The Trial of the 20th Century
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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Pumpkin Papers
12 min read
The microfilmed documents hidden in a pumpkin that Chambers produced as evidence became the dramatic turning point of the Hiss case and are central to understanding how espionage accusations were proven
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House Un-American Activities Committee
14 min read
HUAC was the congressional committee before which Chambers testified and Nixon made his name - understanding its controversial history and methods provides essential context for this Cold War drama
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Venona project
16 min read
The declassified Soviet intelligence cables that decades later provided independent evidence about Soviet espionage in the US government, directly relevant to the 'unanswered questions' the author references about Hiss's guilt
The Alger Hiss-Whittaker Chambers saga, not so widely known today, was high drama. Actually that understates matters. It was drama of the highest order. You couldn’t make it up.
It should be a movie. It almost has to be a movie.
(After the fact, the novelist Allen Drury tried, more or less, to make it up, about a decade after the relevant events. See his gripping novel, Advise and Consent, and the amazing Henry Fonda movie that was based on it. Inspired by Hiss and Chambers, Drury couldn’t match the real thing. Not close.)
The Hiss-Chambers saga is not only an enduringly fascinating drama, with unforgettable protagonists (and their unforgettable wives), a host of other unforgettable figures (including a president-to-be), and unanswered questions that persist to this day. (One word in that sentence will be taken, by some, to be fighting words. Do you know what it is? Right: “unanswered.”) There are plenty of mysteries here.
The drama set the stage for, and helps explain, a lot of what we are seeing today. It says more than a lot about the current right, and it says something, too, about the current left.
To get ahead of the tale: Hiss stood for the elite. He was seen, by a lot of the country, as a domestic enemy. He was seen, by a lot of the country, as disloyal. He was seen, by a lot of the country, as Harvard, and that was seen, by a lot of the country, as very bad.
But I am indeed getting ahead of the tale.
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Alger Hiss was handsome, eloquent, and charming. He was tall and thin. He was boyish. He was winning, with a shy smile. He was smart as a whip. If there was ever a golden boy, it was Alger Hiss. Here he is:
(Reader, I knew him. Just a bit, but still. At the time, he was in his late 70s. He was handsome, eloquent, and charming. He was tall and thin. He was winning, with a shy smile. He was not boyish, but he was smart as a whip. A former model, his wife - his second wife - was in her mid-70s at the time, and she was elegant, charming, and beautiful. Actually she was a knockout. Was I smitten, in my twenties? I was smitten, in my twenties. Who wouldn’t be?)
Hiss’ resume was beyond belief. He
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