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Senator [[Daniel Patrick Moynihan]] (D.-N.Y.), who was instrumental in securing the release of the long-awaited [[FBI]] and [[Venona project]] files, which had been classified for nearly 50 years, in his 1998 book, ''Secrecy: The American Experience'', wrote:

Senator [[Daniel Patrick Moynihan]] (D.-N.Y.), who was instrumental in securing the release of the long-awaited [[FBI]] and [[Venona project]] files, which had been classified for nearly 50 years, in his 1998 book, ''Secrecy: The American Experience'', wrote:

{{Cquote |Belief in the guilt or innocence of Alger Hiss became a defining issue in American intellectual life.  Parts of the American government had conclusive evidence of his guilt, but they never told.<ref>Moynihan, Daniel Patrick, ''Secrecy: The American Experience'', New Haven: Yale University Press (1998), pg. 146.</ref> }}

{{Cquote |Belief in the guilt or innocence of Alger Hiss became a defining issue in American intellectual life.  Parts of the American government had conclusive evidence of his guilt, but they never told.<ref>Daniel Patrick Moynihan, ''Secrecy: The American Experience'', New Haven: Yale University Press (1998), pg. 146.</ref> }}

==Early life==

==Early life==

Alger Hiss was born in Baltimore, Maryland, November 11, 1904,<ref>[http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/8-5testimony.html Testimony of Alger Hiss before the House Committee on Un-American Activities] (August 5, 1948)</ref> to a financially comfortable upper-middle-class<ref>Denise Noe, "[http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/spies/hiss/ The Alger Hiss Case]," TruTV Crime Library</ref> WASP family.<ref>Aaron Beim and Gary Alan Fine, "The Cultural Frameworks of Prejudice: Reputational Images and the Postwar Disjuncture of Jews and Communism," ''The Sociological Quarterly'', Summer 2007, Volume 48, Issue 3, pp. 373-397</ref> When Alger was two years old, his father, an executive with a dry goods firm,<ref>Janny Scott, "[http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/09/reviews/hiss-obit.html Alger Hiss, 92, Central Figure in Long-Running Cold War Controversy]," ''New York Times'', November 16, 1996</ref> committed suicide by slashing his throat with his own razor.<ref>Lance Morrow, "[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,985608,00.html Fred Astaire Meets the Sad-Sack Dostoevskian Pudge]," ''Time'', November 25, 1996</ref> When Alger was 25, his sister Mary Ann also committed suicide, by drinking a bottle of Lysol.<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. 5</ref> Hiss’s older brother Bosley had died two and a half years before from Bright’s disease, a kidney disorder aggravated by his excessive alcohol consumption.<ref>Tony Hiss, ''Laughing Last: Alger Hiss by Tony Hiss'' (Boston: Haughton Mifflin, 1977), ISBN 039524899X, cited in G. Edward White, ''Alger Hiss's Looking-glass Wars: The Covert Life of a Soviet Spy'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) ISBN 0195182553, p. 158</ref><ref>Denise Noe, "[http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/spies/hiss/ The Alger Hiss Case]," TruTV Crime Library</ref>

Alger Hiss was born in Baltimore, Maryland, November 11, 1904,<ref>[http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/8-5testimony.html Testimony of Alger Hiss] before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (August 5, 1948)</ref> to a financially comfortable upper-middle-class<ref>Denise Noe, "[http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/spies/hiss/ The Alger Hiss Case]," TruTV Crime Library</ref> WASP family.<ref>Aaron Beim and Gary Alan Fine, "The Cultural Frameworks of Prejudice: Reputational Images and the Postwar Disjuncture of Jews and Communism," ''The Sociological Quarterly'', Summer 2007, Volume 48, Issue 3, pp. 373-397</ref> When Alger was two years old, his father, an executive with a dry goods firm,<ref>Janny Scott, "[http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/09/reviews/hiss-obit.html Alger Hiss, 92, Central Figure in Long-Running Cold War Controversy]," ''New York Times'', November 16, 1996</ref> committed suicide by slashing his throat with his own razor.<ref>Lance Morrow, "[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,985608,00.html Fred Astaire Meets the Sad-Sack Dostoevskian Pudge]," ''Time'', November 25, 1996</ref> When Alger was 25, his sister Mary Ann also committed suicide, by drinking a bottle of Lysol.<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. 5</ref> Hiss’s older brother Bosley had died two and a half years before from Bright’s disease, a kidney disorder aggravated by his excessive alcohol consumption.<ref>Tony Hiss, ''Laughing Last: Alger Hiss by Tony Hiss'' (Boston: Haughton Mifflin, 1977), ISBN 039524899X, cited in G. Edward White, ''Alger Hiss's Looking-glass Wars: The Covert Life of a Soviet Spy'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) ISBN 0195182553, p. 158</ref><ref>Denise Noe, "[http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/spies/hiss/ The Alger Hiss Case]," TruTV Crime Library</ref>

After graduation from Baltimore City College and a year at Powder Point Academy (a private prep school in Duxbury, Massachusetts) and the Maryland Institute of Art, Hiss attended Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University.<ref>Historical Note: Chronology of Alger Hiss. [http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~law00092 Zeligs, Meyer Aaron. Papers, 1923-1978: Finding Aid] (Harvard Law School Library)</ref> As an undergraduate, Hiss' favorite instructors included the [[Socialist]] [[Broadus Mitchell]]<ref>Alger Hiss, Draft of a Chapter Written By Alger Hiss on the Foundations For His Liberalism (unpublished manuscript, on file with the Harvard Law School Special Collections)</ref> (a former [[Socialist]] Party candidate for Governor of Maryland)<ref>Matthew Richer, "[http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-126505548.html The ongoing campaign of Alger Hiss: the sins of the father]," ''Modern Age'',  Fall, 2004</ref> and [[José Robles]], a committed [[Stalinist]].<ref>Jason Powell, "[http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/reviews/reviewview.cfm?id=2 Review: ''The Breaking Point: Hemingway, Dos Passos, and the Murder of Jose Robles'']," eHistory (Ohio State University), January 2006</ref> Hiss apparently knew Robles well enough to spend time at his home.<ref>Tony Hiss, ''Laughing Last: Alger Hiss by Tony Hiss'' (Boston: Haughton Mifflin, 1977), ISBN 039524899X, pp. 37-38</ref> Robles would go on to serve in the [[Spanish Civil War]] as interpreter for General [[Jānis Bērziņš]], head of [[GRU|Soviet military intelligence]],<ref>Hugh Thomas, ''The Spanish Civil War'' (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994) ISBN 0671758764, pp. 705-706</ref> but was never seen again<ref>George Packer,  "[http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/10/31/051031crbo_books The Spanish Prisoner]," ''The New Yorker'', October 31, 2005</ref> after Bērziņš was recalled to Moscow<ref>Roy Aleksandrovich

After graduation from Baltimore City College and a year at Powder Point Academy (a private prep school in Duxbury, Massachusetts) and the Maryland Institute of Art, Hiss attended Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University.<ref>Historical Note: Chronology of Alger Hiss. [http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~law00092 Zeligs, Meyer Aaron. Papers, 1923-1978: Finding Aid] (Harvard Law School Library)</ref> As an undergraduate, Hiss' favorite instructors included the [[Socialist]] [[Broadus Mitchell]]<ref>Alger Hiss, Draft of a Chapter Written By Alger Hiss on the Foundations For His Liberalism (unpublished manuscript, on file with the Harvard Law School Special Collections)</ref> (a former [[Socialist]] Party candidate for Governor of Maryland)<ref>Matthew Richer, "[http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-126505548.html The ongoing campaign of Alger Hiss: the sins of the father]," ''Modern Age'',  Fall, 2004</ref> and [[José Robles]], a committed [[Stalinist]].<ref>Jason Powell, "[http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/reviews/reviewview.cfm?id=2 Review: ''The Breaking Point: Hemingway, Dos Passos, and the Murder of Jose Robles'']," eHistory (Ohio State University), January 2006</ref> Hiss apparently knew Robles well enough to spend time at his home.<ref>Tony Hiss, ''Laughing Last: Alger Hiss by Tony Hiss'' (Boston: Haughton Mifflin, 1977), ISBN 039524899X, pp. 37-38</ref> Robles would go on to serve in the [[Spanish Civil War]] as interpreter for General [[Jānis Bērziņš]], head of [[GRU|Soviet military intelligence]],<ref>Hugh Thomas, ''The Spanish Civil War'' (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994) ISBN 0671758764, pp. 705-706</ref> but was never seen again<ref>George Packer,  "[http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/10/31/051031crbo_books The Spanish Prisoner]," ''The New Yorker'', October 31, 2005</ref> after Bērziņš was recalled to Moscow<ref>Roy Aleksandrovich

Shriver) (New York: Columbia University Press, 1989) ISBN 0231063504, p. 428</ref> and shot in Stalin's [[Great Purge|Great Terror]]<ref>Robert Conquest,''The Great Terror: A Reassessment'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), ISBN 0195071328</ref> in 1938.<ref>David J. Nordlander, "Origins of a Gulag Capital: Magadan and Stalinist Control in the Early 1930s," ''Slavic Review'', Vol. 57, No. 4 (Winter, 1998), pp. 791-812</ref> Hiss would later say he too considered going to Spain to fight for the Soviet-backed Loyalist cause.<ref>John Chabot Smith, ''Alger Hiss: The True Story'' (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1976), ISBN 0030137764, p. 104</ref>

Shriver) (New York: Columbia University Press, 1989) ISBN 0231063504, p. 428</ref> and shot in Stalin's [[Great Purge|Great Terror]]<ref>Robert Conquest,''The Great Terror: A Reassessment'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), ISBN 0195071328</ref> in 1938.<ref>David J. Nordlander, "Origins of a Gulag Capital: Magadan and Stalinist Control in the Early 1930s," ''Slavic Review'', Vol. 57, No. 4 (Winter, 1998), pp. 791-812</ref> Hiss would later say he too considered going to Spain to fight for the Soviet-backed Loyalist cause.<ref>John Chabot Smith, ''Alger Hiss: The True Story'' (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1976), ISBN 0030137764, p. 104</ref>

