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===The Pumpkin Papers===

===The Pumpkin Papers===

[[Image:09905 2004 001 a.jpg|thumb|300px|right|One of the 'pumpkin papers,' marked 'STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL FOR THE SECRETARY.' Bullitt relates to Hull report of Litvinov's private comments on Soviet intentions regarding war with Japan, 1938. ''Image courtesy [http://www.digitalvaults.org/#/detail/1625/?record=1625 National Archives and Records Administration]'']]On December 1, the Washington ''Daily News'' reported that "the Justice Department is about ready to drop its investigation<ref>[[#refTL50|Toledano Lasky]]: 216</ref> of the celebrated Alger Hiss-Whittaker Chambers controversy." The next day, in response to a subpoena, Chambers led HUAC investigators on his Maryland farm to a [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/pumpkin.jpg pumpkin he had hollowed out] the night before and in which he had secreted [[#refTime75|five rolls]] (two developed strips and three undeveloped rolls, one of which later proved to have been [[#refHissAppellate|light struck]]) of [[#refTime75|35 millimeter film]]. The film included fifty-eight frames, mostly photos of State and Navy Department documents, dated January 5 through April 1, 1938 (the so-called "Pumpkin Papers").<ref>National Archives and Records Administration, [http://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/060.html General Records of the Department of Justice (Record Group 60) 1790-1989, 1991]: 60.3.5 Miscellaneous records: Microfilm copy of evidence ("Pumpkin Papers") used in U.S. v. Alger Hiss, 1948-51 (5 rolls). Microfilm Publications: M1491. Photographs (263 images: Documents reproduced from the "Pumpkin Papers," and used in U.S. v. Alger Hiss, 1948-51.</ref> The State Department documents dealt with a [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/ppboyce.jpg wide] [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/pphissnote.jpg variety] of [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/pplockhart.jpg subjects], including [[#refLindPump|U.S. intentions with respect to the Soviet Union]], the Spanish Civil War, and Germany's takeover of Austria. Some of the documents on the film were [[#refNYRB|initialed by Hiss and came from his office]]. Some were of a [http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/terrorists_spies/spies/hiss/7.html highly sensitive, classified nature]. Some State Department cables bearing Hiss' handwritten initials had direct bearing on matters of major Soviet interest, including Chinese Communist strategy during the war with Japan and Chinese-Soviet relations.<ref>[[#refHK06|Haynes, Klehr 2006]]: 116</ref>

[[Image:09905 2004 001 a.jpg|thumb|300px|right|One of the 'pumpkin papers,' marked 'STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL FOR THE SECRETARY.' Bullitt relates to Hull report of Litvinov's private comments on Soviet intentions regarding war with Japan, 1938. ''Image courtesy [http://www.digitalvaults.org/#/detail/1625/?record=1625 National Archives and Records Administration]'']]Hiss' attorneys turned over the documents to the [[Harry Truman|Truman]] [[Justice Department]], which immediately impounded and sequestered them. While proceeding with its plans of "bringing an indictment against Chambers for perjury,"<ref>FBI memorandum: Fletcher to Ladd, December 6, 1948 (FBI file: Hiss-Chambers, Vol. 2)</ref> Truman Justice continued to formulate no such plans regarding Hiss. On December 1, the Washington ''Daily News'' reported that "the Justice Department is about ready to drop its investigation<ref>[[#refTL50|Toledano Lasky]]: 216</ref> of the celebrated Alger Hiss-Whittaker Chambers controversy." The next day, on an FBI memorandum detailing the perjury investigation of Chambers ordered by Truman Justice, Hoover penned, "I can't understand why such effort is being made to indict Chambers to the exclusion of Hiss."<ref>FBI memorandum: Fletcher to Ladd, December 2, 1948 (FBI file: Hiss-Chambers, Vol. 2)</ref> [[HUAC]] attempted to get copies of the documents from Justice, but the Truman administration continued to stonewall. In desperation, [[Richard Nixon|Nixon]] asked Chambers whether he had any other such material in his possession. The answer was yes.<ref>[[#refEvans07]]: 322</ref>

 

On December 2, in response to a subpoena, Chambers led HUAC chief investigator Robert Stripling on his Maryland farm to a [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/pumpkin.jpg pumpkin he had hollowed out] the night before and in which he had secreted [[#refTime75|five rolls]] (two developed strips and three undeveloped rolls, one of which later proved to have been [[#refHissAppellate|light struck]]) of [[#refTime75|35 millimeter film]]. The film included fifty-eight frames, mostly photos of State and Navy Department documents, dated January 5 through April 1, 1938 (the so-called "Pumpkin Papers").<ref>National Archives and Records Administration, [http://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/060.html General Records of the Department of Justice (Record Group 60) 1790-1989, 1991]: 60.3.5 Miscellaneous records: Microfilm copy of evidence ("Pumpkin Papers") used in U.S. v. Alger Hiss, 1948-51 (5 rolls). Microfilm Publications: M1491. Photographs (263 images: Documents reproduced from the "Pumpkin Papers," and used in U.S. v. Alger Hiss, 1948-51.</ref> The State Department documents dealt with a [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/ppboyce.jpg wide] [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/pphissnote.jpg variety] of [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/pplockhart.jpg subjects], including [[#refLindPump|U.S. intentions with respect to the Soviet Union]], the Spanish Civil War, and Germany's takeover of Austria. Some of the documents on the film were [[#refNYRB|initialed by Hiss and came from his office]]. Some were of a [http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/terrorists_spies/spies/hiss/7.html highly sensitive, classified nature]. Some State Department cables bearing Hiss' handwritten initials had direct bearing on matters of major Soviet interest, including Chinese Communist strategy during the war with Japan and Chinese-Soviet relations.<ref>[[#refHK06|Haynes, Klehr 2006]]: 116</ref>

