Changes

==Early life==

==Early life==

Alger Hiss was born November 11, 1904, in [[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]]<ref>"Mr. Hiss. I was born in Baltimore. Md., on November 11, 1904." [[#refHUAC48|HUAC 1948]]: 642 (PDF 152)</ref> to a financially comfortable upper-middle-class<ref>"Alger Hiss was born... in an [[#refNoe1|upper-middle-class]]... family... The Hiss family was [[#refNoe1|financially comfortable]]..." 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." ([[#refSmith76|Smith 1976]]: 34) Contrary to [http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/11/30/bookend/bookend.html ex-Communist] ([[#refWhite04|White 2004]]: 3) Murray Kempton's oft-repeated claim that Hiss was a "child of shabby gentility," ([[#refKempton04|Kempton 2004]]: 17), Hiss protested that the economic circumstances of his childhood were "not particularly shabby." ([[#refWhite04|White 2004]]: 4) Young Alger went [http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/09/reviews/chambers-prophecy.html to camp] ([[#refHUAC48|HUAC 1948]]: 643 [PDF 153]) [http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,799516,00.html in Maine]; he later participated "in the usual round of activities enjoyed by affluent college students of his time" ([[#refWhite04|White 2004]]: 9); among his hobbies were tennis and horseback riding. ([[#refMorrow05|Morrow 2005]]: 248)</ref> [http://yalepress.yale.edu/book.asp?isbn=9780300038187 WASP]<ref>"Hiss was... not only a goy but a WASP!" ([[#refJacoby09|Jacoby 2009]]: 20). Hiss testified: "I have been an Episcopalian all my life" ([[#refHUAC48|HUAC 1948]]: 649 [PDF 159]); "Alger's mother claimed descent from the Earl of Leicester and, on her mother's side, a leading Baltimore family, the Grundys." ([[#refMorrow05|Morrow 2005]]: 248) Cf. Aaron Beim and Gary Alan Fine, "[http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/117985047/abstract The Cultural Frameworks of Prejudice: Reputational Images and the Postwar Disjuncture of Jews and Communism]," ''The Sociological Quarterly'', Vol. 48, Issue 3 (Summer 2007): 373-397.</ref> family. His father, an executive with a wholesale dry goods firm,<ref>[[#refScott96|Scott 1996]]. This [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dry%20goods contradicts the claim] of Murray Kempton that Hiss' father was "a wholesale grocer." ([[#refKempton04|Kempton 2004]]: 17)</ref> committed [[suicide]] by [[#refMorrow96|slashing]] his throat with a razor when Alger was just two years old.<ref>[[#refScott96|Scott 1996]]. According to the [[#refBarron01|personal Web site of Hiss' son]], Alger's father died on [[#refTonyTimeline|April 7, 1907]]&mdash;this in contrast to Kempton's claim that Hiss' father "committed suicide when Alger was nine." ([[#refKempton04|Kempton 2004]]: 17) As G. Edward White puts it (somewhat charitably), Kempton's version of events is "not quite accurate." ([[#refWhite04|White 2004]]: 4) Susan Jacoby also gets this wrong, writing of "the suicide of his father (when Alger was only five)" ([[#refJacoby09|Jacoby 2009]]: 62), an error she repeated on [[#refQA|C-SPAN]].</ref> When Hiss was 25, his [[sister]] Mary Ann also [[#refMorrow96|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." [[#refWhite04|White 2004]]: 5</ref> Two years earlier, Alger's older brother Bosley, a ''Baltimore Sun'' reporter,<ref>[[#refWhite04|White 2004]]: 6</ref> had died at age 26 from a [[kidney]] disorder attributed to excessive [[alcohol]] consumption.<ref>"Bos.... drank a lot." ([[#refTHiss77|T. Hiss 1977]]: 11); "He was undisciplined in habits of...drink." [[#refZeligs67|Zeligs 1967]]: 167; "Bos.... contracted Bright's disease, an alcohol-induced kidney ailment...." ([[#refTHiss77|T. Hiss 1977]]: 11); "Hiss's older brother Bosley, died when he was in his early twenties of Bright's disease, a kidney disorder aggravated by Bosley's [[#refNoe1|overindulgence in alcohol]]." Cf. [[#refTanenhaus97|Tanenhaus 1997]]: 383</ref>

