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Hiss demanded that the committee ask Chambers if he had ever been treated for a mental illness. The committee obliged, and Chambers answered: "[http://www.thenation.com/doc/19480904/sanction I have not, period]." 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 ''Hiss'' might be guilty of perjury, but a handwritten insertion advised "Investigation of Chambers' [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 confinement in a mental institution]." (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, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=dIsmm_ZLHcIC Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America]'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999) ISBN 0300077718, p. 15</ref>

Hiss demanded that the committee ask Chambers if he had ever been treated for a mental illness. The committee obliged, and Chambers answered: "[http://www.thenation.com/doc/19480904/sanction I have not, period]." 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 ''Hiss'' might be guilty of perjury, but a handwritten insertion advised "Investigation of Chambers' [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 confinement in a mental institution]." (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, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=dIsmm_ZLHcIC Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America]'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999) ISBN 0300077718, p. 15</ref>

Hiss also [http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1988/7/1988_7_18.shtml dared] Chambers to repeat his charges outside of the immunity afforded in congressional hearings, so Hiss could sue him, adding, "and I hope yon will do it [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/8-17testimony.html damned quickly]." Within ten days,<ref>G. Edward White, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=T6S7htTSBqQC Alger Hiss's Looking-Glass Wars: the Covert Life of a Soviet Spy]'' (Oxford University Press, 2004) ISBN 0195153456, p. 61</ref> on NBC's ''Meet the Press,'' Chambers called Hiss' bluff, saying, "[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17982730/page/5/ Alger Hiss was a Communist] and may be now."

Hiss also [http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1988/7/1988_7_18.shtml dared] Chambers to repeat his charges outside of the immunity afforded in congressional hearings, so Hiss could sue him, adding, "and I hope you will do it [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/8-17testimony.html damned quickly]." Within ten days,<ref>G. Edward White, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=T6S7htTSBqQC Alger Hiss's Looking-Glass Wars: the Covert Life of a Soviet Spy]'' (Oxford University Press, 2004) ISBN 0195153456, p. 61</ref> on NBC's ''Meet the Press,'' Chambers called Hiss' bluff, saying, "[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17982730/page/5/ Alger Hiss was a Communist] and may be now."

Embarrassment mounted among Hiss' supporters as weeks dragged by and still no suit was filed.<ref>John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=pNwEyL1b6XQC Early Cold War Spies: the Espionage Trials That Shaped American Politics]'' (Cambridge University Press, 2006) ISBN 0521857384, p. 103</ref> Even the ''Washington Post'' began to have doubts,<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, p. 162</ref> writing:

Embarrassment mounted among Hiss' supporters as weeks dragged by and still no suit was filed.<ref>John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=pNwEyL1b6XQC Early Cold War Spies: the Espionage Trials That Shaped American Politics]'' (Cambridge University Press, 2006) ISBN 0521857384, p. 103</ref> Even the ''Washington Post'' began to have doubts,<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, p. 162</ref> writing: