Changes

===Hiss in the Mass Media===

===Hiss in the Mass Media===

So broad is this academic consensus that it has begun to penetrate even the popular press. By 1991, the ''New York Times'' was reporting that "a handful of Hiss supporters continues to doubt his guilt, but for most historians it is all but certain."<ref>Ann Douglas, "[http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/06/27/reviews/990627.27dougl.html Family Ties]," ''The New York Times'', June 27, 1999</ref> Two years later, the paper reported "a growing consensus that Hiss, indeed, had most likely been a Soviet agent."<ref>James Barron, "[http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/16/technology/online-the-hiss-defense-doesn-t-rest.html?pagewanted=all Online, the Hiss Defense Doesn't Rest]," ''The New York Times'', August 16, 2001</ref> In 2004, the ''Times''' former executive editor, Pulitzer-prize winner Max Frankel, wrote that "most historians" now "accept Hiss's guilt."<ref>Max Frankel, [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04E7DF103DF93AA15751C0A9629C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1 "Reading Alger Hiss's Mind]," ''The New York Times'', February 29, 2004</ref> The following year, the paper reported that "no serious cold war historian now questions ... that Hiss lied."<ref>Thomas Powers, "[http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/29/books/review/29POWERSL.html?pagewanted=print 'A Matter of Opinion': The Fate of The Nation]," ''The New York Times'', May 29, 2005</ref> “[M]ost students of the Hiss case, including many erstwhile defenders, consider him guilty,” agrees the ''Washington Post'', which adds that "the scholarly consensus" is "that Hiss was almost certainly guilty of both perjury and espionage."<ref>David Greenberg, "[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/05/29/ST2009052902500.html The Cold War Duel That Never Dies]," ''The Washington Post'', May 31, 2009</ref> ''Time'' magazine concurs that Hiss' supporters are "dwindling" as "the weight of historical evidence indicates that Hiss was... a Soviet spy."<ref>John Elson, "[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,985571,00.html Gentleman and a Spy?]" ''Time'', November 25, 1996. Elsewhere, ''Time'' reports, "Added to the earlier accumulation of evidence, the Venona message [1822] seems to remove reasonable doubt about Alger Hiss's guilt." Lance Morrow, "[http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,26336,00.html Alger, 'Ales' And Joe]," ''Time'', June 6, 1999</ref> "For... Alger Hiss," ''Newsweek'' reports, "a richly detailed new book, ''Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America'' by historians John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr.... provides irrefutable confirmation of guilt."<ref>David J. Garrow, "[http://www.newsweek.com/id/197807 From Russia, With Love]," ''Newsweek'', May 25, 2009</ref> ''U.S. News and World Report'' says, "Most scholars considered the case against Hiss firmly established by Allen Weinstein's ''Perjury'', published in 1978."<ref>Michael Barone, "Hiss and History," ''U.S. News and World Report'', November 25, 1996</ref> "The sum and substance of this growing body of material is that.... Alger Hiss, a darling of the establishment, was guilty," wrote liberal<ref>[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0902444/ Nicholas von Hoffman], The Internet Movie Database</ref> columnist Nicholas Von Hoffman,<ref>Nicholas Von Hoffman, "Was McCarthy right about the left?" ''The Washington Post'', April 14, 1996, p. C1</ref> who even Navasky admits is "anything but a right-winger."<ref>Victor Navasky, "[http://www.thenation.com/doc/20010716/navasky/print Cold War Ghosts]," ''The Nation'', July 16, 2001</ref> The left-leaning<ref>"...The New York Review of Books, the left-leaning publication that is to gravitas what the Beagle was to Darwin..." Nicholas Dawidoff, "[http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/magazine/29Dyson-t.html?pagewanted=print The Civil Heretic]," ''The New York Times Magazine'', March 29, 2009</ref> ''New York Review of Books'' concludes, "The evidence now... is simply overwhelming.... Hiss was one of a number of... converts to communism hurrying about Washington in the 1930s recruiting others to serve 'real, existing Socialism' in the Soviet Union...."