Alger+Hiss

=Alger Hiss=

__The Beginning...__
Alger Hiss was born in Baltimore, Maryland on November 11, 1904 to Mary Lavinia Hughes and Charles Hiss. His parents were good people and made sure that he had a good schooling experience. Some of his schooling included attending Baltimore City College as well as John Hopkins University where he became a member of the Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity and graduated with honors. His work here and in previous schools led him to his next acomplishment. His skills in school continued to grow as he went to Harvard Law School in Massachusetts on a scholarship at which he got his law degree in 1929 and was one of Felix Frankfurter's apprentices.

__Career...__[[image:hiss.jpg align="right"]]
His work at Harvard Law and recently aquired degree led to his becoming a part of a Boston law firm, although prior to this choice of career, Hiss worked for a year as clerk to Supreme Court Justice Olivier W. Holmes jr. That same year, he married Ms. Priscilla Hobson who worked soon after for the Library of Congress. All of Hiss' success career wise, led to his entering into the government services where he worked as attorney for Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, specifically in Agricultural Adjustment Administration. During this, he also doubled as Roosevelt's advisor at the Yalta Conference in 1945. Following his work with FDR, Hiss served as temporary secretary general of the US Nations at the Sanfransisco Conference. Also following after the Yalta Conference in 1946, he was elected president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. This job continued until '49.

__Communist Accusations...__
A short three after his work at Yalta, Whittaker Chambers (reportedly and ex-communist himself), accused Hiss of being a communist spy. In December, a federal grand jury indicted Hiss about being a spy. Previously Chambers had gone to Columbia University in New York. His junior year, he joined the communist party. After this in 1927, he became editor for the Daily Worker which was a hot communist magazine at the time. In a few bazarre tutn of events, Chambers left Communism in '29, rejoined in '34, and finally left again in 1938. Also, at the time of the trial, was happily living with his wife, and two kids. Only a year after becoming a magazine editor on August 3, 1948, Chambers testified that Hiss was a communist spy. Just two days after, Hiss fought back and testified that, "I am not a member of the Communist party. To the best of my knowledge, none of my friends is a communist..." Yet again two days after that on August 7, Chambers was re-called to testify that Hiss had seen him before and had some sort of relationship which was formerly lied about by Hiss. This fault showed up in court later for a charge of perjury. As for the communist accusations made by Chambers, the case ended with a hung jury, although there was more to come for both Hiss and Chambers. When Chambers started to repeat the charge publicly and was protected by the congressional immunity, Hiss sued him for slander. Along with Chambers' sueing, Hiss challenged him to testify not under oath so that he could go through with the sueing having more ground to stand on. As for Hiss and his charge of perjury, he was found guilty and sentenced to five years in jail. He served jail time from 1949 to 1954.

[[image:Whittaker_Chambers.jpg width="291" height="243" align="left"]]__General Wrap Up...__
After much sweat, worry, and paper work, the whole ordeal was over. Hiss did his time in jail and sucessfully sued Chambers for slander. Chambers later admit on a radio interview on August 27, that Hiss may not have been a Soviet spy, but that he was only a communist. The trial impacted the US, but did not clear the air for communism, not by a long stretch of the imagination. Communism was widely feared and lives were ruined by the term known as the Red Scare. Hiss' trial opened people's eyes to some of the false accusations that were happening all over. Some were reminded of McCarthy by Chambers. In fact, the way that McCarthy went around accusing innocent people was almost identical to the act that Chambers portrayed in the Alger Hiss trial. Overall both gentlemen ended up being the victim of wrong-doings, Hiss ending up in jail for five years, and Chambers ending up being sued for his slander. Hiss died at the age of 92 on November 15, 1996. However, Communism was still a big issue for those in the US at the time and continues even now to scare citizens. The Alger Hiss trial is a reminder of how Communism effected our country and it helps modern day people to understand our history and things that go on in day-to-day politics.

Article By: Hannah Waxman
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