| | [[Image:FBI-Hiss-chart.jpg|thumb|300 px|Confidential FBI chart documenting the dissemination to the White House, State Department and Attorney General of dozens of secret memos and reports on Alger Hiss in 1942-47. ''Image source: J. Edgar Hoover Official & Confidential File #34, [http://vault.fbi.gov/ FOIA Reading Room], Federal Bureau of Investigation'']]As mandated by the [[Hatch Act]], this [[HUAC]] finding triggered an [[FBI]] background investigation of Hiss,<ref>[[#refHUAC48|HUAC 1948]]: 971 (PDF 481)</ref> in the course of which one of Hiss's former colleagues at the AAA told investigators that Hiss and his circle were [[fellow traveller|fellow travelers]], if not [[Communist]]s.<ref>FBI memorandum: Ladd to Hoover, January 28, 1949, p. 2 (FBI file: Hiss-Chambers, Vol. 44)</ref> Hiss denied everything, although he said he thought his wife might have been a member of the [http://asteria.fivecolleges.edu/findaids/sophiasmith/mnsss134_main.html League of Women Shoppers], a [[Popular Front]] group<ref>Michael Denning, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=QY8pUkLRM1YC The Cultural Front: The Laboring of American Culture in the Twentieth Century]'' (New York: Verso, 1998) ISBN 1859841708, p. 410</ref> identified by the committee in 1939 as a [[Communist front]].<ref>Meg Jacobs, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=M9kcixM1P6wC Pocketbook Politics: Economic Citizenship in Twentieth-century America]'' (Princeton University Press, 2005) ISBN 0691086648, p. 171</ref> In 1942, the Bureau sent a report of this investigation to the [[Secretary of State]],<ref>FBI memorandum: Ladd to Hoover, January 28, 1949, p. 2 (FBI file: Hiss-Chambers, Vol. 44)</ref> the first of what would become a veritable avalanche of FBI memos and reports on Hiss disseminated to the [[State Department]], Attorney General and [[White House]] over the ensuing five years.<ref> As the [[SISS|Jenner subcommittee]] would conclude in 1953: "There is ample evidence that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other agencies learned the underlying fact of the Communist conspiracy, and time and again performed their duty and notified the proper administrative agencies of this information." ([[#refSISS53|SISS 1953]]: 1110 [PDF 50])</ref> | | [[Image:FBI-Hiss-chart.jpg|thumb|300 px|Confidential FBI chart documenting the dissemination to the White House, State Department and Attorney General of dozens of secret memos and reports on Alger Hiss in 1942-47. ''Image source: J. Edgar Hoover Official & Confidential File #34, [http://vault.fbi.gov/ FOIA Reading Room], Federal Bureau of Investigation'']]As mandated by the [[Hatch Act]], this [[HUAC]] finding triggered an [[FBI]] background investigation of Hiss,<ref>[[#refHUAC48|HUAC 1948]]: 971 (PDF 481)</ref> in the course of which one of Hiss's former colleagues at the AAA told investigators that Hiss and his circle were [[fellow traveller|fellow travelers]], if not [[Communist]]s.<ref>FBI memorandum: Ladd to Hoover, January 28, 1949, p. 2 (FBI file: Hiss-Chambers, Vol. 44)</ref> Hiss denied everything, although he said he thought his wife might have been a member of the [http://asteria.fivecolleges.edu/findaids/sophiasmith/mnsss134_main.html League of Women Shoppers], a [[Popular Front]] group<ref>Michael Denning, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=QY8pUkLRM1YC The Cultural Front: The Laboring of American Culture in the Twentieth Century]'' (New York: Verso, 1998) ISBN 1859841708, p. 410</ref> identified by the committee in 1939 as a [[Communist front]].<ref>Meg Jacobs, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=M9kcixM1P6wC Pocketbook Politics: Economic Citizenship in Twentieth-century America]'' (Princeton University Press, 2005) ISBN 0691086648, p. 171</ref> In 1942, the Bureau sent a report of this investigation to the [[Secretary of State]],<ref>FBI memorandum: Ladd to Hoover, January 28, 1949, p. 2 (FBI file: Hiss-Chambers, Vol. 44)</ref> the first of what would become a veritable avalanche of FBI memos and reports on Hiss disseminated to the [[State Department]], Attorney General and [[White House]] over the ensuing five years.<ref> As the [[SISS|Jenner subcommittee]] would conclude in 1953: "There is ample evidence that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other agencies learned the underlying fact of the Communist conspiracy, and time and again performed their duty and notified the proper administrative agencies of this information." ([[#refSISS53|SISS 1953]]: 1110 [PDF 50])</ref> |
