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So strong was Hiss' denial that the committee wanted to drop the investigation.<ref>[http://www.usembassy.ru/files/All%20the%20President's%20Men.pdf American Values through Film] (English Language Office, Public Affairs section, U.S. Embassy, Moscow), p. 81 (PDF p. 82)</ref> But one member, freshman Congressman [[Richard M. Nixon]] (R-Calif.) insisted that either Chambers or Hiss was lying about whether they had known one another,<ref>Douglas O. Linder, "[http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/hissaccount.html The Alger Hiss Trials: A Commentary]," The Alger Hiss Trials, 1949-50. Famous Trials (University of Missouri at Kansas City School of Law)</ref> and he asked the committee to appoint him to head a subcommittee to find out which one.<ref>"[http://www.departments.dsu.edu/LIBRARY/archive/unamerican.htm House Un-American Activities Committee]," Mundt Archives (Dakota State University); Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, pp. 15-16</ref>

So strong was Hiss' denial that the committee wanted to drop the investigation.<ref>[http://www.usembassy.ru/files/All%20the%20President's%20Men.pdf American Values through Film] (English Language Office, Public Affairs section, U.S. Embassy, Moscow), p. 81 (PDF p. 82)</ref> But one member, freshman Congressman [[Richard M. Nixon]] (R-Calif.) insisted that either Chambers or Hiss was lying about whether they had known one another,<ref>Douglas O. Linder, "[http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/hissaccount.html The Alger Hiss Trials: A Commentary]," The Alger Hiss Trials, 1949-50. Famous Trials (University of Missouri at Kansas City School of Law)</ref> and he asked the committee to appoint him to head a subcommittee to find out which one.<ref>"[http://www.departments.dsu.edu/LIBRARY/archive/unamerican.htm House Un-American Activities Committee]," Mundt Archives (Dakota State University); Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, pp. 15-16</ref>

On August 16, Chambers offered to take a lie-detector test.<ref>Robert G. Whalen, "[http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/09/reviews/chambers-strange.html Hiss and Chambers: Strange Story of Two Men]," ''The New York Times'', December 12, 1948</ref> Hiss refused (a refusal he kept up for the rest of his life),<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,799060,00.html The Confrontation]," ''Time'', August 30, 1948</ref> but he dared Chambers to repeat his charges outside of the immunity afforded in congressional hearings, so Hiss could sue him. In her newspaper column that day, Eleanor Roosevelt set the tone of respectable opinion, writing, "Smearing good people like [[Lauchlin Currie]], Alger Hiss and others is, I think, unforgivable .... Anyone knowing Mr. Currie or Mr. Hiss, who are the two people whom I happen to know fairly well, would not need any denial on their part to know they are not Communists. Their records prove it."<ref>Eleanor Roosevelt, ''Washington Daily News'', August 16th, 1948</ref> (Currie was the NKVD agent<ref>Robert J. Hanyok, ''[http://www.nsa.gov/about/_files/cryptologic_heritage/publications/wwii/eavesdropping.pdf Eavesdropping on Hell: Historical Guide to Western Communications Intelligence and the Holocaust, 1939-1945]'' (Center for Cryptologic History, National Security Agency, 2005), pp. 118-119 (PDF p. 123-124), n. 185; John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, ''Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999) ISBN 0300077718, p. 146</ref> in the White House<ref>[http://www.ncix.gov/issues/CI_Reader/Vol3/Vol3Chap1.pdf "Cold War Counterintelligence," ''A Counterintelligence Reader: An American Revolution Into the New Millennium'', Vol. 3, Chapter 1] (Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive) pp. 30-31 (PDF pp. 29-30); Herbert Romerstein and Eric Breindel, ''The Venona Secrets: Exposing Soviet Espionage and America's Traitors'' (Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, 2001) ISBN 0895262258, p. 167</ref> who tipped the Kremlin off in 1944 that the U.S. was on the verge of breaking the Soviet code.)<ref>Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, ''The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB'' (New York: Basic Books, 2000), ISBN 046500312, p. 130; Robert Louis Benson and Michael Warner, eds., ''[https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/venona-soviet-espionage-and-the-american-response-1939-1957/preface.htm Venona: Soviet Espionage and The American Response]'' (Washington: National Security Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, 1996), pp. xiv, xxiv; FBI memo: Belmont to Boardman, February 1, 1956, p. 9 ([http://foia.fbi.gov/venona/venona.pdf FBI file: Venona], p. 71) Currie admitted to the FBI that he knew Hiss. (FBI report: Institute of Pacific Relations, April 7, 1950. FBI file: [http://education-research.org/PDFs/IPR06.pdf Institute of Pacific Relations, Section 6], p. 36 [PDF p. 31])</ref>