Alger Hiss was born November 11, 1904, in [[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]]<ref>"Mr. Hiss. I was born in Baltimore. Md., on November 11, 1904." [[#refHUAC48|HUAC 1948]]: 642 (PDF 152)</ref> to a financially comfortable upper-middle-class<ref>"Alger Hiss was born... in an [[#refNoe1|upper-middle-class]]... family... The Hiss family was [[#refNoe1|financially comfortable]]..." 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." ([[#refSmith76|Smith 1976]]: 34) Contrary to [http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/11/30/bookend/bookend.html ex-Communist] ([[#refWhite04|White 2004]]: 3) Murray Kempton's oft-repeated claim that Hiss was a "child of shabby gentility," ([[#refKempton04|Kempton 2004]]: 17), Hiss protested that the economic circumstances of his childhood were "not particularly shabby." ([[#refWhite04|White 2004]]: 4) Young Alger went [http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/09/reviews/chambers-prophecy.html to camp] ([[#refHUAC48|HUAC 1948]]: 643 [PDF 153]) [http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,799516,00.html in Maine]; he later participated "in the usual round of activities enjoyed by affluent college students of his time" ([[#refWhite04|White 2004]]: 9); among his hobbies were tennis and horseback riding. ([[#refMorrow05|Morrow 2005]]: 248)</ref> [http://yalepress.yale.edu/book.asp?isbn=9780300038187 WASP]<ref>"Hiss was... not only a goy but a WASP!" ([[#refJacoby09|Jacoby 2009]]: 20). Hiss testified: "I have been an Episcopalian all my life" ([[#refHUAC48|HUAC 1948]]: 649 [PDF 159]); "Alger's mother claimed descent from the Earl of Leicester and, on her mother's side, a leading Baltimore family, the Grundys." ([[#refMorrow05|Morrow 2005]]: 248) Cf. Aaron Beim and Gary Alan Fine, "[http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/117985047/abstract The Cultural Frameworks of Prejudice: Reputational Images and the Postwar Disjuncture of Jews and Communism]," ''The Sociological Quarterly'', Vol. 48, Issue 3 (Summer 2007): 373-397.</ref> family. His father, an executive with a wholesale dry goods firm,<ref>[[#refScott96|Scott 1996]]. This [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dry%20goods contradicts the claim] of Murray Kempton that Hiss's father was "a wholesale grocer." ([[#refKempton04|Kempton 2004]]: 17)</ref> committed [[suicide]] by [[#refMorrow96|slashing]] his throat with a razor when Alger was just two years old.<ref>[[#refScott96|Scott 1996]]. According to the [[#refBarron01|personal Web site of Hiss's son]], Alger's father died on [[#refTonyTimeline|April 7, 1907]]&mdash;this in contrast to Kempton's claim that Hiss's father "committed suicide when Alger was nine." ([[#refKempton04|Kempton 2004]]: 17) As G. Edward White puts it (somewhat charitably), Kempton's version of events is "not quite accurate." ([[#refWhite04|White 2004]]: 4) Susan Jacoby also gets this wrong, writing of "the suicide of his father (when Alger was only five)" ([[#refJacoby09|Jacoby 2009]]: 62), an error she repeated on [[#refQA|C-SPAN]].</ref> When Hiss was 25, his [[sister]] Mary Ann also [[#refMorrow96|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." [[#refWhite04|White 2004]]: 5</ref> Two years earlier, Alger's older brother Bosley, a ''Baltimore Sun'' reporter,<ref>[[#refWhite04|White 2004]]: 6</ref> had died at age 26 from a [[kidney]] disorder attributed to excessive [[alcohol]] consumption.<ref>"Bos.... drank a lot." ([[#refTHiss77|T. Hiss 1977]]: 11); "He was undisciplined in habits of...drink." [[#refZeligs67|Zeligs 1967]]: 167; "Bos.... contracted Bright's disease, an alcohol-induced kidney ailment...." ([[#refTHiss77|T. Hiss 1977]]: 11); "Hiss's older brother Bosley, died when he was in his early twenties of Bright's disease, a kidney disorder aggravated by Bosley's [[#refNoe1|overindulgence in alcohol]]." Cf. [[#refTanenhaus97|Tanenhaus 1997]]: 383</ref>

