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===Scholarly Consensus===
===Scholarly Consensus===
A broad range of scholars—across the political spectrum—now agree that the historical consensus is that Hiss was guilty. "Soviet files made public in 1995 convinced most observers that he had been guilty," says ''The Columbia Encyclopedia''.<ref>''[http://www.bartleby.com/65/hi/Hiss-Alg.html The Columbia Encyclopedia]'', Sixth Edition, 2001-07.</ref> By 2006, "most historians had come to the conclusion that Hiss was probably guilty," said Richard Aldrich of Britain's Nottingham University.<ref>David Smith, "[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/apr/08/russia.davidsmith Top Cold War spy 'innocent']," ''The Guardian'', April 8, 2007</ref> "Those who have studied the Hiss case by and large believe that he was guilty of perjury and quite likely also guilty of espionage, that is, of passing government documents to the Soviets," write Gilbert Geis and Leigh B. Bienen.<ref>Gilbert Geis and Leigh B. Bienen, ''Crimes of the Century: From Leopold and Loeb to O.J. Simpson'' (Lebanon, N.H.: UPNE, 1998), ISBN 1555533604, pp. 130-131</ref> David Oshinsky says "the vast majority of modern American historians today .... see evidence pointing overwhelmingly to Hiss being guilty as charged.”<ref>David Oshinsky, [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/tam/hiss_david_oshinsky.pdf Inaugural Conference, Center for the United States and the Cold War Alger Hiss and History] (New York University), April 5, 2007</ref> "'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> "For the majority of scholars, the critical ALES transmission puts to rest any doubt about Hiss’s complicity in the Soviet underground," agrees R. Bruce Craig.<ref>R. Bruce Craig, "[http://microformguides.gale.com/Data/Download/9100000C.rtf Introduction to the Collection]," Alger Hiss Papers from the Tamiment Library Collections (Woodbridge, Conn.: Thomson Gale, 2006) ISBN 1-57803-346-2, p. xx</ref> Columbia University historian David Greenberg refers to "the dwindling band of those who believe in Hiss."<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> Thomas Powers writes that "no serious scholar of the subject any longer dismisses" the "voluminous and explicit claims by Whittaker Chambers and Elizabeth Bentley."<ref>Thomas Powers, "[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/118 The Plot Thickens]," ''The New York Review of Books'', Vol. 47, No. 8 (May 11, 2000)</ref> Even Obama supporter<ref>Cass R. Sunstein, "[http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/10/24/reagan-appointee-and-recent-mccain-adviser-charles-fried-supports-obama.aspx Reagan Appointee and (Recent) McCain Adviser Charles Fried Supports Obama]," ''The New Republic'' October 24, 2008</ref> Charles Fried, a professor at Hiss' ''alma mater'', Harvard Law School, former Solicitor General of the United States, and former Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (which granted Hiss' petition for readmittance to the State Bar), writes, "it is now clear to all but the most obdurate that Alger Hiss was a Soviet agent..."<ref>Geoffrey Stone, Patricia M. Wald, Charles Fried, and Kim Lane Scheppele, "Constitutions Under Stress: International and Historical Perspectives," ''[http://www.amacad.org/publications/bulletin/winter2006/Winter2006Bulletin.pdf Bulletin]'' (American Academy of Arts and Sciences), Vol. LIX, No. 2 (Winter 2006), p. 39</ref>
A broad range of scholars—across the political spectrum—now agree that the historical consensus is that Hiss was guilty. "Soviet files made public in 1995 convinced most observers that he had been guilty," says ''The Columbia Encyclopedia''.<ref>''[http://www.bartleby.com/65/hi/Hiss-Alg.html The Columbia Encyclopedia]'', Sixth Edition, 2001-07.</ref> By 2006, "most historians had come to the conclusion that Hiss was probably guilty," said Richard Aldrich of Britain's Nottingham University.<ref>David Smith, "[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/apr/08/russia.davidsmith Top Cold War spy 'innocent']," ''The Guardian'', April 8, 2007</ref> "Those who have studied the Hiss case by and large believe that he was guilty of perjury and quite likely also guilty of espionage, that is, of passing government documents to the Soviets," write Gilbert Geis and Leigh B. Bienen.<ref>Gilbert Geis and Leigh B. Bienen, ''Crimes of the Century: From Leopold and Loeb to O.J. Simpson'' (Lebanon, N.H.: UPNE, 1998), ISBN 1555533604, pp. 130-131</ref> David Oshinsky says "the vast majority of modern American historians today .... see evidence pointing overwhelmingly to Hiss being guilty as charged.”