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[[Image:Hiss2.png|thumb|241px|right|Alger Hiss.<br>''Photo courtesy U.S. Bureau of Prisons'']]

[[Image:Hiss2.png|thumb|241px|right|Alger Hiss.<br>''Photo courtesy U.S. Bureau of Prisons'']]

'''Alger Hiss''' (November 11, 1904 - November 15, 1996) was a [[U.S. State Department]] official and Secretary General of the [[United Nations Conference on International Organization|founding conference]] of the [[United Nations]]. Following accusations by [[Whittaker Chambers]] that he spied on behalf of the [[Soviet Union]], Hiss was convicted of perjury.

'''Alger Hiss''' (November 11, 1904 &ndash; November 15, 1996) was a high-ranking<ref>Press Release: [http://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2000/nr00-02.html National Archives to Make Available Alger Hiss Grand Jury Materials ], United States National Archives and Records Administration, October 11, 1999</ref> [[U.S. State Department]] official and Secretary General of the [[United Nations Conference on International Organization|founding conference]] of the [[United Nations]], who was convicted in 1950 of perjury following his denial that he had been a [[Soviet]] agent.

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.) was instrumental in securing the release of [[FBI]] and [[Venona project]] files on the case, which had been classified for some 50 years. "Belief in the guilt or innocence of Alger Hiss became a defining issue in American intellectual life," concluded the liberal<ref>Louis Uchitelle, "[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9907E5DC103EF930A15751C0A961958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all The Rehabilitation of Morning in America]," ''The New York Times, February 23, 1997</ref> Democrat in 1998. "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) ISBN 0300077564, p. 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==