After graduating in 1926, Hiss went on to Harvard Law School, where he resumed his friendship with his boyhood friend [[Henry Collins]] (who was attending Harvard Business School) and served on the ''Harvard Law Review'' with his classmate [[Lee Pressman]].<ref>[http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/8-5testimony.html Testimony of Alger Hiss before the House Committee on Un-American Activities] (August 5, 1948)</ref> Hiss became the protégé of one instructor, future [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] Justice [[Felix Frankfurter]]&mdash;who, said former [[President of the United States|U.S. President]] [[William Howard Taft]], Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, "seems to be closely in touch with every [[Bolshevik|Bolshevist]], [[Communist]] movement in this country."<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,870087.html Felix Frankfurter]," ''Time'',  September 7, 1962</ref> When Hiss graduated from law school in 1929, Frankfurter got him a job as law clerk to Supreme Court Justice [[Oliver Wendell Holmes]].<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,888531,00.html Your Witness, Mr. Murphy]," ''Time,'' July 4, 1949</ref> The same year, Hiss married the former Mrs. Priscilla Fansler Hobson, a supporter of perennial [[Socialist]] Party presidential nominee [[Norman Thomas]].<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, p. 457</ref>

After graduating in 1926, Hiss went on to Harvard Law School, where he resumed his friendship with his boyhood friend [[Henry Collins]] (who was attending Harvard Business School) and served on the ''Harvard Law Review'' with his classmate [[Lee Pressman]].<ref>[http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/8-5testimony.html Testimony of Alger Hiss] before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (August 5, 1948)</ref> Hiss became the protégé of one instructor, future [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] Justice [[Felix Frankfurter]]&mdash;who, said former [[President of the United States|U.S. President]] [[William Howard Taft]], Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, "seems to be closely in touch with every [[Bolshevik|Bolshevist]], [[Communist]] movement in this country."<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,870087.html Felix Frankfurter]," ''Time'',  September 7, 1962</ref> When Hiss graduated from law school in 1929, Frankfurter got him a job as law clerk to Supreme Court Justice [[Oliver Wendell Holmes]].<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,888531,00.html Your Witness, Mr. Murphy]," ''Time,'' July 4, 1949</ref> The same year, Hiss married the former Mrs. Priscilla Fansler Hobson, a supporter of perennial [[Socialist]] Party presidential nominee [[Norman Thomas]].<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, p. 457</ref>

Hiss went on to a law firm in Boston, then to another in New York where, by 1930, his wife Priscilla had joined the Morningside Heights branch of the [[Socialist]] Party.<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. 27</ref> By 1932, Priscilla Hiss was an active member of [[American Labor Associates]], and Hiss was becoming "radicalized,"<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> joining the [[International Juridical Association]] (IJA) (which "consistently followed the Communist Party line")<ref>"[http://ia360638.us.archive.org/2/items/reportonnational1950unit/reportonnational1950unit.pdf Report on the National Lawyers Guild, legal bulwark of the Communist Party]," United States Congress. House Committee on Un-American Activities (1950), p. 12</ref> along with his Harvard Law classmate Lee Pressman<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. 27</ref> and [[Nathan Witt]].<ref>Martin Dies, ''The Trojan Horse in America'' (New York: Arno Press, 1977) ISBN 0405099452, p. 92</ref>

Hiss went on to a law firm in Boston, then to another in New York where, by 1930, his wife Priscilla had joined the Morningside Heights branch of the [[Socialist]] Party.<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. 27</ref> By 1932, Priscilla Hiss was an active member of [[American Labor Associates]], and Hiss was becoming "radicalized,"<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> joining the [[International Juridical Association]] (IJA) (which "consistently followed the Communist Party line")<ref>"[http://ia360638.us.archive.org/2/items/reportonnational1950unit/reportonnational1950unit.pdf Report on the National Lawyers Guild, legal bulwark of the Communist Party]," United States Congress. House Committee on Un-American Activities (1950), p. 12</ref> along with his Harvard Law classmate Lee Pressman<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. 27</ref> and [[Nathan Witt]].<ref>Martin Dies, ''The Trojan Horse in America'' (New York: Arno Press, 1977) ISBN 0405099452, p. 92</ref>

==New Deal==

==New Deal==

In 1933, Frankfurter sent Hiss a telegram<ref>Dan Cryer, "[http://www.salon.com/books/feature/1999/06/01/hiss/index.html We're a long way from the end of this]," Salon.com, June 1, 1999</ref> urging him to join President [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]]'s [[New Deal]] as assistant general counsel to the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA).<ref>[http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/8-5testimony.html Testimony of Alger Hiss before the House Committee on Un-American Activities] (August 5, 1948)</ref> At the peak of Stalin's [[Holodomor|Terror Famine]]<ref>Robert Conquest, ''The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987) ISBN 0195051807)</ref> (during which the Soviets starved some three million [[Ukraine|Ukrainians]] to death through collectivization of agriculture),<ref>Peter Finn, "[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/26/AR2008042602039.html?sub=new Aftermath of a Soviet Famine]," ''The Washington Post'', April 27, 2008, Page A14</ref> the AAA restricted U.S. farm production in order to drive up food prices in the depths of the [[Great Depression]].<ref>"[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/9551/Agricultural-Adjustment-Administration Agricultural Adjustment Administration]," ''Encyclopedia Britannica'' (2008)</ref><ref>James D. Hamilton, "[http://www.econbrowser.com/archives/2007/01/the_new_deal_an.html The New Deal and the Great Depression]," Econbrowser: Analysis of current economic conditions and policy (Blog of James D. Hamilton, Professor of Economics at the University of California, San Diego and Menzie Chinn, Professor of Public Affairs and Economics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison)</ref> The agency was the the brainchild of FDR's then-Secretary of Agriculture, [[Henry Wallace]], who would finally recant his support for the [[Soviet Union]]<ref>Linda Rodriguez, "[http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/05/09/almost.great.men/index.html A celebration of almost-great men]," CNN, undated</ref> in 1952.<ref>Henry Agard Wallace, “Where I Was Wrong.” ''This Week'', September 2, 1952</ref>

In 1933, Frankfurter sent Hiss a telegram<ref>Dan Cryer, "[http://www.salon.com/books/feature/1999/06/01/hiss/index.html We're a long way from the end of this]," Salon.com, June 1, 1999</ref> urging him to join President [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]]'s [[New Deal]] as assistant general counsel to the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA).<ref>[http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/8-5testimony.html Testimony of Alger Hiss] before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (August 5, 1948)</ref> At the peak of Stalin's [[Holodomor|Terror Famine]]<ref>Robert Conquest, ''The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987) ISBN 0195051807)</ref> (during which the Soviets starved some three million [[Ukraine|Ukrainians]] to death through collectivization of agriculture),<ref>Peter Finn, "[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/26/AR2008042602039.html?sub=new Aftermath of a Soviet Famine]," ''The Washington Post'', April 27, 2008, Page A14</ref> the AAA restricted U.S. farm production in order to drive up food prices in the depths of the [[Great Depression]].<ref>"[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/9551/Agricultural-Adjustment-Administration Agricultural Adjustment Administration]," ''Encyclopedia Britannica'' (2008)</ref><ref>James D. Hamilton, "[http://www.econbrowser.com/archives/2007/01/the_new_deal_an.html The New Deal and the Great Depression]," Econbrowser: Analysis of current economic conditions and policy (Blog of James D. Hamilton, Professor of Economics at the University of California, San Diego and Menzie Chinn, Professor of Public Affairs and Economics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison)</ref> The agency was the the brainchild of FDR's then-Secretary of Agriculture, [[Henry Wallace]], who would finally recant his support for the [[Soviet Union]]<ref>Linda Rodriguez, "[http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/05/09/almost.great.men/index.html A celebration of almost-great men]," CNN, undated</ref> in 1952.<ref>Henry Agard Wallace, “Where I Was Wrong.” ''This Week'', September 2, 1952</ref>

In response to a query about hiring him, Hiss' Harvard Law School classmate [[Lee Pressman]], already at AAA, wrote, "I have talked to Alger Hiss and [[Nathan Witt|Nat Witt]] who are considering" taking posts at AAA (Hiss would later deny under oath that he had discussed the position with Pressman).<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, p. 133</ref> At AAA, Hiss reunited with Pressman, as well as his boyhood friend [[Henry Collins]] and IJA colleague Witt, and became acquainted with the Communist<ref>Kai Bird and Svetlana Chervonnaya, "[http://www.theamericanscholar.org/su07/ales-birdlong.html The Mystery of Ales]," ''The American Scholar'', Summer, 2007</ref> [[Harold Ware]].<ref>[http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/8-5testimony.html Testimony of Alger Hiss before the House Committee on Un-American Activities] (August 5, 1948)</ref> Even before the FBI would learn of [[Whittaker Chambers]]' charges, one of Hiss' colleagues at the AAA would tip off FBI investigators that Hiss and his circle were fellow travelers, if not Communists.<ref>FBI memorandum: Ladd to Hoover, January 28, 1949, p. 2 (FBI file: Hiss-Chambers, Vol. 44)</ref> Pressman would eventually testify that he had been a Communist and a member of the [[Ware group]].<ref>Testimony of Lee Pressman. Hearings Regarding Communism in the United States Government—Part 2. United States House of Representatives, Committee on Un-American Activities, Washington, D.C., August 28, 1950. Reprinted as Exhibit No. 1402, U.S. Congress, Senate, 82nd Cong., Committee on the Judiciary, Hearings to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, Second Session on the Institute of Pacific Relations (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1952), 5503.</ref> Another AAA official, [[Nathaniel Weyl]], would later testify that he attended Communist cell meetings with Hiss and saw him pay his party dues,<ref>“[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,890230,00.html Another Witness],” ''Time'', March 3, 1952</ref><ref>[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Nathaniel_Weyl_testimony_corroborating_Alger_Hiss_as_member_of_CPUSA_secret_apparatus Testimony of Nathaniel Weyl] before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Government Operations, United States Senate, February 23, 1953</ref><ref>Nathaniel Weyl, “I Was in a Communist Unit with Hiss,” ''U.S. News and World Report'', January 9, 1953</ref> testimony he would reaffirm in his 2004 autobiography.<ref>Nathaniel Weyl, ''Encounters With Communism'' (Philadelphia: Xlibris, 2004), cited in John Earl Haynes, "[http://www.johnearlhaynes.org/page63.html Ales: Hiss, Foote, Stettinius?]" johnearlhaynes.org, June 7, 2007</ref>

