Changes

==The Volkogonov affair==

==The Volkogonov affair==

After the fall of Soviet Communism in 1991, former President Nixon and the director of his presidential library, John H. Taylor, petitioned the new Russian President Boris Yeltsin to open the Soviet archives relating to the Hiss-Chambers case. Meanwhile Hiss and his lawyer<ref> Dmitri Volkogonov, Letter to ''Nezavisimaya Gazeta'', November 1992, quoted in John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, ''In Denial: Historians, Communism & Espionage'' (San Francisco: Encounter Books, 2003) ISBN 159403088X, p. 167</ref> appealed to retired Soviet Army General Dmitri Volkogonov and the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) for confirmation that Lowenthal's "client, Alger Hiss," had never been "an agent of the NKVD."<ref>Julius Kobyakov, [http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=h-diplo&month=0310&week=b&msg=xPNOEFLppoOgkkWbtl1dQw&user=&pw= Lowenthal and Alger Hiss], Diplomatic History (H-DIPLO) Discussion List, Humanities and Social Sciences Net Online (H-Net), October 10, 2003</ref> (This despite the fact that the evidence implicates Hiss as an agent of the GRU, not the NKVD.)<ref>Allen Weinstein and Alexander Vassiliev, ''The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America—the Stalin Era'', (New York: Random House, 1999), ISBN 0375755365, p. 44; Robert L. Beisner, ''Dean Acheson: A Life in the Cold War'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006) ISBN 0195045785, p. 711, note 1; John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, "[http://hnn.us/articles/37456.html#fr2 Hiss Was Guilty]," History News Network (George Mason University), April 16, 2007; Jeffrey T. Richelson, ''A Century of Spies: Intelligence in the Twentieth Century'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press US, 1997) ISBN 019511390XG, p. 95; Tennent H. Bagley, ''Spy Wars: Moles, Mysteries, and Deadly Games'' (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2007) ISBN 0300121989, p. 272; John R. Schindler, "[http://www.johnearlhaynes.org/page61.html Hiss in VENONA: The Continuing Controversy]," Center for Cryptologic History Symposium, 27 October 2005; Herbert Romerstein and Eric Breindel, ''The Venona Secrets: Exposing Soviet Espionage and America's Traitors'' (Washington: Regnery Publishing, 2001) ISBN 0895262258, p. 140; John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, ''In Denial: Historians, Communism & Espionage'' (San Francisco: Encounter Books, 2003) ISBN 159403088X, p. 150; G. Edward White, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=FvR4HBTiYzAC Alger Hiss's Looking-glass Wars: The Covert Life of a Soviet Spy]'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) ISBN 0195182553, p. 167; Tom Post, "[http://www.newsweek.com/id/147373 'He Was Never A Soviet Spy']," ''Newsweek'', November 9, 1992</ref> Volkoganov said Hiss wanted to prove that he was never a “paid, contracted” spy, according to . <ref>Serge Schmemann, “[http://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/17/world/russian-general-retreats-on-hiss.html Russian General Retreats on Hiss],” ''The New York Times'', December 17, 1992</ref>  (As critics observed, Hiss was never accused of being a paid, contracted spy, <ref> Max Frankel, [http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/29/books/reading-alger-hiss-s-mind.html?pagewanted=all "Reading Alger Hiss's Mind]," ''The New York Times'', February 29, 2004; Matthew Richer, "[http://www.mmisi.org/ma/46_04/richer.pdf The Ongoing Campaign of Alger Hiss: The Sins of the Father]," ''Modern Age'', Vol. 46, No. 4 (Fall 2004), p. 312 (PDF p. 6)</ref> but an ideologically-motivated one.) <ref>Susan Jacoby, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=nLU0z6PlTHAC Alger Hiss and the Battle for History]'' (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2009) ISBN 0300121334, p. 184; </ref>

