Changes

The year before, at the funeral of Marshal [http://www.poland.gov.pl/Jozef,Pilsudski,(1867-1935),1972.html Józef Piłsudski] in [[Warsaw]], [[U.S.]] [[Ambassador]] to [[Moscow]] [http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/archives_roll/2003_01-03/sempa_bullitt/sempa_bullitt.html William C. Bullitt] had had given confidential assurance to the [[Polish]] [[government]] that the [[United States]] would stand by [[Poland]] in the event of a [[Nazi]] invasion. But after Bullitt reported back to [[Washington]] that he had done so, someone at the [[State Department]] passed this information to the [[Kremlin]], which in turn transmitted it to [[German]] intelligence (with which [[Soviet intelligence]] had maintained liaison since the time of [[Lenin]]).<ref>See, for example: Michael Pearson, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=7rkeAAAAMAAJ&pgis=1 The Sealed Train: Lenin's Eight Month Journey from Exile to Power]'' (New York: Putnam, 1975) ISBN 0399112626, particularly the German documents in the [http://www.yamaguchy.netfirms.com/7897401/pearson/pearson_18.html Afterward]; Aleksandr M. Nekrich, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=ZliWXGydrzAC Pariahs, Partners, Predators: German-Soviet Relations, 1922-1941]'' (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997) ISBN 0231106769, eg., pp. 2, 69. N.B. the coming to power of the Nazis did nothing to interrupt this liaison: "The documents of the German Foreign Ministry, captured by the Allies at the end of World War II and published in London during the 1950's, show that secret negotiations between Stalin's agents and the Hitler Government began as early as 1933." Aleksandr Nekrich and Mikhail Heller, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=G-poAAAAMAAJ&pgis=1 Utopia in Power: The History of the Soviet Union from 1917 to the Present]'' (Summit Books, 1986) ISBN 0671462423, p. 310. The Soviets were still negotiating with the Nazis [http://www.britannica.com/bps/additionalcontent/18/22491229/The-Yalta-Myth as late as the Teheran conference] in December 1943. Robert C. Grogin, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=qBBcqDludakC Natural Enemies: the United States and the Soviet Union in the Cold War, 1917-1991]'' (Lexington Books, 2001) ISBN 0739101609, p. 38</ref> Nazi [[propaganda]] minister [[Joseph Goebbels]] exploited this information to portray the United States as a warmonger. According to reporter Ralph de Toledano, who covered the Hiss trial for ''Newsweek'', the State Department source who passed this information to the [[Soviets]] [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_n3_v13/ai_19048238 was Alger Hiss].

The year before, at the funeral of Marshal [http://www.poland.gov.pl/Jozef,Pilsudski,(1867-1935),1972.html Józef Piłsudski] in [[Warsaw]], [[U.S.]] [[Ambassador]] to [[Moscow]] [http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/archives_roll/2003_01-03/sempa_bullitt/sempa_bullitt.html William C. Bullitt] had had given confidential assurance to the [[Polish]] [[government]] that the [[United States]] would stand by [[Poland]] in the event of a [[Nazi]] invasion. But after Bullitt reported back to [[Washington]] that he had done so, someone at the [[State Department]] passed this information to the [[Kremlin]], which in turn transmitted it to [[German]] intelligence (with which [[Soviet intelligence]] had maintained liaison since the time of [[Lenin]]).<ref>See, for example: Michael Pearson, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=7rkeAAAAMAAJ&pgis=1 The Sealed Train: Lenin's Eight Month Journey from Exile to Power]'' (New York: Putnam, 1975) ISBN 0399112626, particularly the German documents in the [http://www.yamaguchy.netfirms.com/7897401/pearson/pearson_18.html Afterward]; Aleksandr M. Nekrich, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=ZliWXGydrzAC Pariahs, Partners, Predators: German-Soviet Relations, 1922-1941]'' (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997) ISBN 0231106769, eg., pp. 2, 69. N.B. the coming to power of the Nazis did nothing to interrupt this liaison: "The documents of the German Foreign Ministry, captured by the Allies at the end of World War II and published in London during the 1950's, show that secret negotiations between Stalin's agents and the Hitler Government began as early as 1933." Aleksandr Nekrich and Mikhail Heller, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=G-poAAAAMAAJ&pgis=1 Utopia in Power: The History of the Soviet Union from 1917 to the Present]'' (Summit Books, 1986) ISBN 0671462423, p. 310. The Soviets were still negotiating with the Nazis [http://www.britannica.com/bps/additionalcontent/18/22491229/The-Yalta-Myth as late as the Teheran conference] in December 1943. Robert C. Grogin, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=qBBcqDludakC Natural Enemies: the United States and the Soviet Union in the Cold War, 1917-1991]'' (Lexington Books, 2001) ISBN 0739101609, p. 38</ref> Nazi [[propaganda]] minister [[Joseph Goebbels]] exploited this information to portray the United States as a warmonger. According to reporter Ralph de Toledano, who covered the Hiss trial for ''Newsweek'', the State Department source who passed this information to the [[Soviets]] [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_n3_v13/ai_19048238 was Alger Hiss].