In response to a query about hiring him, Hiss' Harvard Law School classmate [[Lee Pressman]], already at AAA, wrote, "I have talked to Alger Hiss and [[Nathan Witt|Nat Witt]] who are considering" taking posts at AAA (Hiss would later deny under oath that he had discussed the position with Pressman).<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, p. 133</ref> At AAA, Hiss reunited with Pressman, as well as his boyhood friend [[Henry Collins]] and IJA colleague Witt, and became acquainted with the Communist<ref>Kai Bird and Svetlana Chervonnaya, "[http://www.theamericanscholar.org/su07/ales-birdlong.html The Mystery of Ales]," ''The American Scholar'', Summer, 2007</ref> [[Harold Ware]].<ref>[http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/8-5testimony.html Testimony of Alger Hiss] before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (August 5, 1948)</ref> Even before the FBI would learn of [[Whittaker Chambers]]' charges, one of Hiss' colleagues at the AAA would tip off FBI investigators that Hiss and his circle were fellow travelers, if not Communists.<ref>FBI memorandum: Ladd to Hoover, January 28, 1949, p. 2 (FBI file: Hiss-Chambers, Vol. 44)</ref> Pressman would eventually testify that he had been a Communist and a member of the [[Ware group]].<ref>Testimony of Lee Pressman. Hearings Regarding Communism in the United States Government—Part 2. United States House of Representatives, Committee on Un-American Activities, Washington, D.C., August 28, 1950. Reprinted as Exhibit No. 1402, U.S. Congress, Senate, 82nd Cong., Committee on the Judiciary, Hearings to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, Second Session on the Institute of Pacific Relations (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1952), 5503.</ref> Another AAA official, [[Nathaniel Weyl]], would later testify that he attended Communist cell meetings with Hiss and saw him pay his party dues,<ref>“[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,890230,00.html Another Witness],” ''Time'', March 3, 1952</ref><ref>[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Nathaniel_Weyl_testimony_corroborating_Alger_Hiss_as_member_of_CPUSA_secret_apparatus Testimony of Nathaniel Weyl] before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Government Operations, United States Senate, February 23, 1953</ref><ref>Nathaniel Weyl, “I Was in a Communist Unit with Hiss,” ''U.S. News and World Report'', January 9, 1953</ref> testimony he would reaffirm in his 2004 autobiography.<ref>Nathaniel Weyl, ''Encounters With Communism'' (Philadelphia: Xlibris, 2004), cited in John Earl Haynes, "[http://www.johnearlhaynes.org/page63.html Ales: Hiss, Foote, Stettinius?]" johnearlhaynes.org, June 7, 2007</ref>

In 1934, again with an assist from [[Lee Pressman]] (according to [[Gardner Jackson]]),<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, p.  143</ref> Hiss became General Counsel for the [[U.S. Senate]]'s [[Special Committee Investigating the Munitions Industry|Nye committee]],<ref>[http://www.mdhs.org/library/Mss/ms002504.html Biographical Sketch. Alger Hiss Collection, 1934-1979] (Maryland Historical Society)</ref> which investigated people Chairman [[Gerald P. Nye]] (R.-N.D.) called [[Wall Street]]'s "merchants of death,"<ref>[http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/merchants_of_death.htm 1921-1940: September 4, 1934, "Merchants of Death" (United States Senate: Historical Minutes)]</ref> whom he accused of conspiracy to lead the U.S. into war with Germany. One scholar has dubbed this a "witch-hunt" for "subversive capitalists," in which Hiss was to Nye what [[Roy Cohn]] would later be to [[Senator]] [[Joe McCarthy]] (R.-Wisc.)<ref>Peter Viereck, ''Unadjusted Man in the Age of Overadjustment: Where History and Literature Intersect'' (Edison, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 2004) ISBN 0765808064, pp. 156-157</ref>

In 1934, again with an assist from [[Lee Pressman]] (according to [[Gardner Jackson]]),<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, p.  143</ref> Hiss became General Counsel for the [[U.S. Senate]]'s [[Special Committee Investigating the Munitions Industry|Nye committee]],<ref>[http://www.mdhs.org/library/Mss/ms002504.html Biographical Sketch. Alger Hiss Collection, 1934-1979] (Maryland Historical Society)</ref> which investigated people Chairman [[Gerald P. Nye]] (R.-N.D.) called [[Wall Street]]'s "merchants of death,"<ref>[http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/merchants_of_death.htm 1921-1940: September 4, 1934, "Merchants of Death" (United States Senate: Historical Minutes)]</ref> whom he accused of conspiracy to lead the U.S. into war with Germany. One scholar has dubbed this a "witch-hunt" for "subversive capitalists," in which Hiss was to Nye what [[Roy Cohn]] would later be to [[Senator]] [[Joe McCarthy]] (R.-Wisc.)<ref>Peter Viereck, ''Unadjusted Man in the Age of Overadjustment: Where History and Literature Intersect'' (Edison, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 2004) ISBN 0765808064, pp. 156-157</ref>

It was in this role that Hiss met [[Whittaker Chambers]].<ref>William Fitzgibbon, "[http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/09/reviews/chambers-chronology.html The Hiss-Chambers Case: A Chronology Since 1934]," ''The New York Times'', June 12, 1949</ref> They were introduced in 1934 by [[John Herrmann]], an AAA official who was a member of the [[Ware group]] and courier for the Communist underground (subordinate to Chambers), according to Herrmann's then wife, the radical<ref>Winifred Farrant Bevilacqua, "[http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/Bai/bevilacq.htm An Introduction to Josephine Herbst]," ''Books at Iowa'', November 1976</ref> novelist [[Josephine Herbst]].<ref>Elinor Langer, "The Secret Drawer," ''The Nation'', May 30, 1994, p. 756</ref> (Hiss would claim that Chambers had wandered into his office without introduction, as a free-lance writer looking for a story,<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,799060-2,00.html The Confrontation]," ''Time'', August 30, 1948</ref> and would later claim that he did not even know Herrmann&mdash;a "lie," according to Herbst's biographer.)<ref>Elinor Langer, "[http://www.thenation.com/doc/19970217/langer The Great Pumpkin]," ''The Nation'', February 17, 1997</ref>

It was in this role that Hiss met [[Whittaker Chambers]].<ref>William Fitzgibbon, "[http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/09/reviews/chambers-chronology.html The Hiss-Chambers Case: A Chronology Since 1934]," ''The New York Times'', June 12, 1949</ref> They were introduced in 1934 by [[John Herrmann]], an AAA official who was a member of the [[Ware group]] and courier for the Communist underground (subordinate to Chambers), according to Herrmann's then wife, the radical<ref>Winifred Farrant Bevilacqua, "[http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/Bai/bevilacq.htm An Introduction to Josephine Herbst]," ''Books at Iowa'', November 1976</ref> novelist [[Josephine Herbst]].<ref>Elinor Langer, "The Secret Drawer," ''The Nation'', May 30, 1994, p. 756</ref> (Hiss would claim that Chambers had wandered into his office without introduction, as a free-lance writer looking for a story,<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,799060-2,00.html The Confrontation]," ''Time'', August 30, 1948</ref> and would later claim that he did not even know Herrmann&mdash;a "lie," according to Herbst's biographer.)<ref>Elinor Langer, "[http://www.thenation.com/doc/19970217/langer The Great Pumpkin]," ''The Nation'', February 17, 1997</ref>

The following year, Hiss transferred into the [[Justice Department]] as special assistant to the [[Solictor General of the United States|Solictor General]], where he unsuccessfully defended the [[Agricultural Adjustment Act]] before the [[United States Supreme Court]]<ref>[http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/8-5testimony.html Testimony of Alger Hiss before the House Committee on Un-American Activities] (August 5, 1948)</ref> (which ruled the AAA unconstitutional in 1936).<ref>[http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct-cgi/get-us-cite?297+1 United States v. Butler, 297 U.S. 1 (1936)]</ref>

The following year, Hiss transferred into the [[Justice Department]] as special assistant to the [[Solictor General of the United States|Solictor General]], where he unsuccessfully defended the [[Agricultural Adjustment Act]] before the [[United States Supreme Court]]<ref>[http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/8-5testimony.html Testimony of Alger Hiss] before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (August 5, 1948)</ref> (which ruled the AAA unconstitutional in 1936).<ref>[http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct-cgi/get-us-cite?297+1 ''United States v. Butler'', 297 U.S. 1 (1936)]</ref>

During the early and middle thirties, Hiss was a source of agent information for a Soviet spy ring in Washington, the [[Silvermaster group]], according to a former [[GRU]] station chief in London and New York, as reported by [[Pavel Sudoplatov]], former deputy director of Foreign Intelligence for the [[USSR]].<ref>Anatoli Sudoplatov, Pavel Sudoplatov, Leona P. Schecter and Jerrold L. Schecter, ''Special Tasks'' (New York: Back Bay Books, 1995) ISBN 0316821152, p. 227-228</ref>

During the early and middle thirties, Hiss was a source of agent information for a Soviet spy ring in Washington, the [[Silvermaster group]], according to a former [[GRU]] station chief in London and New York, as reported by [[Pavel Sudoplatov]], former deputy director of Foreign Intelligence for the [[USSR]].<ref>Anatoli Sudoplatov, Pavel Sudoplatov, Leona P. Schecter and Jerrold L. Schecter, ''Special Tasks'' (New York: Back Bay Books, 1995) ISBN 0316821152, p. 227-228</ref>

At a 1935 dinner at the home of State Department official [[Noel Field]], Hiss argued with [[OGPU]] recruiter [[Hede Massing]] that Field should work with Hiss' [[GRU]] group, rather than Massing's OGPU group, according to Massing.<ref>Hede Massing, ''This Deception'' (New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1951), p. 335</ref>

At a 1935 dinner at the home of State Department official [[Noel Field]], Hiss argued with [[OGPU]] recruiter [[Hede Massing]] that Field should work with Hiss' [[GRU]] group, rather than Massing's OGPU group, according to Massing.<ref>Hede Massing, ''This Deception'' (New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1951), p. 335</ref>

Field would defect in 1948 to Communist Czechoslovakia, where he would tell the secret police that he was fleeing to avoid testifying in the trial of Alger Hiss, whom he identified as a fellow Communist underground agent in the State Department during the mid-thirties, according to official records published in 1990 by Karel Kaplan, former archivist of the Central Committee of the Czech Communist Party.<ref>Karel Kaplan, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=x3s6sBZw-YkC&pg=PA19&dq=%22noel+field%22&sig=d7XE7yhraGkrz6k4AP0ljIqXEvY#PPA19,M1, Report on the Murder of the General Secretary]'' (London: I.B. Taurus & Co. Ltd., 1990), ISBN 1-85043-211-2, pp. 19-25]</ref> A 1955 Czechoslovak secret police reinvestigation (obtained in 2000 by Czech human rights activist Karel Skrabek) states, "Noel Field said that … Hiss worked for the USSR as a spy."<ref>Herbert Romerstein and Eric Breindel, ''The Venona Secrets: Exposing Soviet Espionage and America's Traitors'' (Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, 2001) ISBN 0895262258, p. 133</ref>  Field would end up in Communist Hungary, where in 1954 he would give Hungarian secret police a statement reading in part as follows:

