Changes

==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 Hiss 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> Alger'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]," ''The 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 Hiss 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> Alger'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>

===Johns Hopkins University===

===Johns Hopkins University===

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>

At a 1992 press conference, Lowenthal released to the media a statement from Volkogonov claiming that "Alger Hiss was never an agent of the intelligence services of the Soviet Union." Hiss dubbed this a "final verdict," adding, "I can't imagine a more authoritative source than the files of the old Soviet Union." Lowenthal said Volkogonov was apparently "willing to stake his reputation as a general, historian and politician" on this statement.<ref>David Margolick, "[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE3DE113BF93AA15753C1A964958260 After 40 Years, a Postscript on Hiss: Russian Official Calls Him Innocent]," ''New York Times'', October 29, 1992</ref>

At a 1992 press conference, Lowenthal released to the media a statement from Volkogonov claiming that "Alger Hiss was never an agent of the intelligence services of the Soviet Union." Hiss dubbed this a "final verdict," adding, "I can't imagine a more authoritative source than the files of the old Soviet Union." Lowenthal said Volkogonov was apparently "willing to stake his reputation as a general, historian and politician" on this statement.<ref>David Margolick, "[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE3DE113BF93AA15753C1A964958260 After 40 Years, a Postscript on Hiss: Russian Official Calls Him Innocent]," ''The New York Times'', October 29, 1992</ref>

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

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