question of Hiss.”<ref>[http://www.thenation.com/bletters/20070430/navasky/date Mark Kramer, “The Hiss Case and General Volkogonov: A Comment on Victor Navasky's Article,” Web Letters, ''The Nation'', May 17, 2007]</ref> “I looked only through what the KGB had,” said Volkogonov. “There's no guarantee…that it was not in other channels….”<ref>Serge Schmemann, “[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10611FE385C0C748DDDAB0994DA494D81&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fH%2fHiss%2c%20Alger  Russian General Retreats on Hiss],” ''The New York Times'', December 17, 1992</ref>

Asked if he had examined the files of the Comintern, Volkogonov admitted, “I have not had the opportunity to see these documents.”<ref>Reed Irvine, Ed., “[http://www.aim.org/publications/aim_report/1992/11b.html Media Bites on Hiss Hoax],” ''AIM Report'', November B 1992</ref> In addition, even in the KGB archive, “many documents have been destroyed,” admitted Volkogonov. “There's no guarantee that [Hiss’ file] was not destroyed.”<ref>Serge Schmemann, “[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10611FE385C0C748DDDAB0994DA494D81&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fH%2fHiss%2c%20Alger  Russian General Retreats on Hiss],” ''The New York Times'', December 17, 1992</ref>

Asked if he had examined the files of the Comintern, Volkogonov admitted, “I have not had the opportunity to see these documents.”<ref>Reed Irvine, Ed., “[http://www.aim.org/publications/aim_report/1992/11b.html Media Bites on Hiss Hoax],” ''AIM Report'', November B 1992</ref> In addition, even in the KGB archive, “many documents have been destroyed,” admitted Volkogonov. “There's no guarantee that [Hiss’ file] was not destroyed.”<ref>Serge Schmemann, “[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10611FE385C0C748DDDAB0994DA494D81&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fH%2fHiss%2c%20Alger  Russian General Retreats on Hiss],” ''The New York Times'', December 17, 1992</ref>

“What I saw gives no basis to claim a full clarification,” concluded Volkogonov. “[Hiss’] attorney, Lowenthal, pushed me hard to say things of which I was not fully convinced,”<ref>Serge Schmemann, “[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10611FE385C0C748DDDAB0994DA494D81&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fH%2fHiss%2c%20Alger  Russian General Retreats on Hiss],” ''The New York Times'', December 17, 1992</ref> he said. Volkogonov added that he felt he had been ‘deceived’ by Lowenthal.<ref>[http://www.thenation.com/bletters/20070430/navasky/date Mark Kramer, “The Hiss Case and General Volkogonov: A Comment on Victor Navasky's Article,” Web Letters, ''The Nation'', May 17, 2007]</ref>

“What I saw gives no basis to claim a full clarification,” concluded Volkogonov. “[Hiss’] attorney, Lowenthal, pushed me hard to say things of which I was not fully convinced,”<ref>Serge Schmemann, “[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10611FE385C0C748DDDAB0994DA494D81&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fH%2fHiss%2c%20Alger  Russian General Retreats on Hiss],” ''The New York Times'', December 17, 1992</ref> he said. Volkogonov added that he felt he had been "deceived" by Lowenthal.<ref>[http://www.thenation.com/bletters/20070430/navasky/date Mark Kramer, “The Hiss Case and General Volkogonov: A Comment on Victor Navasky's Article,” Web Letters, ''The Nation'', May 17, 2007]</ref>

Finally, after almost a month, ''The New York Times'', which had devoted half a page to Volkogonov's alleged "vindication" of Hiss, gave one column to his retraction.<ref>Herbert Romerstein and Eric Breindel, ''The Venona Secrets: Exposing Soviet Espionage and America's Traitors'' (Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, 2001) ISBN 0895262258, p. 141</ref>

Finally, after almost a month, ''The New York Times'', which had devoted half a page to Volkogonov's alleged "vindication" of Hiss, gave one column to his retraction.<ref>Herbert Romerstein and Eric Breindel, ''The Venona Secrets: Exposing Soviet Espionage and America's Traitors'' (Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, 2001) ISBN 0895262258, p. 141</ref>

Meanwhile, the U.S. government had released the [[Venona project]] files, Mária Schmidt had published the Hungarian files, the Russian government shut down research access to Soviet-era files, Volkogonov died and retired KGB General Julius N. Kobyakov (whom Harvey Klehr and John Earl Haynes write "insists that Hiss was not a spy, while nostalgically applauding the greatness of the KGB and lamenting the fall of the USSR")<ref>Harvey Klehr and John Earl Haynes, "Professors of Denial: Ignoring the truth about American Communists," ''The Weekly Standard'', Volume 010, Issue 25, March 21, 2005</ref> had claimed that it was not Volkogonov but he who had actually searched the Soviet files.<ref>Julius N. Kobyakov, [http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=h-diplo&month=0310&week=b&msg=xPNOEFLppoOgkkWbtl1dQw&user=&pw=], H-DIPLO (Humanities and Social Sciences Net Online), October 10, 2003</ref>