Field would defect in 1948 to Communist Czechoslovakia, where he would tell the secret police that he was fleeing to avoid testifying in the trial of Alger Hiss, whom he identified as a fellow Communist underground agent in the State Department during the mid-thirties, according to official records published in 1990 by Karel Kaplan, former archivist of the Central Committee of the Czech Communist Party.<ref>Karel Kaplan, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=x3s6sBZw-YkC&pg=PA19&dq=%22noel+field%22&sig=d7XE7yhraGkrz6k4AP0ljIqXEvY#PPA19,M1, Report on the Murder of the General Secretary]'' (London: I.B. Taurus & Co. Ltd., 1990), ISBN 1-85043-211-2, pp. 19-25</ref> A 1955 Czechoslovak secret police reinvestigation (obtained in 2000 by Czech human rights activist Karel Skrabek) states, "Noel Field said that … Hiss worked for the USSR as a spy."<ref>Herbert Romerstein and Eric Breindel, ''The Venona Secrets: Exposing Soviet Espionage and America's Traitors'' (Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, 2001) ISBN 0895262258, p. 133</ref>  Field would end up in Communist Hungary, where in 1954 he would give Hungarian secret police a statement reading in part as follows:

{{cquote|We [Field and his wife] made friends with Alger Hiss—an official of the "New Deal" brought about by Roosevelt—and his wife. After a couple of meetings we mutually realized we were Communists. Around the summer of 1935 Alger Hiss tried to induce me to do service for the Soviets. I was indiscreet enough to tell him he had come too late. Naturally I didn't say a word about the Massings.<ref>Mária Schmidt, “Noel Field -- The American Communist at the Center of Stalin’s East European Purge: From the Hungarian Archives,” ''American Communist History'' 3, no. 2 (December 2004)</ref><ref>Mária Schmidt, "The Hiss Dossier: A Historian's Report," ''The New Republic'', November 8, 1993, pp. 17-20</ref>}}

{{cquote|We [Field and his wife] made friends with Alger Hiss—an official of the "New Deal" brought about by Roosevelt—and his wife. After a couple of meetings we mutually realized we were Communists. Around the summer of 1935 Alger Hiss tried to induce me to do service for the Soviets. I was indiscreet enough to tell him he had come too late. Naturally I didn't say a word about the Massings.<ref>Mária Schmidt, “Noel Field -- The American Communist at the Center of Stalin’s East European Purge: From the Hungarian Archives,” ''American Communist History'' 3, no. 2 (December 2004)</ref><ref>Mária Schmidt, "The Hiss Dossier: A Historian's Report," ''The New Republic'', November 8, 1993, pp. 17-20</ref>}}

The transcripts also record Field saying that he turned over State Department documents to Hede Massing in the 1930s. In other statements Field twice said that although Hiss knew that Field “was a Communist,” he strongly supported Field at the State Department and even tried to help him obtain a job as a State Department adviser in the Philippines in 1940. The dossier likewise records a statement by Field that he briefly visited Hiss in 1939 in America, where they agreed that if either's cover was ever blown, he would communicate to the other indirectly.<ref>Sam Tanenhaus, “Hiss: Guilty as Charged,” ''Commentary'', April 1993</ref><ref>Sam Tanenhaus, "Hiss Case 'Smoking Gun'?" ''New York Times'', October 15, 1993; Sam Tanenhaus, "New Reasons to Doubt Hiss," ''Wall Street Journal'', November 18, 1993</ref>

The transcripts also record Field saying that he turned over State Department documents to Hede Massing in the 1930s. In other statements Field twice said that although Hiss knew that Field “was a Communist,” he strongly supported Field at the State Department and even tried to help him obtain a job as a State Department adviser in the Philippines in 1940. The dossier likewise records a statement by Field that he briefly visited Hiss in 1939 in America, where they agreed that if either's cover was ever blown, he would communicate to the other indirectly.<ref>Sam Tanenhaus, “Hiss: Guilty as Charged,” ''Commentary'', April 1993</ref><ref>Sam Tanenhaus, "Hiss Case 'Smoking Gun'?" ''New York Times'', October 15, 1993</ref><ref>Sam Tanenhaus, "New Reasons to Doubt Hiss," ''Wall Street Journal'', November 18, 1993</ref>

In a 1936 memorandum, found in the [[NKVD]] archives by former [[KGB]] agent [[Alexander Vassiliev]], Massing complains to Moscow about Hiss (using his real name) talking to Field (whom she refers to by his code name "Ernst"): "Alger told him that he was a Communist," complains Massing&mdash;a serious breach of discipline&mdash;and asked Field to use his connections to help Hiss get into the State Department.<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. 228</ref>

In a 1936 memorandum, found in the [[NKVD]] archives by former [[KGB]] agent [[Alexander Vassiliev]], Massing complains to Moscow about Hiss (using his real name) talking to Field (whom she refers to by his code name "Ernst"): "Alger told him that he was a Communist," complains Massing&mdash;a serious breach of discipline&mdash;and asked Field to use his connections to help Hiss get into the State Department.<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. 228</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>

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&mdash;The 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 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, ed., ''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&mdash;The 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, "[http://www.hoover.org/publications/digest/8138382.html Dark Memories]," ''Hoover Digest'', 2007, Number 3</ref>

''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, "[http://www.hoover.org/publications/digest/8138382.html Dark Memories]," ''Hoover Digest'', 2007, Number 3</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>

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:

[[Image:Hisstruman.jpg|thumb|300px|right|President Truman at the rostrum of the [[United Nations]] Charter Meeting with Secretary General of the Conference Alger Hiss seated second from Truman's left.]]

[[Image:Hisstruman.jpg|thumb|300px|right|President Truman at the rostrum of the [[United Nations]] Charter Meeting with Secretary General of the Conference Alger Hiss seated second from Truman's left.]]

In February 1945, Hiss was selected to accompany FDR to his meeting with [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]] and [[Winston Churchill|Churchill]] at [[Yalta conference|Yalta]], as aide to Secretary of State [[Edward Stettinius, Jr.]]<ref>John Ehrman, "Alger Hiss’s Looking-Glass Wars: Intelligence in Recent Public Literature," ''Studies in Intelligence'', Volume 48, Number 4</ref>

In February 1945, Hiss was selected to accompany FDR to his meeting with [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]] and [[Winston Churchill|Churchill]] at [[Yalta conference|Yalta]], as aide to Secretary of State [[Edward Stettinius, Jr.]]<ref>John Ehrman, "[https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol48no4/alger_hiss.html Alger Hiss’s Looking-Glass Wars: Intelligence in Recent Public Literature]," ''Studies in Intelligence'', Volume 48, Number 4</ref>

According to Sudoplatov, "One of the officials [at Yalta] we had established confidential relations with was Alger Hiss," who was "highly sympathetic to the interests of the Soviet Union."<ref>Anatoli Sudoplatov, Pavel Sudoplatov, Leona P. Schecter and Jerrold L. Schecter, ''Special Tasks'' (New York: Back Bay Books, 1995) ISBN 0316821152, p. , p. 227</ref> He added:

According to Sudoplatov, "One of the officials [at Yalta] we had established confidential relations with was Alger Hiss," who was "highly sympathetic to the interests of the Soviet Union."<ref>Anatoli Sudoplatov, Pavel Sudoplatov, Leona P. Schecter and Jerrold L. Schecter, ''Special Tasks'' (New York: Back Bay Books, 1995) ISBN 0316821152, p. , p. 227</ref> He added:

{{cquote|In conversation, Hiss disclosed to [[Constantine Oumansky|Oumansky]], and then [[Maxim Litvinov|Litvinov]], official U.S. attitudes and plans; he was also very close to our sources who were cooperating with Soviet intelligence and to our active intelligence operators in the United States. Within this framework of exchange of confidential information were references to Hiss as the source who told us the Americans were prepared to make a deal in Europe.<ref>Anatoli Sudoplatov, Pavel Sudoplatov, Leona P. Schecter and Jerrold L. Schecter, ''Special Tasks'' (New York: Back Bay Books, 1995) ISBN 0316821152, p. , p. 227</ref>}}

{{cquote|In conversation, Hiss disclosed to [[Constantine Oumansky|Oumansky]], and then [[Maxim Litvinov|Litvinov]], official U.S. attitudes and plans; he was also very close to our sources who were cooperating with Soviet intelligence and to our active intelligence operators in the United States. Within this framework of exchange of confidential information were references to Hiss as the source who told us the Americans were prepared to make a deal in Europe.<ref>Anatoli Sudoplatov, Pavel Sudoplatov, Leona P. Schecter and Jerrold L. Schecter, ''Special Tasks'' (New York: Back Bay Books, 1995) ISBN 0316821152, p. , p. 227</ref>}}

At the conference, the U.S. ceded hegemony over Eastern Europe to Stalin and made a secret agreement giving the Soviet Union three votes in the UN to one for the U.S.<ref>Ralph de Toledano and Victor Lasky, [http://www.americandeception.com/index.php?action=downloadpdf&photo=/PDFsml_AD/Seeds_Of_Treason-Ralph_de_Toledano_and_Victor_Lasky-1950-278pgs-POL.sml.pdf&id=343&PHPSESSID=b964065077a1de19538c4c7b1cf9e825 ''Seeds of Treason: The True Story of the Hiss-Chambers Tragedy''], (NY: Funk and Wagnalls, 1950), ASIN B0007DS43A pp. 107-109.</ref> According to confidential [[GRU]] sources, during the conference, Hiss gave daily briefings to General [[Mikhail Abramovich Milshtein]], a military adviser to Stalin and the deputy director of the [[GRU]], revealing not only the American negotiating strategy but insights into the attitudes of the American negotiators.<ref>Jerrold and Leona Schecter, ''Sacred Secrets: How Soviet Intelligence Operations Changed American History''(Washington: Potomac Books Inc., 2002) ISBN 1574883275, p. 130</ref>

At the conference, the U.S. ceded hegemony over Eastern Europe to Stalin and made a secret agreement giving the Soviet Union three votes in the UN to one for the U.S.<ref>Ralph de Toledano and Victor Lasky, ''[http://www.americandeception.com/index.php?action=downloadpdf&photo=/PDFsml_AD/Seeds_Of_Treason-Ralph_de_Toledano_and_Victor_Lasky-1950-278pgs-POL.sml.pdf&id=343&PHPSESSID=b964065077a1de19538c4c7b1cf9e825 Seeds of Treason: The True Story of the Hiss-Chambers Tragedy]'', (NY: Funk and Wagnalls, 1950), ASIN B0007DS43A pp. 107-109.</ref> According to confidential [[GRU]] sources, during the conference, Hiss gave daily briefings to General [[Mikhail Abramovich Milshtein]], a military adviser to Stalin and the deputy director of the [[GRU]], revealing not only the American negotiating strategy but insights into the attitudes of the American negotiators.<ref>Jerrold and Leona Schecter, ''Sacred Secrets: How Soviet Intelligence Operations Changed American History''(Washington: Potomac Books Inc., 2002) ISBN 1574883275, p. 130</ref>

