Changes

Alger Hiss was born in Baltimore, Maryland, November 11, 1904,<ref>[http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/8-5testimony.html Testimony of Alger Hiss before the House Committee on Un-American Activities] (August 5, 1948)</ref> to a financially comfortable upper-middle-class<ref>Denise Noe, "[http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/spies/hiss/ The Alger Hiss Case]," TruTV Crime Library</ref> WASP family.<ref>Aaron Beim and Gary Alan Fine, "The Cultural Frameworks of Prejudice: Reputational Images and the Postwar Disjuncture of Jews and Communism," ''The Sociological Quarterly'', Summer 2007, Volume 48, Issue 3, pp. 373-397</ref> When Alger was two years old, his father, an executive with a dry goods firm,<ref>Janny Scott, "[http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/09/reviews/hiss-obit.html Alger Hiss, 92, Central Figure in Long-Running Cold War Controversy]," ''New York Times'', November 16, 1996</ref> committed suicide by slashing his throat with his own razor.<ref>Lance Morrow, "[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,985608,00.html Fred Astaire Meets the Sad-Sack Dostoevskian Pudge]," ''Time'', November 25, 1996</ref> When Alger was 25, his sister Mary Ann also committed suicide, by drinking a bottle of Lysol.<ref>G. Edward White, ''Alger Hiss's Looking-glass Wars: The Covert Life of a Soviet Spy'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) ISBN 0195182553, p. 5</ref> Hiss’s older brother Bosley had died two and a half years before from Bright’s disease, a kidney disorder aggravated by his excessive alcohol consumption.<ref>Tony Hiss, ''Laughing Last: Alger Hiss by Tony Hiss'' (Boston: Haughton Mifflin, 1977), ISBN 039524899X, cited in G. Edward White, ''Alger Hiss's Looking-glass Wars: The Covert Life of a Soviet Spy'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) ISBN 0195182553, p. 158</ref><ref>Denise Noe, "[http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/spies/hiss/ The Alger Hiss Case]," TruTV Crime Library</ref>

Alger Hiss was born in Baltimore, Maryland, November 11, 1904,<ref>[http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/8-5testimony.html Testimony of Alger Hiss before the House Committee on Un-American Activities] (August 5, 1948)</ref> to a financially comfortable upper-middle-class<ref>Denise Noe, "[http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/spies/hiss/ The Alger Hiss Case]," TruTV Crime Library</ref> WASP family.<ref>Aaron Beim and Gary Alan Fine, "The Cultural Frameworks of Prejudice: Reputational Images and the Postwar Disjuncture of Jews and Communism," ''The Sociological Quarterly'', Summer 2007, Volume 48, Issue 3, pp. 373-397</ref> When Alger was two years old, his father, an executive with a dry goods firm,<ref>Janny Scott, "[http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/09/reviews/hiss-obit.html Alger Hiss, 92, Central Figure in Long-Running Cold War Controversy]," ''New York Times'', November 16, 1996</ref> committed suicide by slashing his throat with his own razor.<ref>Lance Morrow, "[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,985608,00.html Fred Astaire Meets the Sad-Sack Dostoevskian Pudge]," ''Time'', November 25, 1996</ref> When Alger was 25, his sister Mary Ann also committed suicide, by drinking a bottle of Lysol.<ref>G. Edward White, ''Alger Hiss's Looking-glass Wars: The Covert Life of a Soviet Spy'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) ISBN 0195182553, p. 5</ref> Hiss’s older brother Bosley had died two and a half years before from Bright’s disease, a kidney disorder aggravated by his excessive alcohol consumption.<ref>Tony Hiss, ''Laughing Last: Alger Hiss by Tony Hiss'' (Boston: Haughton Mifflin, 1977), ISBN 039524899X, cited in G. Edward White, ''Alger Hiss's Looking-glass Wars: The Covert Life of a Soviet Spy'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) ISBN 0195182553, p. 158</ref><ref>Denise Noe, "[http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/spies/hiss/ The Alger Hiss Case]," TruTV Crime Library</ref>

After graduation from Baltimore City College and a year at Powder Point Academy (a private prep school in Duxbury, Massachusetts) and the Maryland Institute of Art, Hiss attended Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University.<ref>Historical Note: Chronology of Alger Hiss. [http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~law00092 Zeligs, Meyer Aaron. Papers, 1923-1978: Finding Aid] (Harvard Law School Library)</ref>

After graduation from Baltimore City College and a year at Powder Point Academy (a private prep school in Duxbury, Massachusetts) and the Maryland Institute of Art, Hiss attended Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University.<ref>Historical Note: Chronology of Alger Hiss. [http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~law00092 Zeligs, Meyer Aaron. Papers, 1923-1978: Finding Aid] (Harvard Law School Library)</ref> As an undergraduate, Hiss' favorite instructors included the [[Socialist]] [[Broadus Mitchell]]<ref>Alger Hiss, Draft of a Chapter Written By Alger Hiss on the Foundations For His Liberalism (unpublished manuscript, on file with the Harvard Law School Special Collections)</ref> (a former [[Socialist]] Party candidate for Governor of Maryland)<ref>Matthew Richer, "[http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-126505548.html The ongoing campaign of Alger Hiss: the sins of the father]," ''Modern Age'',  Fall, 2004</ref> and [[José Robles]], a committed [[Stalinist]].<ref>Jason Powell, "[http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/reviews/reviewview.cfm?id=2 Review: ''The Breaking Point: Hemingway, Dos Passos, and the Murder of Jose Robles'']," eHistory (Ohio State University), January 2006</ref> Hiss apparently knew Robles well enough to spend time at his home.<ref>Tony Hiss, ''Laughing Last: Alger Hiss by Tony Hiss'' (Boston: Haughton Mifflin, 1977), ISBN 039524899X, pp. 37-38</ref> Robles would go on to serve in the [[Spanish Civil War]] as interpreter for General [[Jānis Bērziņš]], head of [[GRU|Soviet military intelligence]],<ref>Hugh Thomas, ''The Spanish Civil War'' (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994) ISBN 0671758764, pp. 705-706</ref> but was never seen again<ref>George Packer,  "[http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/10/31/051031crbo_books The Spanish Prisoner]," ''The New Yorker'', October 31, 2005</ref> after Bērziņš was recalled to Moscow<ref>Roy Aleksandrovich

