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added detail on Pumpkin Papers
In a pre-trial "discovery" deposition for the suit, Hiss's attorneys told Chambers to produce "any correspondence, either typewritten or in handwriting" from Hiss. Chambers retrieved the packet he had given his wife's nephew in 1938, which had been hidden in a dumbwaiter shaft. Three days later, Chambers turned over to Hiss' attorneys 65 pages of typewritten documents and five handwritten pages of notes. Hiss said the 65 typewritten pages appeared to be copies of authentic State Department documents, and four of the handwritten pages appeared to be in his handwriting.<ref>FBI "By Special Messenger": SAC, Washington Field to Hoover, December 1, 1948 (FBI file: Hiss Chambers, Vol. 1)</ref>
In a pre-trial "discovery" deposition for the suit, Hiss's attorneys told Chambers to produce "any correspondence, either typewritten or in handwriting" from Hiss. Chambers retrieved the packet he had given his wife's nephew in 1938, which had been hidden in a dumbwaiter shaft. Three days later, Chambers turned over to Hiss' attorneys 65 pages of typewritten documents and five handwritten pages of notes. Hiss said the 65 typewritten pages appeared to be copies of authentic State Department documents, and four of the handwritten pages appeared to be in his handwriting.<ref>FBI "By Special Messenger": SAC, Washington Field to Hoover, December 1, 1948 (FBI file: Hiss Chambers, Vol. 1)</ref>
Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas J. Donegan told the FBI that Assistant Attorney General Alexander M. Campbell, head of the Criminal Division at Truman Justice, “now wants to institute perjury charges against Chambers” for not revealing the documents before this. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover's handwritten addendum comments, “I wonder why they don't move against Hiss also.”<ref>FBI memorandum: Ladd to Hoover, November 23, 1948 (FBI file: Hiss-Chambers, Vol. 1)</ref>
Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas J. Donegan told the FBI that Assistant Attorney General Alexander M. Campbell, head of the Criminal Division at Truman Justice, “now wants to institute perjury charges against Chambers” for not revealing the documents before this. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover's handwritten addendum comments, “I wonder why they don't move against Hiss also.”<ref>FBI memorandum: Ladd to Hoover, November 23, 1948 (FBI file: Hiss-Chambers, Vol. 1)</ref> As Haynes and Klehr note:
{{cquote|Usually … when a witness gives false testimony and then later comes forward and provides a truthful account, no perjury charge is brought. To charge perjury … in such a case would be a disincentive for a witness to provide a subsequent truthful account…. [A] perjury count is rarely brought if a witness corrects false testimony in a timely fashion…. Chambers corrected his false sworn testimony within two months of his grand jury testimony ... and his false testimony had not produced any miscarriage of justice.<ref>John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, ''Early Cold War Spies: The Espionage Trials that Shaped American Politics'' (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2006) ISBN 0521857384), p. 108</ref>}}
On December 2, in response to a subpoena, Chambers led HUAC investigators to highly incriminating microfilm evidence, which he had secreted in a hollowed-out pumpkin on his Maryland farm (the so-called [[Pumpkin Papers]]). The same day, on an FBI memorandum detailing the investigation of Chambers for perjury ordered by Truman Justice, Hoover penned, "I can't understand why such effort is being made to indict Chambers to the exclusion of Hiss."<ref>FBI memorandum: Fletcher to Ladd, December 2, 1948 (FBI file: Hiss-Chambers, Vol. 2)</ref> As late as December 6, Truman Justice was still contemplating "bringing an indictment against Chambers for perjury."<ref>FBI memorandum: Fletcher to Ladd, December 6, 1948 (FBI file: Hiss-Chambers, Vol. 2)</ref>
On December 2, in response to a subpoena, Chambers led HUAC investigators on his Maryland farm to a pumpkin he had hollowed out the night before and in which he had secreted five rolls (two developed strips and three undeveloped rolls) of 35 milimeter film.<ref>“[ http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,917670,00.html The Pumpkin Papers], ''Time'', August 11, 1975</ref> The film included fifty-eight frames, mostly photos of State and Navy Department documents, dated January 5 through April 1, 1938 (the so-called [[Pumpkin Papers]]). The State Department documents dealt with a wide variety of subjects, including U. S. intentions with respect to the Soviet Union, the Spanish Civil War, and Germany's takeover of Austria.<ref>Doulglas O. Linder, “[http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/pumpkinp.html The Pumpkin Papers: Key Evidence in the Alger Hiss Trials],” Famous Trials: The Alger Hiss Trials, 1949-50 (University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law)</ref> Some of the documents on the film were of a highly sensitive, classified nature.<ref>Denise Noe, “[http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/terrorists_spies/spies/hiss/7.html The Pumpkin Papers],” The Alger Hiss Case, TruTV Crime Library</ref>
The same day, on an FBI memorandum detailing the investigation of Chambers for perjury ordered by Truman Justice, Hoover penned, "I can't understand why such effort is being made to indict Chambers to the exclusion of Hiss."<ref>FBI memorandum: Fletcher to Ladd, December 2, 1948 (FBI file: Hiss-Chambers, Vol. 2)</ref> As late as December 6, Truman Justice was still contemplating "bringing an indictment against Chambers for perjury."<ref>FBI memorandum: Fletcher to Ladd, December 6, 1948 (FBI file: Hiss-Chambers, Vol. 2)</ref>
On December 15, Hiss testified before a grand jury. Hiss suggested a theory that someone (perhaps Chambers)<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, p. 270</ref> had sneaked into the State Department and stolen the documents from his desk<ref>Weinstein, ''Perjury'', pp. 178, 253, 257, 299, 397</ref> then, having somehow obtained access to Hiss' typewriter,<ref>Weinstein, ''Perjury'', pp. 298, 300</ref> typed some of the documents on it<ref> Weinstein, ''Perjury'', pp. 281, 298</ref> and microfilmed others, and then sneaked back into the State Department and replaced the originals,<ref>Weinstein, ''Perjury'', p. 254</ref> all in an elaborate plot to frame Hiss<ref>Weinstein, ''Perjury'', p. 299</ref> a decade later.<ref>Weinstein, ''Perjury'', p. 281</ref> Even Hiss admitted that his theory was "fantastic,"<ref> Weinstein, ''Perjury'', p. 299</ref> stating, "Until the day I die, I shall wonder how Whittaker Chambers got into my house to use my typewriter," a statement provoking outright laughter among jurors.<ref> Weinstein, ''Perjury'', p. 300</ref>
On December 15, Hiss testified before a grand jury. Hiss suggested a theory that someone (perhaps Chambers)<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, p. 270</ref> had sneaked into the State Department and stolen the documents from his desk<ref>Weinstein, ''Perjury'', pp. 178, 253, 257, 299, 397</ref> then, having somehow obtained access to Hiss' typewriter,<ref>Weinstein, ''Perjury'', pp. 298, 300</ref> typed some of the documents on it<ref> Weinstein, ''Perjury'', pp. 281, 298</ref> and microfilmed others, and then sneaked back into the State Department and replaced the originals,<ref>Weinstein, ''Perjury'', p. 254</ref> all in an elaborate plot to frame Hiss<ref>Weinstein, ''Perjury'', p. 299</ref> a decade later.<ref>Weinstein, ''Perjury'', p. 281</ref> Even Hiss admitted that his theory was "fantastic,"<ref> Weinstein, ''Perjury'', p. 299</ref> stating, "Until the day I die, I shall wonder how Whittaker Chambers got into my house to use my typewriter," a statement provoking outright laughter among jurors.<ref> Weinstein, ''Perjury'', p. 300</ref>