After the conference, Hiss went on to Moscow, where he was decorated with the Order of the Red Star<ref>Jerrold and Leona Schecter, ''Sacred Secrets: How Soviet Intelligence Operations Changed American History''(Washington: Potomac Books Inc., 2002) ISBN 1574883275, p. 131</ref> by Foreign Minister [[Vyacheslav Molotov|V.M. Molotov]].<ref>Ralph De Toledano, “The Last Word,” ''Insight on the News'', December 17, 2001</ref> On April 25, 1945, [[Pavel Fitin]], head of [[NKVD]] foreign intelligence, reported to NKVD Chief [[Vsevolod Merkulov]] that [[Harold Glasser]], a Soviet agent in the [[United States Department of the Treasury|U.S. Treasury]] code-named "Ruble," learned about this from his friend, code-named "Ales" (pronounced "Alles"), a [[GRU|Soviet military intelligence]] agent:

After the conference, Hiss went on to Moscow, where he was decorated with the Order of the Red Star<ref>Jerrold and Leona Schecter, ''Sacred Secrets: How Soviet Intelligence Operations Changed American History''(Washington: Potomac Books Inc., 2002) ISBN 1574883275, p. 131</ref> by Foreign Minister [[Vyacheslav Molotov|V.M. Molotov]].<ref>Ralph De Toledano, “The Last Word,” ''Insight on the News'', December 17, 2001</ref> On April 25, 1945, [[Pavel Fitin]], head of [[NKVD]] foreign intelligence, reported to NKVD Chief [[Vsevolod Merkulov]] that [[Harold Glasser]], a Soviet agent in the [[United States Department of the Treasury|U.S. Treasury]] code-named "Ruble," learned about this from his friend, code-named "Ales" (pronounced "Alles"), a [[GRU|Soviet military intelligence]] agent:

This memo apparently refers to [[Venona project|Venona]] decrypt 1822, dated March 30, 1945, in which "Vadim" ([[Anatoly Gorsky]], chief of Soviet intelligence in the U.S.)<ref>Christopher Andrew and  Vasili Mitrokhin, ''The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB'' (New York: Basic Books, 2000), ISBN 046500312, p. 90</ref> reports,<ref>The translation used here is that of [http://www.johnearlhaynes.org/page61.html John R. Schindler]</ref> following up on a conversation with "Ales," that "Ales has been continuously working with the [[GRU|neighbors]] since 1935;" that for "a few years now he has been the director of a small group of probationers [agents]<ref>Robert L. Benson, [http://www.nsa.gov/publications/publi00036.pdf The Venona Story] (Ft. George G. Meade. MD: National Security Agency Center for Cryptologic History), p. 17 (PDF p. 20)</ref> of the [[GRU|neighbors]], for the most part drawn from his relatives;" that they were "working on obtaining only military information," since [[GRU|Soviet military intelligence]] "allegedly are not very interested" in "materials about the [[United States Department of State|Bank]]"; that recently, "Ales and his whole group were awarded Soviet medals"; and that after "the Yalta conference, back in Moscow, one very high-ranking Soviet worker allegedly had contact with Ales (Ales implied that it was Comrade [[Andrey Vyshinsky|Vyshinskii]]) and at the request of the [[GRU|military neighbors]] he conveyed to him their thanks, etc."

This memo apparently refers to [[Venona project|Venona]] decrypt 1822, dated March 30, 1945, in which "Vadim" ([[Anatoly Gorsky]], chief of Soviet intelligence in the U.S.)<ref>Christopher Andrew and  Vasili Mitrokhin, ''The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB'' (New York: Basic Books, 2000), ISBN 046500312, p. 90</ref> reports,<ref>The translation used here is that of [http://www.johnearlhaynes.org/page61.html John R. Schindler]</ref> following up on a conversation with "Ales," that "Ales has been continuously working with the [[GRU|neighbors]] since 1935;" that for "a few years now he has been the director of a small group of probationers [agents]<ref>Robert L. Benson, [http://www.nsa.gov/publications/publi00036.pdf The Venona Story] (Ft. George G. Meade. MD: National Security Agency Center for Cryptologic History), p. 17 (PDF p. 20)</ref> of the [[GRU|neighbors]], for the most part drawn from his relatives;" that they were "working on obtaining only military information," since [[GRU|Soviet military intelligence]] "allegedly are not very interested" in "materials about the [[United States Department of State|Bank]]"; that recently, "Ales and his whole group were awarded Soviet medals"; and that after "the Yalta conference, back in Moscow, one very high-ranking Soviet worker allegedly had contact with Ales (Ales implied that it was Comrade [[Andrey Vyshinsky|Vyshinskii]]) and at the request of the [[GRU|military neighbors]] he conveyed to him their thanks, etc."

<ref>[http://www.nsa.gov/venona/releases/30_Mar_1945_R3_m4_p1.gif Venona 1822  Washinton to Moscow 30 March 1945]</ref>

<ref>[http://www.nsa.gov/venona/releases/30_Mar_1945_R3_m4_p1.gif Venona 1822  Washington to Moscow 30 March 1945]</ref>

Regarding "Ales," in its unanimous final report in 1997, the bipartisan [[Moynihan Commission on Government Secrecy]] concluded, "This could only be Alger Hiss"<ref>Report of the Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1997), Appendix A, p. A-34 (PDF p. 36)</ref> Analysts at the National Security Agency have also gone on record that Ales could only have been Alger Hiss.<ref>"[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/venona/dece_hiss.html Secrets, Lies and Atomic Spies]," ''Nova'' (PBS)</ref> Former NSA analyst John R. Schindler, professor of strategy at the Naval War College, concurs that "the identification of ALES as Alger Hiss, made by the U.S. Government more than a half-century ago, seems exceptionally solid based on the evidence now available; message 1822 is only one piece of that evidence, yet a compelling one."<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>

Regarding "Ales," in its unanimous final report in 1997, the bipartisan [[Moynihan Commission on Government Secrecy]] concluded, "This could only be Alger Hiss"<ref>[http://www.gpo.gov/congress/commissions/secrecy/pdf/12hist1.pdf Report of the Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy] (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1997), Appendix A, p. A-34 (PDF p. 36)</ref> Analysts at the National Security Agency have also gone on record that Ales could only have been Alger Hiss.<ref>"[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/venona/dece_hiss.html Secrets, Lies and Atomic Spies]," ''Nova'' (PBS)</ref> Former NSA analyst John R. Schindler, professor of strategy at the Naval War College, concurs that "the identification of ALES as Alger Hiss, made by the U.S. Government more than a half-century ago, seems exceptionally solid based on the evidence now available; message 1822 is only one piece of that evidence, yet a compelling one."<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>

In 1945, [[Communist Party]] General Secretary [[Eugene Dennis]] told Communist Party National Committee member [[Jack Stachel]] that State Department liaison [[Andrew Roth]] of the Office of Naval Intelligence (who had been arrested in the ''Amerasia'' spy case) suggested that Alger Hiss might be used to quash the case, according to Louis Budenz.<ref>FBI memorandum: Ladd to Hoover, January 28, 1949 (FBI file: Hiss-Chambers, Vol. 44), p. 30</ref>

In 1945, [[Communist Party]] General Secretary [[Eugene Dennis]] told Communist Party National Committee member [[Jack Stachel]] that State Department liaison [[Andrew Roth]] of the Office of Naval Intelligence (who had been arrested in the ''Amerasia'' spy case) suggested that Alger Hiss might be used to quash the case, according to Louis Budenz.<ref>FBI memorandum: Ladd to Hoover, January 28, 1949 (FBI file: Hiss-Chambers, Vol. 44), p. 30</ref>

===United Nations===

===United Nations===

The following month, Hiss was promoted to become Director of the State Department Office of Special Political Affairs. Former KGB agent [[Alexander Vassiliev]]'s notes on a cable of the era, ([[Anatoly Gorsky|Vadim]] to Moscow Center, 5 March 1945, which Vassiliev discovered in the Soviet archives) report that "Vadim" ([[Anatoly Gorsky]],<ref>Christopher Andrew and  Vasili Mitrokhin, ''The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB'' (New York: Basic Books, 2000), ISBN 046500312, p. 90</ref> then chief of Soviet intelligence in the U.S.) wanted to meet with "Ales" at the upcoming founding conference of the United Nations. It also notes that "Ales" had worked with "Ruble" ([[Harold Glasser]])<ref>[http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=h-hoac&month=0503&week=b&msg=ycrsVT7M1e2L9EECiLFskg&user=&pw= Alexander Vassiliev's Notes on Anatoly Gorsky's December 1948 Memo on Compromised American Sources and Networks, Tr. Ronald Bachman and Harold Leich, assisted by John Earl Haynes], H-HOAC (Historians of American Communism) Discussion List, H-Net Discussion Networks (Humanities and Social Sciences Net Online), March 14, 2005</ref> as a member of a group run by "Karl" ([[Whittaker Chambers]]).<ref>[http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=h-hoac&month=0503&week=b&msg=ycrsVT7M1e2L9EECiLFskg&user=&pw= Alexander Vassiliev's Notes on Anatoly Gorsky's December 1948 Memo on Compromised American Sources and Networks, Tr. Ronald Bachman and Harold Leich, assisted by John Earl Haynes], H-HOAC (Historians of American Communism) Discussion List, H-Net Discussion Networks (Humanities and Social Sciences Net Online), March 14, 2005</ref> According to Vassiliev's notes, the cable adds that "'Ruble' gives 'Ales' an exceptionally good political reference as a member of the [[Communist Party|Comparty]].... completely aware that he is Communist in an illegal position, with all the ensuing consequences," and recommends (according to the notes) that he be approached at the UN conference by "Sergei" (NKVD agent [[Vladimir Pravdin]],<ref>Robert L. Benson, [http://www.nsa.gov/publications/publi00036.pdf The Venona Story] (Ft. George G. Meade. MD: National Security Agency Center for Cryptologic History), p. 31 (PDF p. 34)</ref> then under cover as head of the Soviet TASS news agency)<ref>Christopher Andrew and  Vasili Mitrokhin, ''The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB'' (New York: Basic Books, 2000), ISBN 046500312, p. 124</ref> or Gorsky, "alluding either to the password, or to '[[Harold Glasser|Ruble]]', or simply to 'Ales's' progressive attitudes."<ref>John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, "[http://www.johnearlhaynes.org/page70.html 'Ales' is Still Hiss: The Wilder Foote Red Herring]," 2007 Symposium on Cryptologic History. The Center for Cryptologic History, October 19, 2007</ref>