 

As an undergraduate, Hiss' favorite instructors included the [[Socialist]] [[Broadus Mitchell]]<ref>Alger Hiss, Draft of a Chapter Written By Alger Hiss on the Foundations For His Liberalism (unpublished manuscript, on file with the Harvard Law School Special Collections)</ref> (a former [[Socialist Party]] candidate for Governor of Maryland)<ref>Matthew Richer, "[http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-126505548.html The ongoing campaign of Alger Hiss: the sins of the father]," ''Modern Age'',  Fall, 2004</ref> and [[José Robles]], a committed [[Stalinist]].<ref>Jason Powell, "[http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/reviews/reviewview.cfm?id=2 Review: ''The Breaking Point: Hemingway, Dos Passos, and the Murder of Jose Robles'']," eHistory (Ohio State University), January 2006</ref> Hiss apparently knew Robles well enough to spend time at his home.<ref>Tony Hiss, ''Laughing Last: Alger Hiss by Tony Hiss'' (Boston: Haughton Mifflin, 1977), ISBN 039524899X, pp. 37-38</ref> Robles would go on to serve in the [[Spanish Civil War]] as interpreter for General [[Jānis Bērziņš]], head of [[GRU|Soviet military intelligence]],<ref>Hugh Thomas, ''The Spanish Civil War'' (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994) ISBN 0671758764, pp. 705-706</ref> but was never seen again<ref>George Packer,  "[http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/10/31/051031crbo_books The Spanish Prisoner]," ''The New Yorker'', October 31, 2005</ref> after Bērziņš was recalled to Moscow<ref>Roy Aleksandrovich

Medvedev, ''Let History Judge: The Origins and Consequences of Stalinism'' (tr. George

Medvedev, ''Let History Judge: The Origins and Consequences of Stalinism'' (tr. George

Shriver) (New York: Columbia University Press, 1989) ISBN 0231063504, p. 428</ref> and shot in a Stalinist purge in 1938.<ref>David J. Nordlander, "Origins of a Gulag Capital: Magadan and Stalinist Control in the Early 1930s," ''Slavic Review'', Vol. 57, No. 4 (Winter, 1998), pp. 791-812</ref> Hiss would later say he too considered going to Spain to fight for the Soviet-backed Loyalist cause.<ref>John Chabot Smith, ''Alger Hiss: The True Story'' (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1976), ISBN 0030137764, p. 104</ref>

Shriver) (New York: Columbia University Press, 1989) ISBN 0231063504, p. 428</ref> and shot in Stalin's "[[Great Purge|Great Terror]]"<ref>Robert Conquest,''The Great Terror: A Reassessment'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), ISBN 0195071328</ref> in 1938.<ref>David J. Nordlander, "Origins of a Gulag Capital: Magadan and Stalinist Control in the Early 1930s," ''Slavic Review'', Vol. 57, No. 4 (Winter, 1998), pp. 791-812</ref> Hiss would later say he too considered going to Spain to fight for the Soviet-backed Loyalist cause.<ref>John Chabot Smith, ''Alger Hiss: The True Story'' (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1976), ISBN 0030137764, p. 104</ref>

After graduating in 1926, Hiss went on to Harvard Law School, where he resumed his friendship with his boyhood friend [[Henry Collins]] (who was attending Harvard Business School) and served on the ''Harvard Law Review'' with his classmate [[Lee Pressman]].<ref>[http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/8-5testimony.html Testimony of Alger Hiss before the House Committee on Un-American Activities] (August 5, 1948)</ref> Hiss became the protégé of one instructor, future [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] Justice [[Felix Frankfurter]]—whom former [[President of the United States|U.S. President]] [[William Howard Taft]], Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, said "seems to be closely in touch with every [[Bolshevik|Bolshevist]], [[Communist]] movement in this country."<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,870087.html Felix Frankfurter]," ''Time'',  September 7, 1962</ref> When Hiss graduated from law school in 1929, Frankfurter got him a job as law clerk to Supreme Court Justice [[Oliver Wendell Holmes]].<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,888531,00.html Your Witness, Mr. Murphy]," ''Time,'' July 4, 1949</ref> The same year, Hiss married the former Mrs. Priscilla Fansler Hobson, a supporter of [[Socialist]] [[Norman Thomas]].<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, p. 457</ref>

After graduating in 1926, Hiss went on to Harvard Law School, where he resumed his friendship with his boyhood friend [[Henry Collins]] (who was attending Harvard Business School) and served on the ''Harvard Law Review'' with his classmate [[Lee Pressman]].<ref>[http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/8-5testimony.html Testimony of Alger Hiss before the House Committee on Un-American Activities] (August 5, 1948)</ref> Hiss became the protégé of one instructor, future [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] Justice [[Felix Frankfurter]]—whom former [[President of the United States|U.S. President]] [[William Howard Taft]], Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, said "seems to be closely in touch with every [[Bolshevik|Bolshevist]], [[Communist]] movement in this country."<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,870087.html Felix Frankfurter]," ''Time'',  September 7, 1962</ref> When Hiss graduated from law school in 1929, Frankfurter got him a job as law clerk to Supreme Court Justice [[Oliver Wendell Holmes]].<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,888531,00.html Your Witness, Mr. Murphy]," ''Time,'' July 4, 1949</ref> The same year, Hiss married the former Mrs. Priscilla Fansler Hobson, a supporter of perennial [[Socialist]] Party presidential nominee [[Norman Thomas]].<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, p. 457</ref>