===Johns Hopkins University===

===Johns Hopkins University===

As a result of his [[father]]'s [[death]], Alger [[inheritance|inherited]] $10,000,<ref>"...provided a $10,000 bequest to each of the Hiss children..." [[#refWhite04|White 2004]]: 9</ref> the equivalent of [[#refBLS|more than $200,000]] today. After graduation from [http://www.baltimorecitycollege.us/ Baltimore City College] and a year at [[Powder Point Academy]] and the [[Maryland Institute of Art]],<ref>"1921-1922: Attended Powder Point Academy, Duxbury, Mass., and Maryland Institute of Art." [[#refZeligs80|Zeligs Papers]]</ref> Hiss attended [[Baltimore]]'s elite<ref>"Johns Hopkins was an elite university, both socially and academically." [[#refWhite04|White 2004]]: 9</ref> [[Johns Hopkins University]],<ref>[[#refHUAC48|HUAC 1948]]: 644 (PDF 154)</ref> where he was voted "[http://www.orwelltoday.com/hisstruman.jpg best hand-shaker]" in his class.<ref>[[#refRovere96|Rovere 1996]]: 156; ''[http://archives.newyorker.com/default.aspx?iid=18616&startpage=page0000103 The New Yorker]'', May 13, 1950; Evan Thomas, "[http://www.newsweek.com/id/103447 An American Melodrama]," ''Newsweek'', November 25, 1996</ref> As an [[undergraduate]], Hiss' favorite [[instructor|instructors]] included the [[Socialist]] [[Broadus Mitchell]] and [[Stalinist]] [[José Robles]],<ref>[[#refRicher04|Richer 2004]]: 310 (PDF 4)</ref> while he was drawn to the work of (among others) the [[atheist]] [[H.L. Mencken]], socialists [[George Bernard Shaw]], [[Maxwell Anderson]] and [[Sinclair Lewis]], and the [[Communist]] [[Theodore Dreiser]]<ref>[[#refSmith76|Smith 1976]]: 51-52</ref> (the last two also [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,881224,00.html famous atheists]).

As a result of his [[father]]'s [[death]], Alger [[inheritance|inherited]] $10,000,<ref>"...provided a $10,000 bequest to each of the Hiss children..." [[#refWhite04|White 2004]]: 9</ref> the equivalent of [[#refBLS|more than $200,000]] today. After graduation from [http://www.baltimorecitycollege.us/ Baltimore City College] and a year at [[Powder Point Academy]] and the [[Maryland Institute of Art]],<ref>"1921-1922: Attended Powder Point Academy, Duxbury, Mass., and Maryland Institute of Art." [[#refZeligs80|Zeligs Papers]]</ref> Hiss attended [[Baltimore]]'s elite<ref>"Johns Hopkins was an elite university, both socially and academically." [[#refWhite04|White 2004]]: 9</ref> [[Johns Hopkins University]],<ref>[[#refHUAC48|HUAC 1948]]: 644 (PDF 154)</ref> where he was voted "[http://www.orwelltoday.com/hisstruman.jpg best hand-shaker]" in his class.<ref>[[#refRovere96|Rovere 1996]]: 156; ''[http://archives.newyorker.com/default.aspx?iid=18616&startpage=page0000103 The New Yorker]'', May 13, 1950; Evan Thomas, "[http://www.newsweek.com/id/103447 An American Melodrama]," ''Newsweek'', November 25, 1996</ref> As an [[undergraduate]], Hiss's favorite [[instructor|instructors]] included the [[Socialist]] [[Broadus Mitchell]] and [[Stalinist]] [[José Robles]],<ref>[[#refRicher04|Richer 2004]]: 310 (PDF 4)</ref> while he was drawn to the work of (among others) the [[atheist]] [[H.L. Mencken]], socialists [[George Bernard Shaw]], [[Maxwell Anderson]] and [[Sinclair Lewis]], and the [[Communist]] [[Theodore Dreiser]]<ref>[[#refSmith76|Smith 1976]]: 51-52</ref> (the last two also [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,881224,00.html famous atheists]).