The following month, Hiss was promoted to become Director of the State Department Office of Special Political Affairs. Former KGB agent [[Alexander Vassiliev]]'s notes on a cable of the era, ([[Anatoly Gorsky|Vadim]] to Moscow Center, 5 March 1945, which Vassiliev discovered in the Soviet archives) report that "Vadim" ([[Anatoly Gorsky]],<ref>Christopher Andrew and  Vasili Mitrokhin, ''The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB'' (New York: Basic Books, 2000), ISBN 046500312, p. 90</ref> then chief of Soviet intelligence in the U.S.) wanted to meet with "Ales" at the upcoming founding conference of the United Nations. It also notes that "Ales" had worked with "Ruble" ([[Harold Glasser]])<ref>[http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=h-hoac&month=0503&week=b&msg=ycrsVT7M1e2L9EECiLFskg&user=&pw= Alexander Vassiliev's Notes on Anatoly Gorsky's December 1948 Memo on Compromised American Sources and Networks], Tr. Ronald Bachman and Harold Leich, assisted by John Earl Haynes, H-HOAC (Historians of American Communism) Discussion List, H-Net Discussion Networks (Humanities and Social Sciences Net Online), March 14, 2005</ref> as a member of a group run by "Karl" ([[Whittaker Chambers]]).<ref>[http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=h-hoac&month=0503&week=b&msg=ycrsVT7M1e2L9EECiLFskg&user=&pw= Alexander Vassiliev's Notes on Anatoly Gorsky's December 1948 Memo on Compromised American Sources and Networks], Tr. Ronald Bachman and Harold Leich, assisted by John Earl Haynes, H-HOAC (Historians of American Communism) Discussion List, H-Net Discussion Networks (Humanities and Social Sciences Net Online), March 14, 2005</ref> According to Vassiliev's notes, the cable adds that "'Ruble' gives 'Ales' an exceptionally good political reference as a member of the [[Communist Party|Comparty]].... completely aware that he is Communist in an illegal position, with all the ensuing consequences," and recommends (according to the notes) that he be approached at the UN conference by "Sergei" (NKVD agent [[Vladimir Pravdin]],<ref>Robert L. Benson, [http://www.nsa.gov/publications/publi00036.pdf The Venona Story] (Ft. George G. Meade. MD: National Security Agency Center for Cryptologic History), p. 31 (PDF p. 34)</ref> then under cover as head of the Soviet TASS news agency)<ref>Christopher Andrew and  Vasili Mitrokhin, ''The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB'' (New York: Basic Books, 2000), ISBN 046500312, p. 124</ref> or Gorsky, "alluding either to the password, or to '[[Harold Glasser|Ruble]]', or simply to 'Ales's' progressive attitudes."<ref>John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, "[http://www.johnearlhaynes.org/page70.html 'Ales' is Still Hiss: The Wilder Foote Red Herring]," 2007 Symposium on Cryptologic History. The Center for Cryptologic History, October 19, 2007</ref>

Shortly thereafter, Hiss presided as Secretary General over the [[United Nations Conference on International Organization|United Nations Charter Conference]] in San Francisco. [[James F. Byrnes]], who became [[Secretary of State]] during the conference, said that despite his categorical instructions not to recommend any U.S. citizen for posts in the UN secretariat, Hiss recommended several dozen federal employees—members of Communist cells in the government, whose jobs were at risk under a tightened security program.<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>

Shortly thereafter, Hiss presided as Secretary General over the [[United Nations Conference on International Organization|United Nations Charter Conference]] in San Francisco. [[James F. Byrnes]], who became [[Secretary of State]] during the conference, said that despite his categorical instructions not to recommend any U.S. citizen for posts in the UN secretariat, Hiss recommended several dozen federal employees—members of Communist cells in the government, whose jobs were at risk under a tightened security program.<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>

Bentley said after "Jack" (Soviet agent Joseph Katz)<ref>Robert J. Lamphere and Tom Shachtman, ''The FBI-KGB War: A Special Agent's Story'' (Atlanta: Mercer University Press, 1995) ISBN 0865544778, p. 296</ref> asked her who Hiss was, she clipped an article from the New York daily ''PM'' (whose Washington correspondent, [[I.F. Stone]], was a Soviet intelligence source designated in [[Venona project|encrypted Soviet cables]] by the code name "Blin")<ref>Herbert Romerstein and Eric Breindel, ''The Venona Secrets: Exposing Soviet Espionage and America's Traitors'' (Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, 2001) ISBN 0895262258, pp. 432-436</ref> “in which Hiss was mentioned.” She said “It is my present recollection that this newspaper article stated Hiss’ full name was Eugene [sic] Hiss and that he was an adviser to [[Dean Acheson]] in the State Department.”<ref>[http://ultra-secret.info/PDFs/splitfiles/splitprocessed/Silvermaster006_Folder/Silvermaster006_page106.pdf Silvermaster file, Vol. 6, p. 105 (PDF p. 106)]</ref> FBI investigation quickly closed in on Alger Hiss.<ref>[http://ultra-secret.info/PDFs/splitfiles/splitprocessed/Silvermaster082_Folder/Silvermaster082_page119.pdf FBI Report: Underground Soviet Espionage Organization (NKVD) in Agencies of the United States Government, p. 108 (PDF p. 119)]</ref>

Bentley said after "Jack" (Soviet agent Joseph Katz)<ref>Robert J. Lamphere and Tom Shachtman, ''The FBI-KGB War: A Special Agent's Story'' (Atlanta: Mercer University Press, 1995) ISBN 0865544778, p. 296</ref> asked her who Hiss was, she clipped an article from the New York daily ''PM'' (whose Washington correspondent, [[I.F. Stone]], was a Soviet intelligence source designated in [[Venona project|encrypted Soviet cables]] by the code name "Blin")<ref>Herbert Romerstein and Eric Breindel, ''The Venona Secrets: Exposing Soviet Espionage and America's Traitors'' (Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, 2001) ISBN 0895262258, pp. 432-436</ref> “in which Hiss was mentioned.” She said “It is my present recollection that this newspaper article stated Hiss’ full name was Eugene [sic] Hiss and that he was an adviser to [[Dean Acheson]] in the State Department.”<ref>[http://ultra-secret.info/PDFs/splitfiles/splitprocessed/Silvermaster006_Folder/Silvermaster006_page106.pdf Silvermaster file, Vol. 6, p. 105 (PDF p. 106)]</ref> FBI investigation quickly closed in on Alger Hiss.<ref>[http://ultra-secret.info/PDFs/splitfiles/splitprocessed/Silvermaster082_Folder/Silvermaster082_page119.pdf FBI Report: Underground Soviet Espionage Organization (NKVD) in Agencies of the United States Government, p. 108 (PDF p. 119)]</ref>

[[Anatoly Gorsky]], chief of Soviet intelligence in the U.S. during World War II, would author an internal [[KI|Soviet secret police]] [[Gorsky memo|memorandum]] three years later, in which he would list 43 Soviet sources and intelligence officers likely to have been identified to U.S. authorities by Bentley after her defection. Included on the list was Alger Hiss.<ref>[http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=h-hoac&month=0503&week=b&msg=ycrsVT7M1e2L9EECiLFskg&user=&pw= Alexander Vassiliev's Notes on Anatoly Gorsky's December 1948 Memo on Compromised American Sources and Networks, Tr. Ronald Bachman and Harold Leich, assisted by John Earl Haynes], H-HOAC (Historians of American Communism) Discussion List, H-Net Discussion Networks (Humanities and Social Sciences Net Online), March 14, 2005</ref>

[[Anatoly Gorsky]], chief of Soviet intelligence in the U.S. during World War II, would author an internal [[KI|Soviet secret police]] [[Gorsky memo|memorandum]] three years later, in which he would list 43 Soviet sources and intelligence officers likely to have been identified to U.S. authorities by Bentley after her defection. Included on the list was Alger Hiss.<ref>[http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=h-hoac&month=0503&week=b&msg=ycrsVT7M1e2L9EECiLFskg&user=&pw= Alexander Vassiliev's Notes on Anatoly Gorsky's December 1948 Memo on Compromised American Sources and Networks], Tr. Ronald Bachman and Harold Leich, assisted by John Earl Haynes, H-HOAC (Historians of American Communism) Discussion List, H-Net Discussion Networks (Humanities and Social Sciences Net Online), March 14, 2005</ref>

In 1946, the FBI again interviewed Hiss. Hiss denied ever being a Communist, and denied knowledge of any of his friends being Communists. He did, however, add that he had heard it said that [[Lee Pressman]] was either a Party member or followed the Party line.<ref>[http://ultra-secret.info/PDFs/splitfiles/splitprocessed/Silvermaster082_Folder/Silvermaster082_page121.pdf FBI Report: Underground Soviet Espionage Organization (NKVD) in Agencies of the United States Government, p. 110 (PDF p. 121)]</ref> That year, British intelligence supplied its order of battle against Soviet-led guerrillas in Greece to the Pentagon. Shortly thereafter, this top-secret information appeared in the column of [[Drew Pearson]] (whose reporter, [[David Karr|David Carr]], was a "competent KGB source"),<ref>Yevgenia Albats, ''The State Within a State: The KGB And Its Hold on Russia Past, Present and Future'' (New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1994), pp. 250-251</ref> forcing the British army to withdraw, a move that would have delivered Greece to the [[Kremlin]] had not the U.S. intervened. According to de Toledano, “Deputy Assistant Secretary of State J. Anthony Panuch, in charge of security, tracked down the source of the leak. He discovered that Hiss had asked the Pentagon for this information, though it had nothing to do with his work as director of the Office of Special Political Affairs.”<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>

In 1946, the FBI again interviewed Hiss. Hiss denied ever being a Communist, and denied knowledge of any of his friends being Communists. He did, however, add that he had heard it said that [[Lee Pressman]] was either a Party member or followed the Party line.<ref>[http://ultra-secret.info/PDFs/splitfiles/splitprocessed/Silvermaster082_Folder/Silvermaster082_page121.pdf FBI Report: Underground Soviet Espionage Organization (NKVD) in Agencies of the United States Government, p. 110 (PDF p. 121)]</ref> That year, British intelligence supplied its order of battle against Soviet-led guerrillas in Greece to the Pentagon. Shortly thereafter, this top-secret information appeared in the column of [[Drew Pearson]] (whose reporter, [[David Karr|David Carr]], was a "competent KGB source"),<ref>Yevgenia Albats, ''The State Within a State: The KGB And Its Hold on Russia Past, Present and Future'' (New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1994), pp. 250-251</ref> forcing the British army to withdraw, a move that would have delivered Greece to the [[Kremlin]] had not the U.S. intervened. According to de Toledano, “Deputy Assistant Secretary of State J. Anthony Panuch, in charge of security, tracked down the source of the leak. He discovered that Hiss had asked the Pentagon for this information, though it had nothing to do with his work as director of the Office of Special Political Affairs.”<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>