Hiss went on to a law firm in Boston, then to another in New York where, by 1930, his wife Priscilla had joined the Morningside Heights branch of the [[Socialist Party]].<ref> G. Edward White, ''Alger Hiss's Looking-glass Wars: The Covert Life of a Soviet Spy'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) ISBN 0195182553, p. 27</ref> By 1932, Priscilla Hiss was an active member of [[American Labor Associates]], and Hiss was becoming "radicalized,"<ref>Douglas Linder, [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/hisschronology.html The Trials of Alger Hiss: A Chronology], Famous Trials: The Alger Hiss Trials, 1949-50 (University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, 2003)</ref> joining the [[International Juridical Association]] (IJA) (which "consistently followed the Communist Party line")<ref>"[http://ia360638.us.archive.org/2/items/reportonnational1950unit/reportonnational1950unit.pdf Report on the National Lawyers Guild, legal bulwark of the Communist Party]," United States Congress. House Committee on Un-American Activities (1950), p. 12</ref> along with his Harvard Law classmate Lee Pressman<ref> G. Edward White, ''Alger Hiss's Looking-glass Wars: The Covert Life of a Soviet Spy'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) ISBN 0195182553, p. 27</ref> and [[Nathan Witt]].<ref>Martin Dies, ''The Trojan Horse in America'' (New York: Arno Press, 1977) ISBN 0405099452, p. 92</ref>

Hiss went on to a law firm in Boston, then to another in New York where, by 1930, his wife Priscilla had joined the Morningside Heights branch of the [[Socialist Party]].<ref> G. Edward White, ''Alger Hiss's Looking-glass Wars: The Covert Life of a Soviet Spy'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) ISBN 0195182553, p. 27</ref> By 1932, Priscilla Hiss was an active member of [[American Labor Associates]], and Hiss was becoming "radicalized,"<ref>Douglas Linder, [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/hisschronology.html The Trials of Alger Hiss: A Chronology], Famous Trials: The Alger Hiss Trials, 1949-50 (University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, 2003)</ref> joining the [[International Juridical Association]] (IJA) (which "consistently followed the Communist Party line")<ref>"[http://ia360638.us.archive.org/2/items/reportonnational1950unit/reportonnational1950unit.pdf Report on the National Lawyers Guild, legal bulwark of the Communist Party]," United States Congress. House Committee on Un-American Activities (1950), p. 12</ref> along with his Harvard Law classmate Lee Pressman<ref> G. Edward White, ''Alger Hiss's Looking-glass Wars: The Covert Life of a Soviet Spy'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) ISBN 0195182553, p. 27</ref> and [[Nathan Witt]].<ref>Martin Dies, ''The Trojan Horse in America'' (New York: Arno Press, 1977) ISBN 0405099452, p. 92</ref>

==New Deal==

==New Deal==

In 1933, Frankfurter sent Hiss a telegram<ref>Dan Cryer, "[http://www.salon.com/books/feature/1999/06/01/hiss/index.html We're a long way from the end of this]," Salon.com, June 1, 1999</ref> urging him to join President [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]]'s [[New Deal]] as assistant general counsel to the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA).<ref>[http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/8-5testimony.html Testimony of Alger Hiss before the House Committee on Un-American Activities] (August 5, 1948)</ref> At the peak of Stalin's "terror famine" (during which the Soviets starved some three million Ukrainians to death through agricultural collectivism),<ref>Peter Finn, "[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/26/AR2008042602039.html?sub=new Aftermath of a Soviet Famine]," ''The Washington Post'', April 27, 2008, Page A14</ref> the AAA sought to restrict U.S. farm production in order to increase food prices during the Great Depression.<ref>"[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/9551/Agricultural-Adjustment-Administration Agricultural Adjustment Administration]," ''Encyclopedia Britannica''</ref> The agency was the the brainchild of FDR's Secretary of Agriculture, [[Henry Wallace]], who would finally recant his support for the Soviet Union in 1952.<ref>Henry Agard Wallace, “Where I Was Wrong.” ''This Week'', September 2, 1952</ref>

In 1933, Frankfurter sent Hiss a telegram<ref>Dan Cryer, "[http://www.salon.com/books/feature/1999/06/01/hiss/index.html We're a long way from the end of this]," Salon.com, June 1, 1999</ref> urging him to join President [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]]'s [[New Deal]] as assistant general counsel to the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA).<ref>[http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/8-5testimony.html Testimony of Alger Hiss before the House Committee on Un-American Activities] (August 5, 1948)</ref> At the peak of Stalin's "[[Holodomor|Terror Famine]]"<ref>Robert Conquest, ''The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987) ISBN 0195051807)</ref> (during which the Soviets starved some three million [[Ukraine|Ukrainians]] to death through collectivization of agriculture),<ref>Peter Finn, "[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/26/AR2008042602039.html?sub=new Aftermath of a Soviet Famine]," ''The Washington Post'', April 27, 2008, Page A14</ref> the AAA restricted U.S. farm production in order to drive up food prices in the depths of the [[Great Depression]].<ref>"[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/9551/Agricultural-Adjustment-Administration Agricultural Adjustment Administration]," ''Encyclopedia Britannica'' (2008)</ref> The agency was the the brainchild of FDR's then-Secretary of Agriculture, [[Henry Wallace]], who would finally recant his support for the [[Soviet Union]]<ref>Linda Rodriguez, "[http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/05/09/almost.great.men/index.html A celebration of almost-great men]," CNN, undated</ref> in 1952.<ref>Henry Agard Wallace, “Where I Was Wrong.” ''This Week'', September 2, 1952</ref>