Meanwhile, the U.S. government had released the [[Venona project]] files, Mária Schmidt had published the Hungarian files, the Russian government shut down research access to Soviet-era files, Volkogonov died and retired KGB General Julius N. Kobyakov (whom Harvey Klehr and John Earl Haynes write "insists that Hiss was not a spy, while nostalgically applauding the greatness of the KGB and lamenting the fall of the USSR")<ref>Harvey Klehr and John Earl Haynes, "Professors of Denial: Ignoring the truth about American Communists," ''The Weekly Standard'', Volume 010, Issue 25, March 21, 2005</ref> had claimed that it was not Volkogonov but he who had actually searched the Soviet files.<ref>Julius N. Kobyakov, [http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=h-diplo&month=0310&week=b&msg=xPNOEFLppoOgkkWbtl1dQw&user=&pw=], H-DIPLO (Humanities and Social Sciences Net Online), October 10, 2003</ref>

Like Volkogonov, Kobyakov admitted that he had not even seen the GRU files ("No, I did not examine Soviet military archives"); instead, he took the GRU's word for their contents ("I wrote a letter to the GRU and received the relevant answer"). What was that answer? Kobyakov isn't telling: "That of course was, and, I believe, still is a classified correspondence." Why correspondence about 60- or 70-year-old files of a regime that no longer exists is classified, he did not say&mdash;although he did mention that he "strongly disapprove[d]" of allowing Weinstein and Vassiliev access to the archives, saying, "fortunately they had no access to the files I worked with."<ref>Julius N. Kobyakov, "[http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=h-diplo&month=0310&week=c&msg=/%2bj6%2bNHkqbEMRV0ioyVHUQ&user=&pw= Alger Hiss]," H-DIPLO (Humanities and Social Services Net Online), October 16, 2003</ref>  

Like Volkogonov, Kobyakov admitted that he had not even seen the GRU files ("No, I did not examine Soviet military archives"); instead, he took the GRU's word for their contents ("I wrote a letter to the GRU and received the relevant answer"). What was that answer? Kobyakov isn't telling: "That of course was, and, I believe, still is a classified correspondence." Why correspondence about 60- or 70-year-old files of a regime that no longer exists is classified, he did not say&mdash;although he did mention that he strongly disapproved of the post-Communist government allowing researchers access to Soviet archives, adding, "fortunately they had no access to the files I worked with."<ref>Julius N. Kobyakov, "[http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=h-diplo&month=0310&week=c&msg=/%2bj6%2bNHkqbEMRV0ioyVHUQ&user=&pw= Alger Hiss]," H-DIPLO (Humanities and Social Services Net Online), October 16, 2003</ref>  

Kobyakov also claimed that former KGB General-Lieutenant [[Vitaly Pavlov]], who ran Soviet intelligence work in North America in the late 1930s and early 1940s for the NKVD, claimed that Hiss never worked for the USSR as one of his agents.<ref>Julius N. Kobyakov, "[http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=h-diplo&month=0310&week=c&msg=/%2bj6%2bNHkqbEMRV0ioyVHUQ&user=&pw= Alger Hiss]," Humanities and Social Services Net, October 16, 2003</ref> That is hardly surprising, say critics, since the evidence implicates Hiss as an agent of the GRU, not the NKVD.<ref>John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, "[http://hnn.us/articles/37456.html#fr2 Hiss Was Guilty]," History News Network (George Mason University)</ref><ref>John R. Schindler, "[http://www.johnearlhaynes.org/page61.html Hiss in VENONA: The Continuing Controversy]," Center for Cryptologic History Symposium, 27 October 2005</ref><ref>Herbert Romerstein and Eric Breindel, ''The Venona Secrets: Exposing Soviet Espionage and America's Traitors'' (Washington: Regnery Publishing, 2001) ISBN 0895262258), p. 140</ref>

Kobyakov also claimed that former KGB General-Lieutenant [[Vitaly Pavlov]], who ran Soviet intelligence work in North America in the late 1930s and early 1940s for the NKVD, claimed that Hiss never worked for the USSR as one of his agents.<ref>Julius N. Kobyakov, "[http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=h-diplo&month=0310&week=c&msg=/%2bj6%2bNHkqbEMRV0ioyVHUQ&user=&pw= Alger Hiss]," Humanities and Social Services Net, October 16, 2003</ref> That is hardly surprising, say critics, since the evidence implicates Hiss as an agent of the GRU, not the NKVD.<ref>John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, "[http://hnn.us/articles/37456.html#fr2 Hiss Was Guilty]," History News Network (George Mason University)</ref><ref>John R. Schindler, "[http://www.johnearlhaynes.org/page61.html Hiss in VENONA: The Continuing Controversy]," Center for Cryptologic History Symposium, 27 October 2005</ref><ref>Herbert Romerstein and Eric Breindel, ''The Venona Secrets: Exposing Soviet Espionage and America's Traitors'' (Washington: Regnery Publishing, 2001) ISBN 0895262258), p. 140</ref>