== House Committee on Un-American Activities ==

== House Committee on Un-American Activities ==

On August 3, 1948, the House Committee on Un-American Activities called [[Whittaker Chambers]]. He repeated under oath what he had been telling State Department officials Berle and Murphy, and the FBI, about the [[Ware group]], starting in 1939.<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>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>

On August 3, 1948, the House Committee on Un-American Activities called [[Whittaker Chambers]]. He repeated under oath what he had been telling State Department officials Berle and Murphy, and the FBI, about the [[Ware group]], starting in 1939.<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>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>

Two days later, Hiss testified, denying that he ever even knew Chambers, in a statement Secretary of State [[Dean Acheson]] helped write.<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, pp. 17</ref> That day, 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.”<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> Five minutes later, Truman blustered to a press conference that the Hiss case was just an election-year “red herring.”<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,819396,00.html Off the Record]," ''Time'', January 18, 1954</ref> 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>

Two days later, Hiss testified, denying that he ever even knew Chambers, in a statement Secretary of State [[Dean Acheson]] helped write.<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, pp. 17</ref> That day, 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.”<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> Five minutes later, Truman blustered to a press conference that the Hiss case was just an election-year “red herring.”<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,819396,00.html Off the Record]," ''Time'', January 18, 1954</ref> 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>

So strong was Hiss' denial that the committee wanted to drop the investigation.<ref>[http://www.usembassy.ru/files/All%20the%20President's%20Men.pdf American Values through Film] (English Language Office, Public Affairs section, U.S. Embassy, Moscow),  p. 81 (PDF p. 82)</ref> But one member, freshman Congressman [[Richard M. Nixon]] (R-Calif.) insisted that either Chambers or Hiss was lying about whether they had known one another,<ref>Douglas O. Linder, "[http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/hissaccount.html The Alger Hiss Trials: A Commentary]," The Alger Hiss Trials, 1949-50. Famous Trials (University of Missouri at Kansas City)</ref> and he asked the committee to appoint him to head a subcommittee to find out which one.<ref>"[http://www.departments.dsu.edu/LIBRARY/archive/unamerican.htm House Un-American Activities Committee]," Mundt Archives (Dakota State University)]</ref><ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, pp. 15-16</ref>

So strong was Hiss' denial that the committee wanted to drop the investigation.<ref>[http://www.usembassy.ru/files/All%20the%20President's%20Men.pdf American Values through Film] (English Language Office, Public Affairs section, U.S. Embassy, Moscow),  p. 81 (PDF p. 82)</ref> But one member, freshman Congressman [[Richard M. Nixon]] (R-Calif.) insisted that either Chambers or Hiss was lying about whether they had known one another,<ref>Douglas O. Linder, "[http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/hissaccount.html The Alger Hiss Trials: A Commentary]," The Alger Hiss Trials, 1949-50. Famous Trials (University of Missouri at Kansas City School of Law)</ref> and he asked the committee to appoint him to head a subcommittee to find out which one.<ref>"[http://www.departments.dsu.edu/LIBRARY/archive/unamerican.htm House Un-American Activities Committee]," Mundt Archives (Dakota State University)</ref><ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, pp. 15-16</ref>

On August 16, Chambers offered to take a lie-detector test.<ref>Robert G. Whalen, "[http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/09/reviews/chambers-strange.html Hiss and Chambers: Strange Story of Two Men]," ''The New York Times'', December 12, 1948</ref> Hiss refused (a refusal he kept up for the rest of his life),<ref>"The Confrontation," ''Time'', August 30, 1948</ref> but he dared Chambers to repeat his charges outside of the immunity afforded in congressional hearings, so Hiss could sue him. In her newspaper column that day, Eleanor Roosevelt set the tone of respectable opinion, writing, "Smearing good people like [[Lauchlin Currie]], Alger Hiss and others is, I think, unforgivable .... Anyone knowing Mr. Currie or Mr. Hiss, who are the two people whom I happen to know fairly well, would not need any denial on their part to know they are not Communists. Their records prove it."<ref>Eleanor Roosevelt, ''Washington Daily News'', August 16th , 1948</ref> (Currie was the NKVD agent<ref>Robert J. Hanyok, ''[http://www.nsa.gov/publications/publi00044.cfm Eavesdropping on Hell: Historical Guide to Western Communications Intelligence and the Holocaust, 1939-1945]'' (Center for Cryptologic History, National Security Agency, 2005), p. 118 (PDF p. 123), n. 185</ref><ref>John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, ''Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999) ISBN 0300077718, p. 146</ref> in the White House<ref>[http://www.ncix.gov/issues/CI_Reader/Vol3/Vol3Chap1.pdf "Cold War Counterintelligence," ''A Counterintelligence Reader: An American Revolution Into the New Millennium, Vol. 3, Chapter 1]'' (Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive) pp. 30-31 (PDF pp. 29-30)</ref><ref>Herbert Romerstein and Eric Breindel, ''The Venona Secrets: Exposing Soviet Espionage and America's Traitors'' (Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, 2001) ISBN 0895262258, p. 167</ref> who tipped the Kremlin off in 1944 that the U.S. was on the verge of breaking the Soviet code.)<ref> Christopher Andrew and  Vasili Mitrokhin, ''The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB'' (New York: Basic Books, 2000), ISBN 046500312, p. 130</ref><ref>Robert Louis Benson and Michael Warner, eds., ''[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/preface.htm  Venona: Soviet Espionage and The American Response]'' (Washington: National Security Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, 1996), pp. xiv, xxiv</ref><ref>FBI memo: Belmont to Boardman, February 1, 1956, p. 9 ([http://foia.fbi.gov/venona/venona.pdf FBI file: Venona], p. 71)</ref>

On August 16, Chambers offered to take a lie-detector test.<ref>Robert G. Whalen, "[http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/09/reviews/chambers-strange.html Hiss and Chambers: Strange Story of Two Men]," ''The New York Times'', December 12, 1948</ref> Hiss refused (a refusal he kept up for the rest of his life),<ref>"The Confrontation," ''Time'', August 30, 1948</ref> but he dared Chambers to repeat his charges outside of the immunity afforded in congressional hearings, so Hiss could sue him. In her newspaper column that day, Eleanor Roosevelt set the tone of respectable opinion, writing, "Smearing good people like [[Lauchlin Currie]], Alger Hiss and others is, I think, unforgivable .... Anyone knowing Mr. Currie or Mr. Hiss, who are the two people whom I happen to know fairly well, would not need any denial on their part to know they are not Communists. Their records prove it."<ref>Eleanor Roosevelt, ''Washington Daily News'', August 16th , 1948</ref> (Currie was the NKVD agent<ref>Robert J. Hanyok, ''[http://www.nsa.gov/publications/publi00044.cfm Eavesdropping on Hell: Historical Guide to Western Communications Intelligence and the Holocaust, 1939-1945]'' (Center for Cryptologic History, National Security Agency, 2005), p. 118 (PDF p. 123), n. 185</ref><ref>John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, ''Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999) ISBN 0300077718, p. 146</ref> in the White House<ref>[http://www.ncix.gov/issues/CI_Reader/Vol3/Vol3Chap1.pdf "Cold War Counterintelligence," ''A Counterintelligence Reader: An American Revolution Into the New Millennium'', Vol. 3, Chapter 1] (Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive) pp. 30-31 (PDF pp. 29-30)</ref><ref>Herbert Romerstein and Eric Breindel, ''The Venona Secrets: Exposing Soviet Espionage and America's Traitors'' (Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, 2001) ISBN 0895262258, p. 167</ref> who tipped the Kremlin off in 1944 that the U.S. was on the verge of breaking the Soviet code.)<ref> Christopher Andrew and  Vasili Mitrokhin, ''The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB'' (New York: Basic Books, 2000), ISBN 046500312, p. 130</ref><ref>Robert Louis Benson and Michael Warner, eds., ''[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/preface.htm  Venona: Soviet Espionage and The American Response]'' (Washington: National Security Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, 1996), pp. xiv, xxiv</ref><ref>FBI memo: Belmont to Boardman, February 1, 1956, p. 9 ([http://foia.fbi.gov/venona/venona.pdf FBI file: Venona], p. 71)</ref>

The next day, 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, no suggestion was made that Hiss' mental health history might be subject to investigation.) In falling for the fiction that Chambers had been committed to an insane asylum, the Truman administration was "taken in by disinformation being spread by the American Communist party and Alger Hiss's partisans."<ref>John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, ''Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999) ISBN 0300077718, p. 15</ref>

The next day, 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, no suggestion was made that Hiss' mental health history might be subject to investigation.) In falling for the fiction that Chambers had been committed to an insane asylum, the Truman administration was "taken in by disinformation being spread by the American Communist party and Alger Hiss's partisans."<ref>John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, ''Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999) ISBN 0300077718, p. 15</ref>

==The Trials==

==The Trials==

At trial, Hiss provided an all-star cast of character witnesses, including such notables as [[Adlai Stevenson]], Justice [[Felix Frankfurter]], and former Democratic presidential candidate [[John W. Davis]]. However, both Under Secretary Welles and Sayre testified that delivering the classifed documents to a foreign power would enable them break America's most secret codes.<ref>Ralph de Toledano and Victor Lasky, [http://www.americandeception.com/index.php?action=downloadpdf&photo=/PDFsml_AD/Seeds_Of_Treason-Ralph_de_Toledano_and_Victor_Lasky-1950-278pgs-POL.sml.pdf&id=343&PHPSESSID=b964065077a1de19538c4c7b1cf9e825 ''Seeds of Treason''], (NY: Funk and Wagnalls, 1950), pgs. 221-223.</ref>

At trial, Hiss provided an all-star cast of character witnesses, including such notables as [[Adlai Stevenson]], Justice [[Felix Frankfurter]], and former Democratic presidential candidate [[John W. Davis]]. However, both Under Secretary Welles and Sayre testified that delivering the classifed documents to a foreign power would enable them break America's most secret codes.<ref>Ralph de Toledano and Victor Lasky, ''[http://www.americandeception.com/index.php?action=downloadpdf&photo=/PDFsml_AD/Seeds_Of_Treason-Ralph_de_Toledano_and_Victor_Lasky-1950-278pgs-POL.sml.pdf&id=343&PHPSESSID=b964065077a1de19538c4c7b1cf9e825 Seeds of Treason: The True Story of the Hiss-Chambers Tragedy]'', (NY: Funk and Wagnalls, 1950), ASIN B0007DS43A pp. 221-223.</ref>