After the fall of Soviet Communism in 1991, former President Nixon and the director of his presidential library, John H. Taylor, petitioned the new Russian President Boris Yeltsin to open the Soviet archives relating to the Hiss-Chambers case. Meanwhile Hiss and his lawyer<ref> Dmitri Volkogonov, Letter to ''Nezavisimaya Gazeta'', November 1992, quoted in John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, ''In Denial: Historians, Communism & Espionage'' (San Francisco: Encounter Books, 2003) ISBN 159403088X, p. 167</ref> appealed to retired Soviet Army General Dmitri Volkogonov and the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) for confirmation that Lowenthal's "client, Alger Hiss," had never been "an agent of the NKVD."<ref>Julius Kobyakov, [http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=h-diplo&month=0310&week=b&msg=xPNOEFLppoOgkkWbtl1dQw&user=&pw= Lowenthal and Alger Hiss], Diplomatic History (H-DIPLO) Discussion List, Humanities and Social Sciences Net Online (H-Net), October 10, 2003</ref> (This despite the fact that the evidence implicates Hiss as an agent of the GRU, not the NKVD.)<ref>Allen Weinstein and Alexander Vassiliev, ''The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America—the Stalin Era'', (New York: Random House, 1999), ISBN 0375755365, p. 44; Robert L. Beisner, ''Dean Acheson: A Life in the Cold War'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006) ISBN 0195045785, p. 711, note 1; John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, "[http://hnn.us/articles/37456.html#fr2 Hiss Was Guilty]," History News Network (George Mason University), April 16, 2007; Jeffrey T. Richelson, ''A Century of Spies: Intelligence in the Twentieth Century'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press US, 1997) ISBN 019511390XG, p. 95; Tennent H. Bagley, ''Spy Wars: Moles, Mysteries, and Deadly Games'' (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2007) ISBN 0300121989, p. 272; John R. Schindler, "[http://www.johnearlhaynes.org/page61.html Hiss in VENONA: The Continuing Controversy]," Center for Cryptologic History Symposium, 27 October 2005; Herbert Romerstein and Eric Breindel, ''The Venona Secrets: Exposing Soviet Espionage and America's Traitors'' (Washington: Regnery Publishing, 2001) ISBN 0895262258, p. 140; John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, ''In Denial: Historians, Communism & Espionage'' (San Francisco: Encounter Books, 2003) ISBN 159403088X, p. 150; G. Edward White, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=FvR4HBTiYzAC Alger Hiss's Looking-glass Wars: The Covert Life of a Soviet Spy]'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) ISBN 0195182553, p. 167; Tom Post, "[http://www.newsweek.com/id/147373 'He Was Never A Soviet Spy']," ''Newsweek'', November 9, 1992</ref> Volkoganov said Hiss wanted to prove that he was never a “paid, contracted” spy.<ref>Serge Schmemann, “[http://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/17/world/russian-general-retreats-on-hiss.html Russian General Retreats on Hiss],” ''The New York Times'', December 17, 1992</ref>  (As critics observed, Hiss was never accused of being a paid, contracted spy, <ref> Max Frankel, [http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/29/books/reading-alger-hiss-s-mind.html?pagewanted=all "Reading Alger Hiss's Mind]," ''The New York Times'', February 29, 2004; Matthew Richer, "[http://www.mmisi.org/ma/46_04/richer.pdf The Ongoing Campaign of Alger Hiss: The Sins of the Father]," ''Modern Age'', Vol. 46, No. 4 (Fall 2004), p. 312 (PDF p. 6)</ref> but an ideologically-motivated one.) <ref>Susan Jacoby, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=nLU0z6PlTHAC Alger Hiss and the Battle for History]'' (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2009) ISBN 0300121334, p. 184; </ref>

Volkogonov, as ''apparatchik'' in charge of Soviet military history under the Communists<ref>Amos Perlmutter, "Western journalists slow to report General Dmitri Volkogonov's explanation of his exoneration of convicted spy Alger Hiss," ''National Review'', January 18, 1993</ref> had written with official blessing<ref> David Remnick, "The Stalin Tragedy Comes Home; With Official Blessings, a Soviet Historian Works on a Biography," ''The Washington Post'', June 30, 1988, p. B1</ref> a 1988 biography of Stalin in which he defended Stalin's claim that a majority in the Baltics favored incorporation into the Soviet Union in August 1940, described Stalin's invasion of Poland as "largely justified," blamed the West for the Cold War,<ref>Steven M. Miner, "The Incubus of Despotism," ''The Washington Post'', September 15, 1991</ref> and accepted the claim that Stalin's purges were provoked by Trotskyist and Nazi agents.<ref>Walter Laqueur, ''The Long Road to Freedom: Russia and Glasnost'' (New York: C. Scribner's, 1989) ISBN 0684190303, p. 68</ref>

Volkogonov, as ''apparatchik'' in charge of Soviet military history under the Communists<ref>Amos Perlmutter, "Western journalists slow to report General Dmitri Volkogonov's explanation of his exoneration of convicted spy Alger Hiss," ''National Review'', January 18, 1993</ref> had written with official blessing<ref> David Remnick, "The Stalin Tragedy Comes Home; With Official Blessings, a Soviet Historian Works on a Biography," ''The Washington Post'', June 30, 1988, p. B1</ref> a 1988 biography of Stalin in which he defended Stalin's claim that a majority in the Baltics favored incorporation into the Soviet Union in August 1940, described Stalin's invasion of Poland as "largely justified," blamed the West for the Cold War,<ref>Steven M. Miner, "The Incubus of Despotism," ''The Washington Post'', September 15, 1991</ref> and accepted the claim that Stalin's purges were provoked by Trotskyist and Nazi agents.<ref>Walter Laqueur, ''The Long Road to Freedom: Russia and Glasnost'' (New York: C. Scribner's, 1989) ISBN 0684190303, p. 68</ref>