In response to a query about hiring him, Hiss' Harvard Law School classmate [[Lee Pressman]], already at AAA, wrote, "I have talked to Alger Hiss and [[Nathan Witt|Nat Witt]] who are considering" taking posts at AAA (Hiss would later deny under oath that he had discussed the position with Pressman).<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, p. 133</ref> At AAA, Hiss reunited with Pressman, as well as his boyhood friend [[Henry Collins]] and IJA colleague Witt, and became acquainted with [[Harold Ware]].<ref>[http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/8-5testimony.html Testimony of Alger Hiss before the House Committee on Un-American Activities] (August 5, 1948)</ref> Even before the FBI would learn of [[Whittaker Chambers]]' charges, one of Hiss' colleagues at the AAA would tip off FBI investigators that Hiss and his circle were fellow travelers, if not Communists.<ref>FBI memorandum: Ladd to Hoover, January 28, 1949, p. 2 (FBI file: Hiss-Chambers, Vol. 44)</ref> Pressman would eventually testify that he had been a Communist and a member of the [[Ware group]].<ref>Testimony of Lee Pressman. Hearings Regarding Communism in the United States Government—Part 2. United States House of Representatives, Committee on Un-American Activities, Washington, D.C., August 28, 1950. Reprinted as Exhibit No. 1402, U.S. Congress, Senate, 82nd Cong., Committee on the Judiciary, Hearings to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, Second Session on the Institute of Pacific Relations (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1952), 5503.</ref> Another AAA official, [[Nathaniel Weyl]], would later testify that he attended Communist cell meetings with Hiss and saw him pay his party dues.<ref>“[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,890230,00.html Another Witness],” ''Time'', March 3, 1952</ref>

In response to a query about hiring him, Hiss' Harvard Law School classmate [[Lee Pressman]], already at AAA, wrote, "I have talked to Alger Hiss and [[Nathan Witt|Nat Witt]] who are considering" taking posts at AAA (Hiss would later deny under oath that he had discussed the position with Pressman).<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, p. 133</ref> At AAA, Hiss reunited with Pressman, as well as his boyhood friend [[Henry Collins]] and IJA colleague Witt, and became acquainted with [[Harold Ware]].<ref>[http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/8-5testimony.html Testimony of Alger Hiss before the House Committee on Un-American Activities] (August 5, 1948)</ref> Even before the FBI would learn of [[Whittaker Chambers]]' charges, one of Hiss' colleagues at the AAA would tip off FBI investigators that Hiss and his circle were fellow travelers, if not Communists.<ref>FBI memorandum: Ladd to Hoover, January 28, 1949, p. 2 (FBI file: Hiss-Chambers, Vol. 44)</ref> Pressman would eventually testify that he had been a Communist and a member of the [[Ware group]].<ref>Testimony of Lee Pressman. Hearings Regarding Communism in the United States Government—Part 2. United States House of Representatives, Committee on Un-American Activities, Washington, D.C., August 28, 1950. Reprinted as Exhibit No. 1402, U.S. Congress, Senate, 82nd Cong., Committee on the Judiciary, Hearings to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, Second Session on the Institute of Pacific Relations (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1952), 5503.</ref> Another AAA official, [[Nathaniel Weyl]], would later testify that he attended Communist cell meetings with Hiss and saw him pay his party dues.<ref>“[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,890230,00.html Another Witness],” ''Time'', March 3, 1952</ref>

In 1934, again with an assist from [[Lee Pressman]] (according to [[Gardner Jackson]]),<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, p.  143</ref> Hiss became General Counsel for the [[U.S. Senate]]'s [[Special Committee Investigating the Munitions Industry|Nye committee]],<ref>[http://www.mdhs.org/library/Mss/ms002504.html Biographical Sketch. Alger Hiss Collection, 1934-1979] (Maryland Historical Society)</ref> which investigated people Chairman [[Gerald P. Nye]] (R.-N.D.) called [[Wall Street]]'s "merchants of death,"<ref>[http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/merchants_of_death.htm 1921-1940: September 4, 1934, "Merchants of Death" (United States Senate: Historical Minutes)]</ref> whom he accused of conspiracy to lead the U.S. into war with Germany. One scholar has dubbed this a "witch-hunt" for "subversive capitalists," in which Hiss was to Nye what [[Roy Cohn]] would later be to [[Senator]] [[Joe McCarthy]] (R.-Wisc.)<ref>Peter Viereck, ''Unadjusted Man in the Age of Overadjustment: Where History and Literature Intersect'' (Edison, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 2004) ISBN 0765808064, pp. 156-157</ref>

In 1934, again with an assist from [[Lee Pressman]] (according to [[Gardner Jackson]]),<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), ISBN 0394495462, p.  143</ref> Hiss became General Counsel for the [[U.S. Senate]]'s [[Special Committee Investigating the Munitions Industry|Nye committee]],<ref>[http://www.mdhs.org/library/Mss/ms002504.html Biographical Sketch. Alger Hiss Collection, 1934-1979] (Maryland Historical Society)</ref> which investigated people Chairman [[Gerald P. Nye]] (R.-N.D.) called [[Wall Street]]'s "merchants of death,"<ref>[http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/merchants_of_death.htm 1921-1940: September 4, 1934, "Merchants of Death" (United States Senate: Historical Minutes)]</ref> whom he accused of conspiracy to lead the U.S. into war with Germany. One scholar has dubbed this a "witch-hunt" for "subversive capitalists," in which Hiss was to Nye what [[Roy Cohn]] would later be to [[Senator]] [[Joe McCarthy]] (R.-Wisc.)<ref>Peter Viereck, ''Unadjusted Man in the Age of Overadjustment: Where History and Literature Intersect'' (Edison, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 2004) ISBN 0765808064, pp. 156-157</ref>