At Hiss’ first perjury trial, Hornbeck testified that an unnamed friend had warned him that Hiss was a Communist fellow-traveler, but he disregarded the warning.<ref>Ralph de Toledano and Victor Lasky, [http://www.americandeception.com/index.php?action=downloadpdf&photo=/PDFsml_AD/Seeds_Of_Treason-Ralph_de_Toledano_and_Victor_Lasky-1950-278pgs-POL.sml.pdf&id=343&PHPSESSID=b964065077a1de19538c4c7b1cf9e825 ''Seeds of Treason: The True Story of the Hiss-Chambers Tragedy''], (NY: Funk and Wagnalls, 1950), ASIN B0007DS43A, p. 235</ref> At the second trial, Hornbeck testified that on at least two occasions he was warned that Hiss was a Communist, and named Bullitt as his source.<ref>Ralph de Toledano and Victor Lasky, [http://www.americandeception.com/index.php?action=downloadpdf&photo=/PDFsml_AD/Seeds_Of_Treason-Ralph_de_Toledano_and_Victor_Lasky-1950-278pgs-POL.sml.pdf&id=343&PHPSESSID=b964065077a1de19538c4c7b1cf9e825 ''Seeds of Treason: The True Story of the Hiss-Chambers Tragedy''], (NY: Funk and Wagnalls, 1950), ASIN B0007DS43A, p. 258-259</ref> John Foster Dulles, who had recommended Hiss for the Carnegie Endowment, likewise testified at that trial that various people had warned him subsequently that Hiss was a Communist.<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,806501-1,00.html The Alger Hiss Issue]," ''Time'', November 3, 1952</ref>

At Hiss’ first perjury trial, Hornbeck testified that an unnamed friend had warned him that Hiss was a Communist fellow-traveler, but he disregarded the warning.<ref>Ralph de Toledano and Victor Lasky, ''[http://www.americandeception.com/index.php?action=downloadpdf&photo=/PDFsml_AD/Seeds_Of_Treason-Ralph_de_Toledano_and_Victor_Lasky-1950-278pgs-POL.sml.pdf&id=343&PHPSESSID=b964065077a1de19538c4c7b1cf9e825 Seeds of Treason: The True Story of the Hiss-Chambers Tragedy]'', (NY: Funk and Wagnalls, 1950), ASIN B0007DS43A, p. 235</ref> At the second trial, Hornbeck testified that on at least two occasions he was warned that Hiss was a Communist, and named Bullitt as his source.<ref>Ralph de Toledano and Victor Lasky, ''[http://www.americandeception.com/index.php?action=downloadpdf&photo=/PDFsml_AD/Seeds_Of_Treason-Ralph_de_Toledano_and_Victor_Lasky-1950-278pgs-POL.sml.pdf&id=343&PHPSESSID=b964065077a1de19538c4c7b1cf9e825 Seeds of Treason: The True Story of the Hiss-Chambers Tragedy]'', (NY: Funk and Wagnalls, 1950), ASIN B0007DS43A, pp. 258-259</ref> John Foster Dulles, who had recommended Hiss for the Carnegie Endowment, likewise testified at that trial that various people had warned him subsequently that Hiss was a Communist.<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,806501-1,00.html The Alger Hiss Issue]," ''Time'', November 3, 1952</ref>

The prosecution called [[Hede Massing]], but at the first trial Judge Samuel H. Kaufman ruled that her testimony was irrelevant. At the second trial, Judge Henry W. Goddard allowed her to testify about Hiss' 1935 attempt to get [[Noel Field]] to transfer from her [[OGPU]] group to Hiss' [[GRU]] group.<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,855041,00.html Woman with a Past]," ''Time'', December 19, 1949</ref> To avoid testifying, Field fled to the East bloc.

The prosecution called [[Hede Massing]], but at the first trial Judge Samuel H. Kaufman ruled that her testimony was irrelevant. At the second trial, Judge Henry W. Goddard allowed her to testify about Hiss' 1935 attempt to get [[Noel Field]] to transfer from her [[OGPU]] group to Hiss' [[GRU]] group.<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,855041,00.html Woman with a Past]," ''Time'', December 19, 1949</ref> To avoid testifying, Field fled to the East bloc.

== Corroboration from Soviet archives ==

== Corroboration from Soviet archives ==

According to [[Library of Congress]] [[Cold War]] historian [[John Earl Haynes]],<ref>John Earl Haynes, [http://www.johnearlhaynes.org/page66.html Cover Name, Cryptonym, CPUSA Party Name, Pseudonym, and Real Name Index: A Research Historian’s Working Reference]</ref> Alger Hiss’s known [[cryptonym]]s were "Lawyer"<ref>Allen Weinstein and Alexander Vassiliev, ''The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America—the Stalin Era'', (New York: Random House, 1999), p. 43</ref> ("Advocate"<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Random House, 1997)</ref> or "Advokat"<ref>Whittaker Chambers, ''Witness'' (Washington: Regnery Publishing, 1952)</ref>), during his time at the [[United States Department of Justice]] (1935-36), "Ales"<ref>Venona decrypts (e.g., [http://www.nsa.gov/venona/releases/30_Mar_1945_R3_m4_p1.gif Venona 1822  Washinton to Moscow 30 March 1945])</ref><ref>Allen Weinstein and Alexander Vassiliev, ''The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America—the Stalin Era'' (New York: Random House, 1999); Eduard Mark, "Who Was ‘Venona’s’ ‘Ales?’ Cryptanalysis and the Hiss Case," ''Intelligence and National Security'' 18, no. 3 (Autumn 2003)</ref> in 1945, and "Leonard" in the "Gorsky memo."<ref>[http://www.johnearlhaynes.org/page48.html KGB file 43173] vol. 2 (v) pp. 49-55</ref>

According to [[Library of Congress]] [[Cold War]] historian [[John Earl Haynes]],<ref>John Earl Haynes, [http://www.johnearlhaynes.org/page66.html Cover Name, Cryptonym, CPUSA Party Name, Pseudonym, and Real Name Index: A Research Historian’s Working Reference]</ref> Alger Hiss’s known [[cryptonym]]s were "Lawyer"<ref>Allen Weinstein and Alexander Vassiliev, ''The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America—the Stalin Era'', (New York: Random House, 1999), p. 43</ref> ("Advocate"<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Random House, 1997)</ref> or "Advokat"<ref>Whittaker Chambers, ''Witness'' (Washington: Regnery Publishing, 1952)</ref>), during his time at the [[United States Department of Justice]] (1935-36), "Ales"<ref>Venona decrypts (e.g., [http://www.nsa.gov/venona/releases/30_Mar_1945_R3_m4_p1.gif Venona 1822  Washington to Moscow 30 March 1945])</ref><ref>Allen Weinstein and Alexander Vassiliev, ''The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America—the Stalin Era'' (New York: Random House, 1999)</ref><ref>Eduard Mark, "Who Was ‘Venona’s’ ‘Ales’? Cryptanalysis and the Hiss Case," ''Intelligence and National Security'' 18, no. 3 (Autumn 2003)</ref> in 1945, and "Leonard" in the "Gorsky memo."<ref>[http://www.johnearlhaynes.org/page48.html KGB file 43173] vol. 2 (v) pp. 49-55</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, 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>

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], Diplomatic History (H-DIPLO) Discussion List, Humanities and Social Sciences Net Online (H-Net), October 10, 2003</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>

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>

Four years later, on November 15, 1996, Alger Hiss died. His original Associated Press obituary said that Hiss proclaimed vindication "when a Russian general in charge of Soviet intelligence archives declared that Hiss had never been a spy, but rather a victim of Cold War hysteria and the McCarthy Red-hunting era."<ref>L. Brent Bozell III, "[http://www.mediaresearch.org/BozellColumns/newscolumn/1996/col19961121.asp Hiss Obituaries Prove Network Laziness]," Creators Syndicate, November 21, 1996</ref> That night, NBC's Tom Brokaw said, "Hiss considered vindication a declaration by a Russian General, who controlled the KGB archives, saying that Hiss had never been a spy."<ref>Wes Vernon, "[http://www.aim.org/aim-report/aim-report-media-wont-give-up-on-red-spy-alger-hiss-july-b/ Media Won’t Give Up on Red Spy Alger Hiss]," ''AIM Report'', July B (July 19, 2007)</ref> ABC's Peter Jennings said Hiss "protested his innocence until the very end and last year we reported that the Russian President Boris Yeltsin said that KGB files had supported Mr. Hiss's claim."<ref>Brent Baker, CyberAlert (Media Research Center), Vol. One, No. 115 (November 18, 1996)</ref> MSNBC anchor Brigitte Quinn said, "In 1987 [sic], a Russian general declared that Hiss was never a spy, but a victim of Cold War hysteria." None of these stories mentioned Volkogonov's retraction. Three days passed before Brokaw corrected the record; four days for Jennings (who belatedly admitted that the source was not Yeltsin, but Volkogonov).<ref>Brent Baker, [http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/1996/cyb19961122.asp CyberAlert (Media Research Center), Vol. One, No. 116] (November 22, 1996)</ref>

Four years later, on November 15, 1996, Alger Hiss died. His original Associated Press obituary said that Hiss proclaimed vindication "when a Russian general in charge of Soviet intelligence archives declared that Hiss had never been a spy, but rather a victim of Cold War hysteria and the McCarthy Red-hunting era."<ref>L. Brent Bozell III, "[http://www.mediaresearch.org/BozellColumns/newscolumn/1996/col19961121.asp Hiss Obituaries Prove Network Laziness]," Creators Syndicate, November 21, 1996</ref> That night, NBC's Tom Brokaw said, "Hiss considered vindication a declaration by a Russian General, who controlled the KGB archives, saying that Hiss had never been a spy."<ref>Wes Vernon, "[http://www.aim.org/aim-report/aim-report-media-wont-give-up-on-red-spy-alger-hiss-july-b/ Media Won’t Give Up on Red Spy Alger Hiss]," ''AIM Report'', July B (July 19, 2007)</ref> ABC's Peter Jennings said Hiss "protested his innocence until the very end and last year we reported that the Russian President Boris Yeltsin said that KGB files had supported Mr. Hiss's claim."<ref>Brent Baker, [http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/1996/cyb19961118.asp CyberAlert (Media Research Center), Vol. One, No. 115] (November 18, 1996)</ref> MSNBC anchor Brigitte Quinn said, "In 1987 [sic], a Russian general declared that Hiss was never a spy, but a victim of Cold War hysteria." None of these stories mentioned Volkogonov's retraction. Three days passed before Brokaw corrected the record; four days for Jennings (who belatedly admitted that the source was not Yeltsin, but Volkogonov).<ref>Brent Baker, [http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/1996/cyb19961122.asp CyberAlert (Media Research Center), Vol. One, No. 116] (November 22, 1996)</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>