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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 &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 of perjury in 1950, after denying that he had been a [[Soviet]] agent.

'''Alger Hiss''' (November 11, 1904 &ndash; November 15, 1996) was a high-ranking<ref>Press Release: [http://www.archives.gov/press/press-releavid ses/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 of perjury in 1950, after denying that he had been a [[Soviet]] agent.

"Belief in the guilt or innocence of Alger Hiss became a defining issue in American intellectual life," wrote Senator [[Daniel Patrick Moynihan]] (D.-N.Y.), who was instrumental in securing the release of [[FBI]] and [[Venona project]] files on the case, which had been classified for some 50 years. 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>

"Belief in the guilt or innocence of Alger Hiss became a defining issue in American intellectual life," wrote Senator [[Daniel Patrick Moynihan]] (D.-N.Y.), who was instrumental in securing the release of [[FBI]] and [[Venona project]] files on the case, which had been classified for some 50 years. 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>

===Investigations===

===Investigations===

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]], 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><ref>See also Venona decrypt [http://www.nsa.gov/venona/releases/15_Jul_1944_R3_m1_p1.gif KGB New York to Moscow 15 July 1944], [http://www.nsa.gov/venona/releases/15_Jul_1944_R3_m1_p2.gif p. 2]</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>

State Department security officers discovered that Hiss' desk calendar for September 14, 1946, recorded a meeting Hiss did not schedule through the department (and for which he made no official record) with "McLean [sic], British Emb."<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, pp. 363-364</ref> [[Donald Maclean]] was a diplomat at the British Embassy in Washington who was also a [[Soviet]] agent and member of the [[Cambridge Five|Cambridge spy ring]]. He would defect to the [[Soviet Union]] in 1951,<ref>"[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/355048/Donald-Maclean Donald Maclean]," ''The Encyclopedia Britannica'', 2008</ref> where he would be rewarded with the rank of Colonel in the KGB.<ref>"[http://www.spymuseum.com/pages/agent-maclean-donald3.html Agent: Maclean, D.]," The Spy Museum</ref>

State Department security officers discovered that Hiss' desk calendar for September 14, 1946, recorded a meeting Hiss did not schedule through the department (and for which he made no official record) with "McLean [sic], British Emb."<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, pp. 363-364</ref> [[Donald Maclean]] was a diplomat at the British Embassy in Washington who was also a [[Soviet]] agent and member of the [[Cambridge Five|Cambridge spy ring]]. He would defect to the [[Soviet Union]] in 1951,<ref>"[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/355048/Donald-Maclean Donald Maclean]," ''The Encyclopedia Britannica'', 2008</ref> where he would be rewarded with the rank of Colonel in the KGB.<ref>"[http://www.spymuseum.com/pages/agent-maclean-donald3.html Agent: Maclean, D.]," The Spy Museum</ref>