It was in this role that Hiss met [[Whittaker Chambers]].<ref>William Fitzgibbon, "[http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/09/reviews/chambers-chronology.html The Hiss-Chambers Case: A Chronology Since 1934]," ''The New York Times'', June 12, 1949</ref> They were introduced in 1934 by [[John Herrmann]], an AAA official who was a member of the [[Ware group]] and courier for the Communist underground (subordinate to Chambers), according to Herrmann's then wife, the radical<ref>Winifred Farrant Bevilacqua, "[http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/Bai/bevilacq.htm An Introduction to Josephine Herbst]," ''Books at Iowa'', November 1976</ref> novelist [[Josephine Herbst]].<ref>Elinor Langer, "The Secret Drawer," ''The Nation'', May 30, 1994, p. 756</ref> (Hiss would claim that Chambers had wandered into his office without introduction, as a free-lance writer looking for a story,<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,799060-2,00.html The Confrontation]," ''Time'', August 30, 1948</ref> later claiming that he had not even known Herrmann&mdash;a "lie," according to Herbst's biographer.)<ref>Elinor Langer, "[http://www.thenation.com/doc/19970217/langer The Great Pumpkin]," ''The Nation'', February 17, 1997</ref>

It was in this role that Hiss met [[Whittaker Chambers]].<ref>William Fitzgibbon, "[http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/09/reviews/chambers-chronology.html The Hiss-Chambers Case: A Chronology Since 1934]," ''The New York Times'', June 12, 1949</ref> They were introduced in 1934 by [[John Herrmann]], an AAA official who was a member of the [[Ware group]] and courier for the Communist underground (subordinate to Chambers), according to Herrmann's then wife, the radical<ref>Winifred Farrant Bevilacqua, "[http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/Bai/bevilacq.htm An Introduction to Josephine Herbst]," ''Books at Iowa'', November 1976</ref> novelist [[Josephine Herbst]].<ref>Elinor Langer, "The Secret Drawer," ''The Nation'', May 30, 1994, p. 756</ref> (Hiss would claim that Chambers had wandered into his office without introduction, as a free-lance writer looking for a story,<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,799060-2,00.html The Confrontation]," ''Time'', August 30, 1948</ref> and would later claim that he did not even know Herrmann&mdash;a "lie," according to Herbst's biographer.)<ref>Elinor Langer, "[http://www.thenation.com/doc/19970217/langer The Great Pumpkin]," ''The Nation'', February 17, 1997</ref>

The following year, Hiss transferred into the [[Justice Department]] as special assistant to the [[Solictor General of the United States|Solictor General]], where he unsuccessfully defended the [[Agricultural Adjustment Act]] before the [[United States Supreme Court]]<ref>[http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/8-5testimony.html Testimony of Alger Hiss before the House Committee on Un-American Activities] (August 5, 1948)</ref> (which ruled the AAA unconstitutional in 1936).<ref>[http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct-cgi/get-us-cite?297+1 United States v. Butler, 297 U.S. 1 (1936)]</ref>

The following year, Hiss transferred into the [[Justice Department]] as special assistant to the [[Solictor General of the United States|Solictor General]], where he unsuccessfully defended the [[Agricultural Adjustment Act]] before the [[United States Supreme Court]]<ref>[http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/8-5testimony.html Testimony of Alger Hiss before the House Committee on Un-American Activities] (August 5, 1948)</ref> (which ruled the AAA unconstitutional in 1936).<ref>[http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct-cgi/get-us-cite?297+1 United States v. Butler, 297 U.S. 1 (1936)]</ref>

The year before, at the funeral of Marshal [[Jozsef Pilsudski]] in [[Warsaw]], U.S. Ambassador to [[Moscow]] [[William C. Bullitt]] had confidentially assured the Polish government that the United States would stand by Poland in the event of a [[Nazi]] invasion. But when he reported back to the State Department that he had done so, someone there passed this information to the [[Kremlin]], which in turn transmitted it to German intelligence (with which Soviet intelligence had maintained liaison since the time of [[Lenin]]). Nazi propaganda minister [[Joseph Goebbels]] exploited this information to portray the United States as a warmonger. According to reporter Ralph de Toledano, who covered the Hiss trial for ''Newsweek'', the State Department source who passed this information to the [[NKVD]] was Alger Hiss.<ref>Ralph de Toledano, “[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_n3_v13/ai_19048238 Embarrassment aided and abetted the Top Soviet spy - Alger Hiss],” ''Insight on the News'', January 27, 1997</ref>

The year before, at the funeral of Marshal [[Jozsef Pilsudski]] in [[Warsaw]], U.S. Ambassador to [[Moscow]] [[William C. Bullitt]] had confidentially assured the Polish government that the United States would stand by Poland in the event of a [[Nazi]] invasion. But when he reported back to the State Department that he had done so, someone there passed this information to the [[Kremlin]], which in turn transmitted it to German intelligence (with which Soviet intelligence had maintained liaison since the time of [[Lenin]]). Nazi propaganda minister [[Joseph Goebbels]] exploited this information to portray the United States as a warmonger. According to reporter Ralph de Toledano, who covered the Hiss trial for ''Newsweek'', the State Department source who passed this information to the [[NKVD]] was Alger Hiss.<ref>Ralph de Toledano, “[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_n3_v13/ai_19048238 Embarrassment aided and abetted the Top Soviet spy - Alger Hiss],” ''Insight on the News'', January 27, 1997</ref>

By 1937, the peak Stalin's "Great Terror" (whose victims would number over ten million),<ref>Norman Davis, "[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CEFD6123FF930A25756C0A966958260 Now It Can Be Told, Even in Russia]," ''The New York Times'',  May 13, 1990</ref> Hiss was delivering packets of documents to [[Whittaker Chambers]] at intervals of a week or ten days, according to [[Oleg Gordievsky]], the [[KGB]] London station chief who defected in 1985.<ref>Peter B. Niblo, ''Influence: The Soviet Task Leading to Pearl Harbor, the Iron Curtain, and the Cold War'' (Oakland, OR: Elderberry Press, 2002) ISBN 1930859147, p. 65</ref>