At some point in 1935-37, [[Whittaker Chambers|Chambers]] [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/8-17testimony.html gave Hiss a rug] from Bokhara, in [[Soviet]] [[Uzbekistan]]. Just before [[Christmas]] 1936, [[Soviet]] [[Colonel]] [[Boris Bykov]], head of [[GRU|Soviet military intelligence]] in the U.S., had given Chambers $800 to buy four Bokhara rugs for Hiss, [[Harry Dexter White]], [[George Silverman]], and [[Julian Wadleigh]], according to Chambers; Hiss would later claim that Chambers had given him his rug in 1935 in partial payment for rent.

At some point in 1935-37, [[Whittaker Chambers|Chambers]] [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/8-17testimony.html gave Hiss a rug] from Bokhara, in [[Soviet]] [[Uzbekistan]]. Just before [[Christmas]] 1936, [[Soviet]] [[Colonel]] [[Boris Bykov]], head of [[GRU|Soviet military intelligence]] in the U.S., had given Chambers $800 to buy four [http://justiceiro.smugmug.com/photos/113296067-M.jpg Bokhara rugs] for Hiss, [[Harry Dexter White]], [[George Silverman]], and [[Julian Wadleigh]], according to Chambers; Hiss would later claim that Chambers had given him his rug in 1935 in partial payment for rent.

Chambers' version was corroborated by [[Marxist]]<ref>Alan Wallach, "Marxist Art Historian: Meyer Schapiro, 1904-1996," ''Against the Current'' 62 (May-June 1996), p. 52</ref> [[Columbia University]] [[art]] [[historian]] [http://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/04/us/meyer-schapiro-91-is-dead-his-work-wove-art-and-life.html Meyer Schapiro], who confirmed that he arranged the purchase (and produced the canceled check dated December 23, 1936); by the [[Massachusetts]] Importing Company of [[Manhattan]], which confirmed selling him the rugs (and produced the [[Bill of Sale]]); by White's widow and Silverman (who confirmed that they had received their rugs sometime between late 1936 and the fall of 1938); and by Wadleigh, [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00611FE345F177B93CBA91789D95F4D8485F9 who confessed] to having been a member of Chambers' apparatus and delivering documents to him, confirmed that he had received his rug for [[New Year's Day|New Year's]] 1937,<ref>John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=pNwEyL1b6XQC Early Cold War Spies: The Espionage Trials that Shaped American Politics]'' (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2006) ISBN 0521857384, pp. 117-118</ref> and conceded that he understood the rug to be a gift [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n1_v45/ai_13366253 from the Soviets].

Chambers' version was corroborated by [[Marxist]]<ref>Alan Wallach, "Marxist Art Historian: Meyer Schapiro, 1904-1996," ''Against the Current'' 62 (May-June 1996), p. 52</ref> [[Columbia University]] [[art]] [[historian]] [http://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/04/us/meyer-schapiro-91-is-dead-his-work-wove-art-and-life.html Meyer Schapiro], who confirmed that he arranged the purchase (and produced the canceled check dated December 23, 1936); by the [[Massachusetts]] Importing Company of [[Manhattan]], which confirmed selling him the rugs (and produced the [[Bill of Sale]]); by White's widow and Silverman (who confirmed that they had received their rugs sometime between late 1936 and the fall of 1938); and by Wadleigh, [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00611FE345F177B93CBA91789D95F4D8485F9 who confessed] to having been a member of Chambers' apparatus and delivering documents to him, confirmed that he had received his rug for [[New Year's Day|New Year's]] 1937,<ref>John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=pNwEyL1b6XQC Early Cold War Spies: The Espionage Trials that Shaped American Politics]'' (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2006) ISBN 0521857384, pp. 117-118</ref> and conceded that he understood the rug to be a gift [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n1_v45/ai_13366253 from the Soviets].