<ref>Thomas Powers, "[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/118 The Plot Thickens]," ''The New York Review of Books'', May 11, 2000 (Volume 47, Number 8)</ref> The left-of-center<ref>"The Washington Monthly is a moderately left-of-center, independent magazine...." [http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Washington+Monthly-p243 Browse Washington Monthly by Date], The Free Library</ref> ''Washington Monthly'' calls the evidence against Hiss "quite devastating," dubbing the Venona decrypts "damning" and "rock-hard evidence" of Hiss' guilt.<ref>David Ignatius, "[http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/books/1999/9907.ignatius.spy.html A Father and a Spy: A son's memoir and Soviet cable decrypts provide different perspectives on Alger Hiss]," ''The Washington Monthly'', Vol. 31 Issue 7, July/August 1999</ref> The ''Guardian'', Britain's leading left-wing newspaper<ref>"[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_14_57/ai_n15631102/ The Guardian, Britain's leading left-wing newspaper, has—naturally!—a policy of 'diversity' in hiring newsroom staff]," ''National Review'', August 8, 2005. ''Guardian'' readers are often [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3159813.stm stereotyped] as [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4348620.stm politically correct] [http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200102/cmhansrd/vo011119/debtext/11119-08.htm#11119-08_spnew3 charactures].</ref> reports that "the general view" is  "that Hiss was guilty."<ref>Michael Ellison, "[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/1999/may/15/michaelellison US judge prises lid off secret spy case papers]," ''The Guardian'', May 15, 1999</ref> Jacob Heilbrunn (a columnist at the "pugnatiously [[liberal]]"<ref>Howard Kurtz, "[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/08/AR2007070801213.html A Blog That Made It Big: The Huffington Post, Trending Up and Left]," ''The Washington Post'', July 9, 2007, p. C01</ref> Huffington Post), writing at Truthdig.com ("A [[Progressive]] Journal of News and Opinion"), admits, "the evidence that Hiss was innocent of serving as a Soviet spy is sparse. It requires contortions to suggest that he was not and to explain away the evidence suggesting that he was."<ref>Jacob Heilbrunn, "[http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/20090320_jacob_heilbrunn_on_alger_hiss/ Jacob Heilbrunn on Alger Hiss]," Truthdig.com, March 20, 2009</ref> The left-liberal<ref>"Salon professed to represent a combination of left-liberal politics and iconoclastic cultural attitudes, characteristic of the middle-class radical milieu that developed in the 1960s, most strongly centered in the San Francisco Bay Area." (Patrick Martin, [http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/jun2001/salo-j29.shtml Salon and the decay of American liberal journalism], World Socialist Web Site [International Committee of the Fourth International], June 29, 2001)</ref> Salon.com says "Hiss' defenders have dwindled to a small handful of true believers."<ref>Dan Kennedy, "[http://www.salon.com/media/media961119.html What if they gave a funeral for a cold-war icon — and no one came?]" Salon.com, November 19, 1996</ref> Slate.com (where more than 98 percent of staff and contributors supported [[Barack Obama]])<ref>David Plotz, "[http://www.slate.com/id/2203052/ Obama Carries the Great State of Slate]," Slate.com, October 28, 2008</ref> admits that "even many on the left&mdash;including younger historians such as Rick Perlstein" have become convinced "that Hiss was guilty, although old-school loyalists like Navasky remained skeptical,"<ref>Ron Rosenbaum, "[http://www.slate.com/id/2170415/ Alger Hiss Rides Again]," Slate.com, July 16, 2007</ref> and adds, "Heads up: ''Alger Hiss was guilty'',"<ref>Timothy Noah, "[http://www.slate.com/id/2203909/ The Uncabinet]," Slate.com, November 5, 2008</ref> concluding, "if we paleo-libs continue in our ancient rancors, we'll start looking like those troglodytes who still plump for Alger Hiss' innocence."<ref>Louis Bayard, "[http://www.salon.com/books/review/2008/05/13/ronald_reagan/ Why Ronald Reagan didn't completely suck]," Slate.com, May 13, 2008</ref>

