Changes

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]]: 141); "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]]: 141); "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>

After such a series of tragic losses, suggested Hiss's son, Alger might have found himself "susceptible, as some may have been, to the seeming solidarity offered by the Communist Party."<ref>[[#refHiss2000|T. Hiss 2000]]: 141</ref> Among others who may have been susceptible to such a lure was Hiss's one-time tenant, [[Whittaker Chambers]], who wrote of the suicide of his own brother at age 21:

After such a series of tragic losses, suggested Hiss's son, Alger might have found himself "susceptible, as some may have been, to the seeming solidarity offered by the Communist Party."<ref>[[#refHiss2000|T. Hiss 2000]]: 141</ref> Among others who may have been susceptible to such a lure was Hiss's [[#refHUAC8-17-48|one-time tenant]], [[Whittaker Chambers]], who wrote of the suicide of his own brother at age 21:

{{cquote|[M]y brother's death stunned me ... this is the point at which I became a thorough Communist. I felt that any society which could result in the death of a boy like my brother was wrong and I was at war with it. This was the beginning of my fanaticism.<ref>Michael Kimmage, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=3HUvm91KDn8C The conservative turn: Lionel Trilling, Whittaker Chambers, and the lessons of anti-communism]'' (Harvard University Press, 2009) ISBN 0674032586, p. 41(</ref>}}

{{cquote|[M]y brother's death stunned me ... this is the point at which I became a thorough Communist. I felt that any society which could result in the death of a boy like my brother was wrong and I was at war with it. This was the beginning of my fanaticism.<ref>Michael Kimmage, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=3HUvm91KDn8C The conservative turn: Lionel Trilling, Whittaker Chambers, and the lessons of anti-communism]'' (Harvard University Press, 2009) ISBN 0674032586, p. 41(</ref>}}