===Harvard Law School===

===Harvard Law School===

After graduating in 1926, Hiss went on to [[Harvard Law School]], along with [[Noel Field]] and [[Laurence Duggan]]. There he resumed his friendship with boyhood friend [[Henry Collins]],<ref>[[#refHUAC48|HUAC 1948]]: 643 (PDF 153)</ref> and served on the ''[[Harvard Law Review]]'' with editor [[Lee Pressman]].<ref>[[#refHUAC48|HUAC 1948]]: 643 (PDF 153). Pressman would eventually [[testify]] that he had been a member of the "[[Ware group]]," an underground group of [[Communist]]s in the Federal government. ([[#refHUAC50.2|HUAC 1950, pt. 2]]: 2850 [PDF 16]; cf. [[#refIPR52|S. Rpt. 2050]], Appendix: 5503 [Exhibit No. 1402]); Pressman would also corroborate Chambers' identification of [[Nathan Witt|Witt]], [[John Abt]] and [[Charles Kramer]] as members of this [[Communist]] cell ([[#refChambers52|Chambers 1952]]: 612), and admit under oath that he recognized Chambers. ([[#refGall99|Gall 1999]]: 553)</ref> Hiss became a protégé of [[Felix Frankfurter]], who was at the time the [http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/flashbks/oj/frankff.htm leading champion] of the [[conviction|convicted]] [[murder|murderers]] [[Sacco and Vanzetti]],<ref>Felix Frankfurter, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=GiV9cR6277UC The Case of Sacco and Vanzetti: A Critical Analysis for Lawyers and Laymen]'' (Buffalo: Wm. S. Hein & Co., 2003) ISBN 157588805X</ref> [[revolution|revolutionary]] [[terrorist|terrorists]] who had become a Communist<ref>Stephen Koch, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=YIoFAQAAIAAJ&pgis=1 Double Lives: Stalin, Willi Munzenberg and the Seduction of the Intellectuals]'' (New York: Enigma Books, rev. ed. 2004) ISBN 1929631200, pp. 31-39, 373 n. 23</ref> ''cause célèbre'',<ref>John F. Neville, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=PXn7LbZRK2IC Twentieth-Century Cause Celebre: Sacco, Vanzetti, and the Press, 1920-1927]'' (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004) ISBN 0275977838 p. 101. Hiss' Harvard classmate, fellow State Department official and [[#refFieldUK|Soviet intelligence source]] Noel Field would later write, "The shock of the Sacco-Vanzetti executions drove me leftward." ([[#refWeinstein78|Weinstein 1978]]: 199)</ref> and whom Alger Hiss would later [http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=2278 emulate].<ref>New evidence [http://hnn.us/articles/4527.html suggests] that Sacco and Vanzetti were [http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2006/01/28/uptonsinclair-boston.html guilty]; cf. [[#refAvrich05|Avrich 2005]]: 133</ref>

After graduating in 1926, Hiss went on to [[Harvard Law School]], along with [[Noel Field]] and [[Laurence Duggan]]. There he resumed his friendship with boyhood friend [[Henry Collins]],<ref>[[#refHUAC48|HUAC 1948]]: 643 (PDF 153)</ref> and served on the ''[[Harvard Law Review]]'' with editor [[Lee Pressman]].<ref>[[#refHUAC48|HUAC 1948]]: 643 (PDF 153). Pressman would eventually [[testify]] that he had been a member of the "[[Ware group]]," an underground group of [[Communist]]s in the Federal government. ([[#refHUAC50.2|HUAC 1950, pt. 2]]: 2850 [PDF 16]; cf. [[#refIPR52|S. Rpt. 2050]], Appendix: 5503 [Exhibit No. 1402]); Pressman would also corroborate Chambers' identification of [[Nathan Witt|Witt]], [[John Abt]] and [[Charles Kramer]] as members of this [[Communist]] cell ([[#refChambers52|Chambers 1952]]: 612), and admit under oath that he recognized Chambers. ([[#refGall99|Gall 1999]]: 553)</ref> Hiss became a protégé of [[Felix Frankfurter]], who was at the time the [http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/flashbks/oj/frankff.htm leading champion] of the [[conviction|convicted]] [[murder|murderers]] [[Sacco and Vanzetti]],<ref>Felix Frankfurter, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=GiV9cR6277UC The Case of Sacco and Vanzetti: A Critical Analysis for Lawyers and Laymen]'' (Buffalo: Wm. S. Hein & Co., 2003) ISBN 157588805X</ref> [[revolution|revolutionary]] [[terrorist|terrorists]] who had become a Communist<ref>Stephen Koch, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=YIoFAQAAIAAJ&pgis=1 Double Lives: Stalin, Willi Munzenberg and the Seduction of the Intellectuals]'' (New York: Enigma Books, rev. ed. 2004) ISBN 1929631200, pp. 31-39, 373 n. 23</ref> ''cause célèbre'',<ref>John F. Neville, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=PXn7LbZRK2IC Twentieth-Century Cause Celebre: Sacco, Vanzetti, and the Press, 1920-1927]'' (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004) ISBN 0275977838 p. 101. Hiss's Harvard classmate, fellow State Department official and [[#refFieldUK|Soviet intelligence source]] Noel Field would later write, "The shock of the Sacco-Vanzetti executions drove me leftward." ([[#refWeinstein78|Weinstein 1978]]: 199)</ref> and whom Alger Hiss would later [http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=2278 emulate].<ref>New evidence [http://hnn.us/articles/4527.html suggests] that Sacco and Vanzetti were [http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2006/01/28/uptonsinclair-boston.html guilty]; cf. [[#refAvrich05|Avrich 2005]]: 133</ref>

==Early Career==

==Early Career==