So broad is this academic consensus that it has begun to penetrate even the popular press. By 1991, the ''New York Times'' was reporting that "a handful of Hiss supporters continues to doubt his guilt, but for most historians it is all but certain."<ref>Ann Douglas, "[http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/06/27/reviews/990627.27dougl.html Family Ties]," ''The New York Times'', June 27, 1999</ref> Two years later, the paper reported "a growing consensus that Hiss, indeed, had most likely been a Soviet agent."<ref>James Barron, "[http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/16/technology/online-the-hiss-defense-doesn-t-rest.html?pagewanted=all Online, the Hiss Defense Doesn't Rest]," ''The New York Times'', August 16, 2001</ref> In 2004, the ''Times''' former executive editor, Pulitzer-prize winner Max Frankel, wrote that "most historians" now "accept Hiss's guilt."<ref>Max Frankel, [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04E7DF103DF93AA15751C0A9629C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1 "Reading Alger Hiss's Mind]," ''The New York Times'', February 29, 2004</ref> The following year, the paper reported that "no serious cold war historian now questions ... that Hiss lied."<ref>Thomas Powers, "[http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/29/books/review/29POWERSL.html?pagewanted=print 'A Matter of Opinion': The Fate of The Nation]," ''The New York Times'', May 29, 2005</ref> “[M]ost students of the Hiss case, including many erstwhile defenders, consider him guilty,” agrees the ''Washington Post'', which adds that "the scholarly consensus" is "that Hiss was almost certainly guilty of both perjury and espionage."<ref>David Greenberg, "[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/05/29/ST2009052902500.html The Cold War Duel That Never Dies]," ''The Washington Post'', May 31, 2009</ref> ''Time'' magazine concurs that Hiss' supporters are "dwindling" as "the weight of historical evidence indicates that Hiss was... a Soviet spy."<ref>John Elson, "[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,985571,00.html Gentleman and a Spy?]" ''Time'', November 25, 1996. Elsewhere, ''Time'' reports, "Added to the earlier accumulation of evidence, the Venona message [1822] seems to remove reasonable doubt about Alger Hiss's guilt." Lance Morrow, "[http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,26336,00.html Alger, 'Ales' And Joe]," ''Time'', June 6, 1999</ref> "For... Alger Hiss," ''Newsweek'' reports, "a richly detailed new book, ''Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America'' by historians John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr.... provides irrefutable confirmation of guilt."<ref>David J. Garrow, "[http://www.newsweek.com/id/197807 From Russia, With Love]," ''Newsweek'', May 25, 2009</ref> ''U.S. News and World Report'' says, "Most scholars considered the case against Hiss firmly established by Allen Weinstein's ''Perjury'', published in 1978."<ref>Michael Barone, "Hiss and History," ''U.S. News and World Report'', November 25, 1996</ref>

 