By 1937, the peak Stalin's "[[Great Purge|Great Terror]]"<ref>Robert Conquest,''The Great Terror: A Reassessment'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), ISBN 0195071328</ref> (whose victims would number over ten million),<ref>Norman Davis, "[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CEFD6123FF930A25756C0A966958260 Now It Can Be Told, Even in Russia]," ''The New York Times'',  May 13, 1990</ref> Hiss was delivering packets of documents to [[Whittaker Chambers]] at intervals of a week or ten days, according to [[Oleg Gordievsky]], the [[KGB]] London station chief who defected in 1985.<ref>Peter B. Niblo, ''Influence: The Soviet Task Leading to Pearl Harbor, the Iron Curtain, and the Cold War'' (Oakland, OR: Elderberry Press, 2002) ISBN 1930859147, p. 65</ref>

In early 1938, in Paris, defecting former [[GRU]] chief in Europe [[Walter Krivitsky]] (who would be found shot dead in his Washington hotel room in 1941) told [[Alexander Barmine]], former Charge d'Affairs at the Soviet Embassy in Athens, who had defected the year before, that Alger Hiss was an agent of Soviet military intelligence, according to Barmine.<ref>FBI Report: Alger Hiss, February 4, 1949</ref>

In early 1938, in Paris, defecting former [[GRU]] chief in Europe [[Walter Krivitsky]] (who would be found shot dead in his Washington hotel room in 1941) told [[Alexander Barmine]], former Charge d'Affairs at the Soviet Embassy in Athens, who had defected the year before, that Alger Hiss was an agent of Soviet military intelligence, according to Barmine.<ref>FBI Report: Alger Hiss, February 4, 1949</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)</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)]</ref><ref>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)</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)]</ref><ref>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>"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/publications/publi00044.cfm Eavesdropping on Hell: Historical Guide to Western Communications Intelligence and the Holocaust, 1939-1945]'' (Center for Cryptologic History, National Security Agency, 2005), p. 118 (PDF p. 123), n. 185</ref><ref>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)</ref><ref>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</ref><ref>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), p. xiv, xxiv</ref><ref>FBI memo: Belmont to Boardman, February 1, 1956, p. 9 ([http://foia.fbi.gov/venona/venona.pdf FBI file: Venona], p. 71)</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>"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/publications/publi00044.cfm Eavesdropping on Hell: Historical Guide to Western Communications Intelligence and the Holocaust, 1939-1945]'' (Center for Cryptologic History, National Security Agency, 2005), p. 118 (PDF p. 123), n. 185</ref><ref>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)</ref><ref>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</ref><ref>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</ref><ref>FBI memo: Belmont to Boardman, February 1, 1956, p. 9 ([http://foia.fbi.gov/venona/venona.pdf FBI file: Venona], p. 71)</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, there was no suggestion that Hiss' mental health might be subject to investigation.

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, there was no suggestion that Hiss' mental health might be subject to investigation.

==Legacy==

==Legacy==

Few serious historians still regard the matter of Hiss's guilt as unresolved. Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein, who began believing Hiss innocent, and had the cooperation of Hiss and access to his attorneys' files in his research,<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,918154,00.html A Verdict: 'Hiss Has Been Lying']," ''Time'', March 29, 1976</ref> concluded, "the body of available evidence proves that Hiss perjured himself when describing his secret dealings with Chambers, so that the jury in his second trial made no mistake in finding Alger Hiss guilty as charged."<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997), ISBN 0394495462, p. 513</ref> The bipartisan [[Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy|Moynihan commission]] went further&mdash;not just on perjury, but on espionage, the commission's unanimous Final Report concluding, "The complicity of Alger Hiss of the State Department seems settled."<ref>"[http://www.gpo.gov/congress/commissions/secrecy/pdf/12hist1.pdf Report of the Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy] (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1997), Appendix A, p. A-37 (PDF p. 39)</ref> Writing in ''American History'' magazine, James Gray of West Georgia College agreed, "the preponderance of evidence does weigh heavily against Hiss."<ref>James Gray, "[http://www.historynet.com/magazines/american_history/3032686.html?page=4&c=y The Alger Hiss Spy Case]," ''American History'', June 1998</ref> Even Yeshiva University Professor Ellen Schrecker (infamous for her argument that the Rosenbergs were guilty only of "nontraditional patriotism")<ref>Joseph Rago, "[http://www.opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=110007878 Rosenberg Reruns]," ''The Wall Street Journal'', January 27, 2006</ref>now concedes, "There is now too much evidence from too many different sources for anyone but the most die-hard loyalists to argue convincingly for the innocence of Hiss…." Referring to Hiss in a review of ''The Haunted Wood,'' Hamilton College history professor Maurice Isserman, probably the best regarded of the left-wing scholars of Communism, wrote, "Let's face it, the debate just ended."<ref>Jacob Weisberg, "[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F01E4DE1F3CF93BA15752C1A96F958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1  Cold War Without End]," ''The New York Times'', November 28, 1999</ref>

Few serious scholars still regard the matter of Hiss's guilt as unresolved. Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein, who began believing Hiss innocent, and had the cooperation of Hiss and access to his attorneys' files in his research,<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,918154,00.html A Verdict: 'Hiss Has Been Lying']," ''Time'', March 29, 1976</ref> concluded, "the body of available evidence proves that Hiss perjured himself when describing his secret dealings with Chambers, so that the jury in his second trial made no mistake in finding Alger Hiss guilty as charged."<ref>Allen Weinstein, ''Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997), ISBN 0394495462, p. 513</ref> The bipartisan [[Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy|Moynihan commission]] went further&mdash;not just on perjury, but on espionage&mdash;the commission's unanimous Final Report concluding, "The complicity of Alger Hiss of the State Department seems settled."<ref>"[http://www.gpo.gov/congress/commissions/secrecy/pdf/12hist1.pdf Report of the Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy] (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1997), Appendix A, p. A-37 (PDF p. 39)</ref> Writing in ''American History'' magazine, James Gray of West Georgia College agreed, "the preponderance of evidence does weigh heavily against Hiss."<ref>James Gray, "[http://www.historynet.com/magazines/american_history/3032686.html?page=4&c=y The Alger Hiss Spy Case]," ''American History'', June 1998</ref> Even Yeshiva University Professor Ellen Schrecker (infamous for her argument that the Rosenbergs were guilty only of "nontraditional patriotism")<ref> Joseph Rago, "[http://www.opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=110007878 Rosenberg Reruns]," ''The Wall Street Journal'', January 27, 2006</ref>now concedes, "There is now too much evidence from too many different sources for anyone but the most die-hard loyalists to argue convincingly for the innocence of Hiss…." Referring to Hiss in a review of ''The Haunted Wood,'' Hamilton College history professor Maurice Isserman, probably the best regarded of the left-wing scholars of Communism, wrote, "Let's face it, the debate just ended."<ref>Jacob Weisberg, "[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F01E4DE1F3CF93BA15752C1A96F958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1  Cold War Without End]," ''The New York Times'', November 28, 1999</ref>

