Changes

==Early life==

==Early life==

Alger Hiss was [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/8-5testimony.html born] November 11, 1904, in [[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]] to a [http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/terrorists_spies/spies/hiss/1.html financially comfortable upper-middle-class]<ref>The Hisses were "prominent, respected people. They kept their own horse and carriage, and on occasion [Alger's father] would hire a private railroad car for a family outing.... they knew everyone they wanted to know in Baltimore, they belonged to the best clubs, and they were recognized wherever they went." (John Chabot Smith, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=bCYrAAAAIAAJ&pgis=1 Alger Hiss, the True Story]'' [Geneva, Ill.: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1976] ISBN 0030137764, p. 34) Young Alger went to [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/8-25testimony.html camp in Maine]; among his hobbies were tennis and horseback riding. (Lance Morrow, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=CEC30zxnXSMC The Best Year of Their Lives: Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon in 1948: Learning the Secrets of Power]'' [New York: Basic Books, 2005] ISBN 0465047238, P. 248)</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, Vol. 48, Issue 3, pp. 373-397; "Hiss was a gentile.... not only a goy but a WASP!" (Susan Jacoby, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=nLU0z6PlTHAC Alger Hiss and the Battle for History]'' [New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2009] ISBN 0300121334, p. 20); "Alger's mother claimed descent from the Earl of Leicester and, on her mother's side, a leading Baltimore family, the Grundys." (Lance Morrow, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=CEC30zxnXSMC The Best Year of Their Lives: Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon in 1948: Learning the Secrets of Power]'' [New York: Basic Books, 2005] ISBN 0465047238, P. 248)</ref> Alger's [[father]], an [http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/09/reviews/hiss-obit.html executive with a wholesale dry goods firm], committed [[suicide]] by [http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,985608,00.html slashing] his throat with a razor when the boy was just two years old. When Hiss was 25, his [[sister]] Mary Ann also committed suicide, by drinking a bottle of [http://farm1.static.flickr.com/118/261588419_6b641c8815_o.jpg Lysol].<ref>"....Mary Ann... had swallowed a bottle of Lysol, killing herself." G. Edward White, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=FvR4HBTiYzAC 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 reportedly induced<ref>"Bos.... drank a lot... and contracted Bright's disease, an alcohol-induced kidney ailment...." Tony Hiss, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=SPV2AAAAMAAJ&pgis=1 Laughing Last: Alger Hiss by Tony Hiss]'' (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1977), ISBN 039524899X, cited in G. Edward White, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=FvR4HBTiYzAC Alger Hiss's Looking-glass Wars: The Covert Life of a Soviet Spy]'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) ISBN 0195182553, p. 158</ref> or [http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/terrorists_spies/spies/hiss/1.html aggravated] by his excessive [[alcohol]] consumption.

