It’s June 1948, a warm summer day in New York. Alger Hiss, President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and his family reside comfortably on East Eighth Street. Fast forward to August and government officials are knocking down the Hiss family door. An accusation has been made by Whittaker Chambers: Alger Hiss is a communist. Or is he? Who is lying?
Alger Hiss was born on November 11, 1904 in the city of Baltimore, Maryland. There he lived with his brother Donald Hiss and father, Charles Alger Hiss, who later died in April 1907. Hiss graduated from the prestigious school of John Hopkins in June 1926 and went on to Harvard University’s law school. After his graduation from law school he was chosen to be Secretary to the Supreme
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Chambers named Hiss and twenty-six others as having connections with the underground Communist party. A year later Hiss was interviewed by FBI officials on the accusations of his affiliations with the Communist party. Chambers is reluctant to inform officials that he, himself, had left the party in 1937. Chambers had also named Hiss a Soviet agent. After visits from the FBI, Hiss denied all ties to the Communist party and did not recall who Whittaker Chambers was. After a multitude of interviews, Chambers claimed he knew everything about Hiss and his family, but most of the things he thought he knew, were wrong. After Hiss saw Chambers, Hiss identified him as being his old friend: George Crosley. Chambers denied ever having carried the name, which raised …show more content…
One count was when Hiss apparently lied and claimed he didn’t have communications with Chambers after January 1st, 1937. The second charge was when Hiss denied handing any kind of paperwork over to Chambers. Hiss was eventually convicted of both counts of perjury and sentenced to five years in the Pennsylvania penitentiary with a $10,000 bail. Hiss’s appeal was denied. “I am amazed; until the day I die I shall wonder how Whittaker Chambers got into my house to use my typewriter” (azquotes.com). Hiss’s sarcastic tone accurately conveyed his feelings of hopelessness and defeat as he served ten years in the penitentiary in Lewisburg,