<ref>David Oshinsky, [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/tam/hiss_david_oshinsky.pdf Inaugural Conference, Center for the United States and the Cold War Alger Hiss and History] (New York University), April 5, 2007</ref> "'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> "For the majority of scholars, the critical ALES transmission puts to rest any doubt about Hiss’s complicity in the Soviet underground," agrees R. Bruce Craig.<ref>R. Bruce Craig, "[http://microformguides.gale.com/Data/Download/9100000C.rtf Introduction to the Collection]," Alger Hiss Papers from the Tamiment Library Collections (Woodbridge, Conn.: Thomson Gale, 2006) ISBN 1-57803-346-2, p. xx</ref> Columbia University historian David Greenberg refers to "the dwindling band of those who believe in Hiss."<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> Thomas Powers writes that "no serious scholar of the subject any longer dismisses" the "voluminous and explicit claims by Whittaker Chambers and Elizabeth Bentley."<ref>Thomas Powers, "[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/118 The Plot Thickens]," ''The New York Review of Books'', Vol. 47, No. 8 (May 11, 2000)</ref> Even Obama supporter<ref>Cass R. Sunstein, "[http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/10/24/reagan-appointee-and-recent-mccain-adviser-charles-fried-supports-obama.aspx Reagan Appointee and (Recent) McCain Adviser Charles Fried Supports Obama]," ''The New Republic'' October 24, 2008</ref> Charles Fried, a professor at Hiss' ''alma mater'', Harvard Law School (and former Justice of the court that granted Hiss' petition for readmittance to the Massachusetts Bar), writes, "it is now clear to all but the most obdurate that Alger Hiss was a Soviet agent..."<ref>Geoffrey Stone, Patricia M. Wald, Charles Fried, and Kim Lane Scheppele, "Constitutions Under Stress: International and Historical Perspectives," ''[http://www.amacad.org/publications/bulletin/winter2006/Winter2006Bulletin.pdf Bulletin]'' (American Academy of Arts and Sciences), Vol. LIX, No. 2 (Winter 2006), p. 39</ref>
"In the end, the publication of the Venona intercepts... settled the matter—to all but the truest of believers, 'Ales' could only be Alger Hiss," 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> "The basic question—whether Alger Hiss was a spy for the Soviet Union during the 1930s and 1940s—was finally settled during the 1990s.... Today, only a small band of true believers, headed by Hiss’s son, still tries to argue his innocence,"<ref>John Ehrman, "[https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol48no4/alger_hiss.html Alger Hiss’s Looking-Glass Wars: Intelligence in Recent Public Literature]," ''Studies in Intelligence'', Volume 48, Number 4</ref> writes foreign affairs analyst John Ehrman of the United States Directorate of Intelligence. "Hiss’ defenders stubbornly tried to rebut each revelation, but eventually they were overwhelmed," recounts Ehrman, concluding that 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 (June 2000), pp. 292-293</ref> Even Bird and Chervonnaya 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> Speaking of the thesis that Hiss was guilty, Navasky himself concedes that “for the last 10 years, that has been the consensus.”<ref>Victor Navasky, [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/tam/hiss_victor_navasky.pdf Alger Hiss and History], Inaugural Conference, Center for the United States and the Cold War (New York University), April 5, 2007</ref>
"In the end, the publication of the Venona intercepts... settled the matter—to all but the truest of believers, 'Ales' could only be Alger Hiss," 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> "The basic question—whether Alger Hiss was a spy for the Soviet Union during the 1930s and 1940s—was finally settled during the 1990s.... Today, only a small band of true believers, headed by Hiss’s son, still tries to argue his innocence,"<ref>John Ehrman, "[https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol48no4/alger_hiss.html Alger Hiss’s Looking-Glass Wars: Intelligence in Recent Public Literature]," ''Studies in Intelligence'', Volume 48, Number 4</ref> writes foreign affairs analyst John Ehrman of the United States Directorate of Intelligence. "Hiss’ defenders stubbornly tried to rebut each revelation, but eventually they were overwhelmed," recounts Ehrman, concluding that 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 (June 2000), pp. 292-293</ref> Even Bird and Chervonnaya 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> Speaking of the thesis that Hiss was guilty, Navasky himself concedes that “for the last 10 years, that has been the consensus.”<ref>Victor Navasky, [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/tam/hiss_victor_navasky.pdf Alger Hiss and History], Inaugural Conference, Center for the United States and the Cold War (New York University), April 5, 2007</ref>