A wide variety of scholars&mdash;across the political spectrum&mdash;now agree that the historical consensus is that Hiss was guilty. "'ALES' is assumed by most scholars to be Alger Hiss," observes Douglas O. Linder of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law.<ref>Douglas O. Linder, "[http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/hissvenona.html The VENONA Files and the Alger Hiss Case]," Famous Trials: The Trials of Alger Hiss (University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law)</ref> "In the end, the publication of the Venona intercepts... settled the matter—to all but the truest of believers," writes Stanley Kutler of the University of Wisconsin Law School.<ref>Stanley I. Kutler, "[http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/books/reviews/20040806_kutler.html Rethinking the Story of Alger Hiss]," FindLaw, August 6, 2004</ref> In light of recent scholarship, notes Hayden Peake, curator of CIA’s Historical Intelligence Collection,  "it is hard to see how even the most frequently made counterargument—that there was ''no Communist involvement in espionage''&mdash;can be sustained…. The same is true when it comes to specific cases, but supporters of Alger Hiss … will no doubt persist."<ref>Hayden B. Peake, "The VENONA Progeny," ''Naval War College Review'', Summer 2000 </ref> "Hiss’ defenders stubbornly tried to rebut each revelation, but eventually they were overwhelmed," recounts foreign affairs analyst John Ehrman of the United States Directorate of Intelligence, writing in the journal ''Studies in Intelligence''. He concludes that ''Nation'' publisher Victor Navasky is "now virtually alone in his rejection of the case against Hiss."<ref>John Ehrman, "[https://www.cia.gov/csi/studies/winter_spring01/article01.pdf A Half-Century of Controversy: The Alger Hiss Case]," ''Studies in Intelligence'', Winter-Spring 2001</ref> "Outside the ranks of ''Nation'' readers and a dwindling coterie of academic leftists, there are few people still willing to claim that Alger Hiss and Harry Dexter White were not Soviet agents," agrees Harvey Klehr, Andrew Mellon professor of politics and history at Emory University.<ref>Harvey Klehr, "[http://hnn.us/articles/816.html Books: Jerrold and Leona Schecter's ''Sacred Secrets: How Soviet Intelligence Operations Changed American History'']," ''The Weekly Standard'', July 1, 2002</ref> Ronald Radosh, emeritus professor of history at the City College of New York, concurs, "Except for a dwindling group—mostly ''Nation'' magazine readers and editors …. the consensus has solidified: Hiss was undoubtedly a Soviet spy." <ref>Ronald Radosh, "[http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-4052302/To-the-bitter-end-Alger.html To the Bitter End]," ''National Review'', March 22, 2004</ref> ''Nation'' contributor Athan Theoharis concedes that the "conventional assessment" is that Hiss was "an unreconstructed Soviet spy."<ref>Athan Theoharis, "[http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0021-8723(200006)87%3A1%3C292%3ATVFAWA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-5 The View from Alger's Window]," ''The Journal of American History,'' Vol. 87, No. 1 (Jun., 2000), pp. 292-293</ref> Even Kai Bird, a contributing editor at ''The Nation'', and his coauthor, Svetlana Chervonnaya of the Russian Academy of Sciences, admit, "Most historians have conceded the argument to  Weinstein,"<ref>Kai Bird and Svetlana Chervonnaya, "[http://www.theamericanscholar.org/su07/ales-birdlong.html The Mystery of Ales]," ''The American Scholar'', Summer, 2007</ref> (Chervonnaya has since suggested that this consensus amounts to an orthodoxy, writing of her "hope of dethroning the autocracy of cold war historical scholarship on the matter of Alger Hiss," describing her motive as "to overthrow the regime.")<ref>Svetlana Chervonnaya, "[http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=w072307&s=correspondence072607 Correspondence: Boo, Hiss]," ''TNR Online,'' July 26, 2007</ref>