"The sum and substance of this growing body of material is that.... Alger Hiss, a darling of the establishment, was guilty," wrote liberal<ref>[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0902444/ Nicholas von Hoffman], The Internet Movie Database</ref> columnist Nicholas Von Hoffman,<ref>Nicholas Von Hoffman, "Was McCarthy right about the left?" ''The Washington Post'', April 14, 1996, p. C1</ref> who even Navasky admits is "anything but a right-winger."<ref>Victor Navasky, "[http://www.thenation.com/doc/20010716/navasky/print Cold War Ghosts]," ''The Nation'', July 16, 2001</ref> The left-leaning<ref>"...The New York Review of Books, the left-leaning publication that is to gravitas what the Beagle was to Darwin..." Nicholas Dawidoff, "[http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/magazine/29Dyson-t.html?pagewanted=print The Civil Heretic]," ''The New York Times Magazine'', March 29, 2009</ref> ''New York Review of Books'' concludes, "The evidence now... is simply overwhelming.... Hiss was one of a number of... converts to communism hurrying about Washington in the 1930s recruiting others to serve 'real, existing Socialism' in the Soviet Union...."<ref>Thomas Powers, "[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/118 The Plot Thickens]," ''The New York Review of Books'', May 11, 2000 (Volume 47, Number 8)</ref> The left-of-center<ref>"The Washington Monthly is a moderately left-of-center, independent magazine...." [http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Washington+Monthly-p243 Browse Washington Monthly by Date], The Free Library</ref> ''Washington Monthly'' calls the evidence against Hiss "quite devastating," dubbing the Venona decrypts "damning" and "rock-hard evidence" of Hiss' guilt.<ref>David Ignatius, "[http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/books/1999/9907.ignatius.spy.html A Father and a Spy: A son's memoir and Soviet cable decrypts provide different perspectives on Alger Hiss]," ''The Washington Monthly'', Vol. 31 Issue 7, July/August 1999</ref> The ''Guardian'', Britain's leading left-wing newspaper<ref>"[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_14_57/ai_n15631102/ The Guardian, Britain's leading left-wing newspaper, has—naturally!—a policy of 'diversity' in hiring newsroom staff]," ''National Review'', August 8, 2005. ''Guardian'' readers are often [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3159813.stm stereotyped] as [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4348620.stm politically correct] [http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200102/cmhansrd/vo011119/debtext/11119-08.htm#11119-08_spnew3 charactures].</ref> reports that "the general view" is  "that Hiss was guilty."<ref>Michael Ellison, "[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/1999/may/15/michaelellison US judge prises lid off secret spy case papers]," ''The Guardian'', May 15, 1999</ref> Jacob Heilbrunn (a columnist at the "pugnatiously [[liberal]]"<ref>Howard Kurtz, "[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/08/AR2007070801213.html A Blog That Made It Big: The Huffington Post, Trending Up and Left]," ''The Washington Post'', July 9, 2007, p. C01</ref> Huffington Post), writing at Truthdig.com ("A [[Progressive]] Journal of News and Opinion"), admits, "the evidence that Hiss was innocent of serving as a Soviet spy is sparse. It requires contortions to suggest that he was not and to explain away the evidence suggesting that he was."<ref>Jacob Heilbrunn, "[http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/20090320_jacob_heilbrunn_on_alger_hiss/ Jacob Heilbrunn on Alger Hiss]," Truthdig.com, March 20, 2009</ref> The left-liberal<ref>"Salon professed to represent a combination of left-liberal politics and iconoclastic cultural attitudes, characteristic of the middle-class radical milieu that developed in the 1960s, most strongly centered in the San Francisco Bay Area." (Patrick Martin, [http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/jun2001/salo-j29.shtml Salon and the decay of American liberal journalism], World Socialist Web Site [International Committee of the Fourth International], June 29, 2001)</ref> Salon.com says "Hiss' defenders have dwindled to a small handful of true believers."<ref>Dan Kennedy, "[http://www.salon.com/media/media961119.html What if they gave a funeral for a cold-war icon — and no one came?]" Salon.com, November 19, 1996</ref> Slate.com (where more than 98 percent of staff and contributors supported [[Barack Obama]])<ref>David Plotz, "[http://www.slate.com/id/2203052/ Obama Carries the Great State of Slate]," Slate.com, October 28, 2008</ref> admits that "even many on the left&mdash;including younger historians such as Rick Perlstein" have become convinced "that Hiss was guilty, although old-school loyalists like Navasky remained skeptical,"<ref>Ron Rosenbaum, "[http://www.slate.com/id/2170415/ Alger Hiss Rides Again]," Slate.com, July 16, 2007</ref> and adds, "Heads up: ''Alger Hiss was guilty'',"<ref>Timothy Noah, "[http://www.slate.com/id/2203909/ The Uncabinet]," Slate.com, November 5, 2008</ref> concluding, "if we paleo-libs continue in our ancient rancors, we'll start looking like those troglodytes who still plump for Alger Hiss' innocence."<ref>Louis Bayard, "[http://www.salon.com/books/review/2008/05/13/ronald_reagan/ Why Ronald Reagan didn't completely suck]," Slate.com, May 13, 2008</ref>

==References==

==References==