Alger Hiss was [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/8-5testimony.html born] November 11, 1904, in [[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]] to a [http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/terrorists_spies/spies/hiss/1.html financially comfortable upper-middle-class]<ref>The Hisses were "prominent, respected people. They kept their own horse and carriage, and on occasion [Alger's father] would hire a private railroad car for a family outing.... they knew everyone they wanted to know in Baltimore, they belonged to the best clubs, and they were recognized wherever they went." (John Chabot Smith, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=bCYrAAAAIAAJ&pgis=1 Alger Hiss, the True Story]'' [Geneva, Ill.: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1976] ISBN 0030137764, p. 34) Contrary to [http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/11/30/bookend/bookend.html ex-Communist] Murray Kempton's oft-repeated claim that Hiss was a "child of shabby gentility," (Murray Kempton, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=1Lfvn8W9LfEC Part of Our Time: Some Ruins and Monuments of the Thirties]'' [New York Review of Books, 2004] ISBN 1590170873, p. 17), Hiss protested that the economic circumstances of his childhood were "not particularly shabby." (G. Edward White, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=FvR4HBTiYzAC Alger Hiss's Looking-glass Wars: The Covert Life of a Soviet Spy]'' [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004] ISBN 0195182553, p. 4) Young Alger went to [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/8-25testimony.html camp in Maine]; he later participated "in the usual round of activities enjoyed by affluent college students of his time" (G. Edward White, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=FvR4HBTiYzAC Alger Hiss's Looking-glass Wars: The Covert Life of a Soviet Spy]'' [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004] ISBN 0195182553, p. 9); among his hobbies were tennis and horseback riding. (Lance Morrow, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=CEC30zxnXSMC The Best Year of Their Lives: Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon in 1948: Learning the Secrets of Power]'' [New York: Basic Books, 2005] ISBN 0465047238, P. 248)</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, Vol. 48, Issue 3, pp. 373-397; Hiss testified, "I have been [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/8-5testimony.html an Episcopalian] all my life"; "Hiss was a gentile.... not only a goy but a WASP!" (Susan Jacoby, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=nLU0z6PlTHAC Alger Hiss and the Battle for History]'' [New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2009] ISBN 0300121334, p. 20); "Alger's mother claimed descent from the Earl of Leicester and, on her mother's side, a leading Baltimore family, the Grundys." (Lance Morrow, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=CEC30zxnXSMC The Best Year of Their Lives: Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon in 1948: Learning the Secrets of Power]'' [New York: Basic Books, 2005] ISBN 0465047238, P. 248)</ref> Alger's [[father]], an [http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/09/reviews/hiss-obit.html executive with a wholesale dry goods firm],<ref>This [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dry%20goods contradicts the claim] of Murray Kempton that Hiss' father was "a wholesale grocer." (Murray Kempton, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=1Lfvn8W9LfEC Part of Our Time: Some Ruins and Monuments of the Thirties]'' [New York Review of Books, 2004] ISBN 1590170873, p. 17)</ref> committed [[suicide]] by [http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,985608,00.html slashing] his throat with a razor when the boy was just [http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/09/reviews/hiss-obit.html two years old].<ref>This in contrast to Kempton's published statement that Hiss' father "committed suicide when Alger was nine." (Murray Kempton, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=1Lfvn8W9LfEC Part of Our Time: Some Ruins and Monuments of the Thirties]'' [New York Review of Books, 2004] ISBN 1590170873, p. 17) As G. Edward White puts it (somewhat charitably), Kempton's version of events is "not quite accurate." (G. Edward White, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=FvR4HBTiYzAC Alger Hiss's Looking-glass Wars: The Covert Life of a Soviet Spy]'' [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004] ISBN 0195182553, p. 4)</ref> When Hiss was 25, his [[sister]] Mary Ann also committed suicide, by drinking a bottle of [http://farm1.static.flickr.com/118/261588419_6b641c8815_o.jpg Lysol].<ref>"....Mary Ann... had swallowed a bottle of Lysol, killing herself." G. Edward White, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=FvR4HBTiYzAC 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 reportedly induced<ref>"Bos.... contracted Bright's disease, an alcohol-induced kidney ailment...." Tony Hiss, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=SPV2AAAAMAAJ&pgis=1 Laughing Last: Alger Hiss by Tony Hiss]'' (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1977), ISBN 039524899X, p. 11</ref> or [http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/terrorists_spies/spies/hiss/1.html aggravated] by his excessive [[alcohol]] consumption.<ref>"Bos.... drank a lot." (Tony Hiss, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=SPV2AAAAMAAJ&pgis=1 Laughing Last: Alger Hiss by Tony Hiss]'' (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1977), ISBN 039524899X, p. 11); "He was undisciplined in habits of...drink."<ref>Meyer A. Zeligs, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=aytCAAAAIAAJ&pgis=1 Friendship and Fratricide: An Analysis of Whittaker Chambers and Alger Hiss]'' (Viking Press, 1967) ASIN B000NZOTWM, p. 167</ref>

===Johns Hopkins University===

===Johns Hopkins University===