According to Chambers, some of the microfilm was made by a contact he knew only as "Felix," who would photograph documents with a Leica purchased by the Communist underground. For such work, said Chambers, Felix had been trained in Moscow, where he traveled on a forged U.S. passport. In 1949 Chambers would lead FBI investigators to the Baltimore block on which he thought Felix had lived in the 1930s. The Bureau discovered that a Felix Inslerman had lived on the block, later moving to Schenectady, N.Y., where he worked on a secret guided-missile project, in 1946 becoming one of the few civilians to attend the atomic tests at Bikini.

According to Chambers, some of the microfilm was made by a contact he knew only as "Felix," who would photograph documents with a Leica purchased by the Communist underground. For such work, said Chambers, Felix had been trained in Moscow, where he traveled on a forged U.S. passport. In 1949 Chambers would lead FBI investigators to the Baltimore block on which he thought Felix had lived in the 1930s. The Bureau discovered that a Felix Inslerman had lived on the block, later moving to Schenectady, N.Y., where he worked on a secret guided-missile project, in 1946 becoming one of the few civilians to attend the atomic tests at Bikini.

Both before the grand jury and in the second Hiss trial, Inslerman would refuse to answer questions on grounds of potential self-incrimination. But in Inslerman's Schenectady home, the FBI found a Leica whose imperfections matched the scratch marks on Chambers' famed pumpkin film. In 1954, Inslerman would corroborate Chambers' story [http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,819479,00.html under oath]. Recently released files reveal that ex-[[GRU]] agent<ref>[[#refHK99|Haynes, Klehr 1999]]: 166</ref> William Edward Crane also [[#refNYRB|admitted to the FBI]] that he photographed documents from the Treasury and State Department for Chambers in Baltimore. (The third photographer identified by Chambers, "David Carpenter," would turn up on the "Gorsky memo.")<ref>[[#refVasBlack|Vassiliev Black Notebook]]: Orig, 39; Trans. 77 (cf. [[#refBLH05|Bachman, Leich, Haynes 2005]]; [[#refLowCher|Lowenthal, Chervonnaya 2005]]); [[#refSpies09|Haynes, Klehr, Vassiliev 2009]]: 30</ref>

Both before the grand jury and in the second Hiss trial, Inslerman would refuse to answer questions on grounds of potential self-incrimination. But in Inslerman's Schenectady home, the FBI found a Leica whose imperfections matched the scratch marks on Chambers' famed pumpkin film. In 1954, Inslerman would corroborate Chambers' story [http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,819479,00.html under oath]. Recently released files reveal that ex-[[GRU]] agent<ref>[[#refHK99|Haynes, Klehr 1999]]: 166</ref> William Edward Crane also [[#refNYRB|admitted to the FBI]] that he photographed documents from the Treasury and State Department for Chambers in Baltimore. (The third photographer identified by Chambers, "David Carpenter," would turn up on the "Gorsky memo.")<ref>[[#refVasBlack|Vassiliev Black Notebook]]: Orig, 39; Trans. 77 (cf. [[#refBLH05|Bachman, Leich, Haynes 2005]]; [[#refLowCher|Lowenthal, Chervonnaya 2005]]); [[#refSpies09|Haynes, Klehr, Vassiliev 2009]]: 30</ref>

On that day, Hiss's attorney Edward McLean gave the defense's documents examiner, J. Howard Haring, a batch of old Hiss family letters that Hiss had given him the previous September, two months before Chambers produced the documents. Immediately identifying the typeface as that of a [http://www.whittakerchambers.org/images/woodstocktypewriterno5_300dpi250x200pxl.png Woodstock typewriter], Haring reported that one of Mrs. Hiss's 1933 letters "was typed on the same machine as the Chambers documents." McLean informed the Hisses of this finding the same day. The next day, according to another of Hiss' lawyers, John F. Davis: "Alger ... asked [me to] check on an old machine which he remembers he gave to Pat, the son of Claudia Catlett...." Yet Hiss continued to swear under oath that he remembered neither the make nor disposition [[#refNYRB|of the typewriter]].

On that day, Hiss's attorney Edward McLean gave the defense's documents examiner, J. Howard Haring, a batch of old Hiss family letters that Hiss had given him the previous September, two months before Chambers produced the documents. Immediately identifying the typeface as that of a [http://www.whittakerchambers.org/images/woodstocktypewriterno5_300dpi250x200pxl.png Woodstock typewriter], Haring reported that one of Mrs. Hiss's 1933 letters "was typed on the same machine as the Chambers documents." McLean informed the Hisses of this finding the same day. The next day, according to another of Hiss' lawyers, John F. Davis: "Alger ... asked [me to] check on an old machine which he remembers he gave to Pat, the son of Claudia Catlett...." Yet Hiss continued to swear under oath that he remembered neither the make nor disposition [[#refNYRB|of the typewriter]].