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The Alger Hiss Trial

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The Alger Hiss trial is recognizable throughout the entire United States as a trial that went down in history as the greatest. The trial involved Alger Hiss, a former State Department official who was convicted of perjury. Hiss was convicted of having decepted the jury under oath with his testimony about not being involved with the Soviet Union and the spying that was occurring within the United States government during World War 2. Hiss was caught in his own lies and was approximately in jail four years, yet he protested and fought for innocence in jail and after incarceration.

The case against Hiss began in 1948, when Whittaker Chambers testified in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee, and to judge Samuel Kaufman, …show more content…

“charges and countercharges about the spy accusations soon filled the air. Defenders of Hiss, such as Secretary of State Dean Acheson, declared that President Truman’s opponents were making a sacrificial lamb out of Hiss. Truman himself declared that HUAC was using “red herrings” to defame Hiss,” "Alger Hiss Convicted of Perjury." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 02 May 2016. The people were certain that truman and Acheson were communists, They claimed that communist idealisms had reached the highest level of government.

In conclusion the trial of Alger Hiss reached the statute of limitations, so he wasn’t convicted of treason. However he was charged with two counts of perjury. The explanation given was that he lied to superiors in court about passing the papers to Chambers, and for denying that he hadn’t seen Chambers since 1937. In 1949 the first of two trials came to an end with a deadlocked jury.

In January 1950 the second trial took place with guilty verdicts on both sides. Many people then thought that Hiss was a victim of communism, while other thought he knew what he was doing, and justice fulfilled. In November 15, 1996 at the age of 92 Hiss past awayed, and with him died any claims that he

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