On August 16, Chambers offered to take a lie-detector test.<ref>Robert G. Whalen, "[http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/09/reviews/chambers-strange.html Hiss and Chambers: Strange Story of Two Men]," ''The New York Times'', December 12, 1948</ref> Hiss refused (a refusal he kept up for the rest of his life),<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,799060,00.html The Confrontation]," ''Time'', August 30, 1948</ref> but he dared<ref>Geoffrey C. Ward, “[http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1988/7/1988_7_18.shtml Unregretfully, Alger Hiss,” ''American Heritage Magazine]'', Vol. 39, Issue 7 (November 1988)</ref> Chambers to repeat his charges outside of the immunity afforded in congressional hearings, so Hiss could sue him. In her newspaper column that day, Eleanor Roosevelt set the tone of respectable opinion, writing, "Smearing good people like [[Lauchlin Currie]], Alger Hiss and others is, I think, unforgivable .... Anyone knowing Mr. Currie or Mr. Hiss, who are the two people whom I happen to know fairly well, would not need any denial on their part to know they are not Communists. Their records prove it."<ref>Eleanor Roosevelt, ''Washington Daily News'', August 16th, 1948</ref> (Currie was the NKVD agent<ref>Robert J. Hanyok, ''[http://www.nsa.gov/about/_files/cryptologic_heritage/publications/wwii/eavesdropping.pdf Eavesdropping on Hell: Historical Guide to Western Communications Intelligence and the Holocaust, 1939-1945]'' (Center for Cryptologic History, National Security Agency, 2005), pp. 118-119 (PDF p. 123-124), n. 185; John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, ''Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999) ISBN 0300077718, p. 146</ref> in the White House<ref>[http://www.ncix.gov/issues/CI_Reader/Vol3/Vol3Chap1.pdf "Cold War Counterintelligence," ''A Counterintelligence Reader: An American Revolution Into the New Millennium'', Vol. 3, Chapter 1] (Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive) pp. 30-31 (PDF pp. 29-30); Herbert Romerstein and Eric Breindel, ''The Venona Secrets: Exposing Soviet Espionage and America's Traitors'' (Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, 2001) ISBN 0895262258, p. 167</ref> who tipped the Kremlin off in 1944 that the U.S. was on the verge of breaking the Soviet code.)<ref>Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, ''The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB'' (New York: Basic Books, 2000), ISBN 046500312, p. 130; Robert Louis Benson and Michael Warner, eds., ''[https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/venona-soviet-espionage-and-the-american-response-1939-1957/preface.htm Venona: Soviet Espionage and The American Response]'' (Washington: National Security Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, 1996), pp. xiv, xxiv; FBI memo: Belmont to Boardman, February 1, 1956, p. 9 ([http://foia.fbi.gov/venona/venona.pdf FBI file: Venona], p. 71) Currie admitted to the FBI that he knew Hiss. (FBI report: Institute of Pacific Relations, April 7, 1950. FBI file: [http://education-research.org/PDFs/IPR06.pdf Institute of Pacific Relations, Section 6], p. 36 [PDF p. 31])</ref>

The next day, Truman aide George Elsie wrote to White House Counsel [[Clark Clifford]], "Justice should make every effort to ascertain if Whittaker Chambers is guilty of perjury." No suggestion was made that Justice make any effort at all to ascertain if <i>Hiss</i> might be guilty of perjury, but a handwritten insertion advised "Investigation of Chambers' confinement in a mental institution."<ref>George M. Elsey, [https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/venona-soviet-espionage-and-the-american-response-1939-1957/21.gif Memorandum for Mr. Clifford], 16 August 1948, Harry S. Truman Library, Clark M. Clifford Papers, "Loyalty Investigations," box 11</ref> (Again, no suggestion was made that Hiss' mental health history might be subject to investigation.) In falling for the fiction that Chambers had been committed to an insane asylum, the Truman administration was "taken in by disinformation being spread by the American Communist party and Alger Hiss's partisans."<ref>John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, ''Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999) ISBN 0300077718, p. 15</ref>

The next day, Truman aide George Elsie wrote to White House Counsel [[Clark Clifford]], "Justice should make every effort to ascertain if Whittaker Chambers is guilty of perjury." No suggestion was made that Justice make any effort at all to ascertain if <i>Hiss</i> might be guilty of perjury, but a handwritten insertion advised "Investigation of Chambers' confinement in a mental institution."<ref>George M. Elsey, [https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/venona-soviet-espionage-and-the-american-response-1939-1957/21.gif Memorandum for Mr. Clifford], 16 August 1948, Harry S. Truman Library, Clark M. Clifford Papers, "Loyalty Investigations," box 11</ref> (Again, no suggestion was made that Hiss' mental health history might be subject to investigation.) In falling for the fiction that Chambers had been committed to an insane asylum, the Truman administration was "taken in by disinformation being spread by the American Communist party and Alger Hiss's partisans."<ref>John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, ''Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999) ISBN 0300077718, p. 15</ref>