| − | After ex-[[OGPU]] agent<ref>J.N. Kobjakov, “Bumazhnaja fabrika,” ''Ocherki istorii rossiiskoi vneshnei razvedki'', tom 3, 1933-1941 gody (Moskva: Mezhdunarodnye otnoshenija, 2003), ss. 191-199 (J.N. Kobyakov, “The Paper Mill,” ''Essays on the History of Russian Foreign Intelligence'', vol. 3, 1933-1941 [Moscow: International Relations, 2003], pp. 191-199). Cf. [[#refKobyakov04|Kobyakov 2004]]</ref> Ludwig Lore identified [[Whittaker Chambers|Chambers]] to the [[FBI]] as a former [[USSR|Soviet]] agent,<ref>Edith Tiger, ed., ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=pmj5QgAACAAJ In re Alger Hiss: petition for a writ of error coram nobis, Volume 2]'' (New York: Hill and Wang, 1980) ISBN 0809001500, pp. 208-209; [[#refSpies09|Haynes, Klehr, Vassiliev 2009]]: 156-158</ref> the [[FBI|Bureau]] interviewed Chambers [[#refChronology|for the first time]] in 1942.<ref>[[#refWeinstein78|Weinstein 1978]]: 340</ref> Chambers repeated his identification of Hiss, among others, as a [[Communist]]. In 1943, the FBI obtained the notes Berle had taken during his meeting four years earlier with Chambers and Levine.<ref>FBI Memorandum: Conroy to Hoover, March 28, 1946, FBI file: [http://education-research.org/CSR/Holdings/Silvermaster/Silvermaster.htm Silvermaster], [http://www.education-research.org/PDFs/Silvermaster031.pdf Vol. 31], [http://www.education-research.org/PDFs/splitfiles/splitprocessed/Silvermaster031_Folder/Silvermaster031_page50.pdf p. 50]. Cf [[#refHK99|Haynes, Klehr 1999]]: 92</ref> That year, an encrypted cable (decrypted in the [[Venona project]] and released in 1995) from the controller of military intelligence for the [[NKVD]],<ref>[[#refWhite04|White 2004]]: 224</ref> then under cover as [[Soviet]] Vice Consul in [[New York]] "Pavel B. Mikhailov" (code-named "Moliere"),<ref>His "true name was probably Menshikov or Melenshikov." [[#refVStory|Benson 2001]]: 43 (PDF 45)</ref> to [[NKVD]] chief of foreign intelligence Lt. Gen. [[Pavel Fitin]] ([http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/venona/1944/9feb_atomic_energy.pdf code-named "Viktor"]) in Moscow,<ref>[[#refRafalko2-4|Rafalko, Vol. 2, Ch. 4]]: 221 (PDF 6)</ref> identifying the real names and code names of several agents in the [[U.S.]], said the [[GRU]] (code-named "Neighbors")<ref>[[#refVStory|Benson 2001]]: 29 (PDF p. 31)</ref> reported someone "from the [[State Department]] [http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/venona/1943/28sep_gru_sources.pdf by the name of Hiss]." | + | After ex-[[OGPU]] agent<ref>J.N. Kobjakov, “Bumazhnaja fabrika,” ''Ocherki istorii rossiiskoi vneshnei razvedki'', tom 3, 1933-1941 gody (Moskva: Mezhdunarodnye otnoshenija, 2003), ss. 191-199 (J.N. Kobyakov, “The Paper Mill,” ''Essays on the History of Russian Foreign Intelligence'', vol. 3, 1933-1941 [Moscow: International Relations, 2003], pp. 191-199). Cf. [[#refKobyakov04|Kobyakov 2004]]</ref> Ludwig Lore identified [[Whittaker Chambers|Chambers]] to the [[FBI]] as a former [[USSR|Soviet]] agent,<ref>Edith Tiger, ed., ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=pmj5QgAACAAJ In re Alger Hiss: petition for a writ of error coram nobis, Volume 2]'' (New York: Hill and Wang, 1980) ISBN 0809001500, pp. 208-209; [[#refSpies09|Haynes, Klehr, Vassiliev 2009]]: 156-158</ref> the [[FBI|Bureau]] interviewed Chambers [[#refChronology|for the first time]] in 1942.<ref>[[#refWeinstein78|Weinstein 1978]]: 340</ref> After Chambers informed the investigators that he had already supplied this information to the State Department in 1939,<ref>[[#refHK06|Haynes, Klehr 2006]]: 106</ref> the FBI requested and in 1943 obtained the notes Berle had taken during his meeting four years earlier with Chambers and Levine.<ref>FBI Memorandum: Conroy to Hoover, March 28, 1946, FBI file: [http://education-research.org/CSR/Holdings/Silvermaster/Silvermaster.htm Silvermaster], [http://www.education-research.org/PDFs/Silvermaster031.pdf Vol. 31], [http://www.education-research.org/PDFs/splitfiles/splitprocessed/Silvermaster031_Folder/Silvermaster031_page50.pdf p. 50]. Cf [[#refHK99|Haynes, Klehr 1999]]: 92</ref> That year, an encrypted cable (decrypted in the [[Venona project]] and released in 1995) from Pavel Melshikev (code-named "Moliere"),<ref>Jonathan Haslam, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Sl5orE32HzcC Russia's Cold War: From the October Revolution to the Fall of the Wall]'' (Yale University Press, 2011), ISBN 0300159978, p. 13</ref> controller of military intelligence for the [[NKVD]]<ref>[[#refWhite04|White 2004]]: 224</ref> (under cover as [[Soviet]] Vice Consul in [[New York]] "Pavel P. Mikhailov")<ref>[[#refVStory|Benson 2001]]: 43 (PDF 45)</ref> to [[NKVD]] chief of foreign intelligence Lt. Gen. [[Pavel Fitin]] ([http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/venona/1944/9feb_atomic_energy.pdf code-named "Viktor"]) in Moscow,<ref>[[#refRafalko2-4|Rafalko, Vol. 2, Ch. 4]]: 221 (PDF 6)</ref> identifying the real names and code names of several agents in the [[U.S.]], said the [[GRU]] (code-named "Neighbors")<ref>[[#refVStory|Benson 2001]]: 29 (PDF p. 31)</ref> reported someone "from the [[State Department]] [http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/venona/1943/28sep_gru_sources.pdf by the name of Hiss]." |