A wide variety of scholars&mdash;across the political spectrum&mdash;now agree that the historical consensus is that Hiss was guilty. "'ALES' is assumed by most scholars to be Alger Hiss," observes Douglas O. Linder of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law.<ref>Douglas O. Linder, "[http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/hissvenona.html The VENONA Files and the Alger Hiss Case]," Famous Trials: The Trials of Alger Hiss (University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law)</ref> "In the end, the publication of the Venona intercepts... settled the matter—to all but the truest of believers," writes Stanley Kutler of the University of Wisconsin Law School.<ref>Stanley I. Kutler, "[http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/books/reviews/20040806_kutler.html Rethinking the Story of Alger Hiss]," FindLaw, August 6, 2004</ref> In light of recent scholarship, notes Hayden Peake, curator of CIA’s Historical Intelligence Collection,  "it is hard to see how even the most frequently made counterargument—that there was ''no Communist involvement in espionage''&mdash;can be sustained…. The same is true when it comes to specific cases, but supporters of Alger Hiss … will no doubt persist."<ref>Hayden B. Peake, "The VENONA Progeny," ''Naval War College Review'', Summer 2000 </ref> "Hiss’ defenders stubbornly tried to rebut each revelation, but eventually they were overwhelmed," recounts foreign affairs analyst John Ehrman of the United States Directorate of Intelligence, writing in the journal ''Studies in Intelligence''. He concludes that ''Nation'' publisher Victor Navasky is "now virtually alone in his rejection of the case against Hiss."<ref>John Ehrman, "[https://www.cia.gov/csi/studies/winter_spring01/article01.pdf A Half-Century of Controversy: The Alger Hiss Case]," ''Studies in Intelligence'', Winter-Spring 2001</ref> "Outside the ranks of ''Nation'' readers and a dwindling coterie of academic leftists, there are few people still willing to claim that Alger Hiss and Harry Dexter White were not Soviet agents," agrees Harvey Klehr, Andrew Mellon professor of politics and history at Emory University.<ref>Harvey Klehr, "[http://hnn.us/articles/816.html Books: Jerrold and Leona Schecter's ''Sacred Secrets: How Soviet Intelligence Operations Changed American History'']," ''The Weekly Standard'', July 1, 2002</ref> Ronald Radosh, emeritus professor of history at the City College of New York, concurs, "Except for a dwindling group—mostly ''Nation'' magazine readers and editors …. the consensus has solidified: Hiss was undoubtedly a Soviet spy." <ref>Ronald Radosh, "[http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-4052302/To-the-bitter-end-Alger.html To the Bitter End]," ''National Review'', March 22, 2004</ref> ''Nation'' contributor Athan Theoharis concedes that the "conventional assessment" is that Hiss was "an unreconstructed Soviet spy."<ref>Athan Theoharis, "[http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0021-8723(200006)87%3A1%3C292%3ATVFAWA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-5 The View from Alger's Window]," ''The Journal of American History,'' Vol. 87, No. 1 (Jun., 2000), pp. 292-293</ref> Berkeley professor J. Bradford DeLong, a former Clinton official, writes, "Was Alger Hiss at some time a spy for the Soviet Union? Probably."<ref>J. Bradford DeLong, "Kai Bird Thinks That Alger Hiss Wasn't the "Ales" Mentioned in VENONA," Grasping Reality with Both Hands: Economist Brad DeLong's Fair, Balanced, and Reality-Based Semi-Daily Journal, April 9, 2007</ref> Even Kai Bird, a contributing editor at ''The Nation'', and his coauthor, Svetlana Chervonnaya of the Russian Academy of Sciences, admit, "Most historians have conceded the argument to  Weinstein,"<ref>Kai Bird and Svetlana Chervonnaya, "[http://www.theamericanscholar.org/su07/ales-birdlong.html The Mystery of Ales]," ''The American Scholar'', Summer, 2007</ref> (Chervonnaya has since suggested that this consensus amounts to an orthodoxy, writing of her "hope of dethroning the autocracy of cold war historical scholarship on the matter of Alger Hiss," describing her motive as "to overthrow the regime.")<ref>Svetlana Chervonnaya, "[http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=w072307&s=correspondence072607 Correspondence: Boo, Hiss]," ''TNR Online,'' July 26, 2007</ref>

This academic consensus has even begun to seep into the popular press. By 1991, even 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 reiterated that "the trend of scholarship on the Hiss case in the 1990's [reflects] a growing consensus that Hiss, indeed, had most likely been a Soviet agent."<ref>James Barron, "[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=technology&res=9C00E2D8173EF935A2575BC0A9679C8B63 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 sum and substance of this growing body of material is that.... Alger Hiss, a darling of the establishment was guilty," wrote liberal columnist Nicholas Von Hoffman.<ref>Nicholas Von Hoffman, "Was McCarthy right about the left?" ''The Washington Post'', April 14, 1996, p. C1</ref> That Hiss “brought home stolen State Department documents for handoff to a fellow Communist and spy named Whittaker Chambers” is “the commonly accepted story line,” agrees the ''Washington Post''.<ref>Lynne Duke, "[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040402714_pf.html Stepping Out Of the Shadows]," ''The Washington Post'', April 5, 2007</ref> ''Time'' magazine concurs that "the weight of historical evidence indicates that Hiss was... a member of the communist underground and a Soviet spy." London's ''Independant'' reports that "some of the individuals defended by the 1950s left and savaged by McCarthy were actually Soviet spies. The most prominent is the left's old ''cause célèbre'', Alger Hiss."<ref>Johann Hari, "[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20040326/ai_n12775721 The exhumation of Joe McCarthy]," ''The Independent'',  March 26, 2004</ref> Slate.com adds that "even many on the left—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, in another article (arguing that liberals should moderate certain of their their historical views) says, "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>

This academic consensus has even begun to seep into the popular press. By 1991, even 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 reiterated that "the trend of scholarship on the Hiss case in the 1990's [reflects] a growing consensus that Hiss, indeed, had most likely been a Soviet agent."<ref>James Barron, "[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=technology&res=9C00E2D8173EF935A2575BC0A9679C8B63 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 sum and substance of this growing body of material is that.... Alger Hiss, a darling of the establishment was guilty," wrote liberal columnist Nicholas Von Hoffman.<ref>Nicholas Von Hoffman, "Was McCarthy right about the left?" ''The Washington Post'', April 14, 1996, p. C1</ref> That Hiss “brought home stolen State Department documents for handoff to a fellow Communist and spy named Whittaker Chambers” is “the commonly accepted story line,” agrees the ''Washington Post''.<ref>Lynne Duke, "[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040402714_pf.html Stepping Out Of the Shadows]," ''The Washington Post'', April 5, 2007</ref> ''Time'' magazine concurs that "the weight of historical evidence indicates that Hiss was... a member of the communist underground and a Soviet spy." London's ''Independant'' reports that "some of the individuals defended by the 1950s left and savaged by McCarthy were actually Soviet spies. The most prominent is the left's old ''cause célèbre'', Alger Hiss."<ref>Johann Hari, "[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20040326/ai_n12775721 The exhumation of Joe McCarthy]," ''The Independent'',  March 26, 2004</ref> Slate.com adds that "even many on the left—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, in another article (arguing that liberals should moderate certain of their their historical views) says, "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>