Term paper on Alger Hiss Trials (1949–1950)

Alger Hiss Trials

term paper RESOURCE GUIDE

In 1948 ex-communist Whittaker Chambers testified to the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) that during the 1930s he had received secret government papers from Alger Hiss, a State Department official, and had transmitted this material to the Soviet Union . The statute of limitations precluded charges of treason, but the government brought Hiss to trial in 1949 on charges of perjury. That trial resulted in a hung jury; a second trial, undertaken in large part through the prompting of Congressman Richard M. Nixon, resulted in a guilty verdict. Hiss served more than three years in prison but maintained his innocence up to his death in 1996.
Suggestions for Term Papers

1. Compare the arguments for and against the guilt of Alger Hiss.

2. Discuss the role of Richard Nixon in the Hiss trials.

3. Compare the pretrial careers of Hiss and Chambers.

4. Analyze Chambers’ transformation from communist to anticommunist.

5. Discuss the origins and activities of HUAC.

Suggested Sources : See entries 52, 57, and 58 for related items.

GENERAL SOURCES

Busch, Francis X. Guilty Not Guilty? An Account of the Trials of, The Leo Frank Case, The D.C. Stephenson Case, The Samuel Insull Case, The Alger Hiss Case . Buffalo , NY : W. S. Hein, 1998. Examines the evidence and the conclusions in four notable cases. From the publisher’s Notable American Trials series.

Chambers, Whittaker. Odyssey of a Friend: Whittaker Chambers’ Letters to William F. Buckley, Jr., 1954–1961 . New York : Putnam, 1970. Interesting compilation of correspondence between Chambers and Buckley; treats politics and government, communism, Alger Hiss, and other topics.

Fisher, David. Hard Evidence: How Detectives Inside the FBI’s Sci-Crime Lab Have Helped Solve America ‘s Toughest Cases . New York : Simon&Schuster, 1995. Discusses how the lab has helped solve crimes

through forensic evidence; includes Sacco and Vanzetti, Alger Hiss, and JFK assassination.

Morris, Richard B. Fair Trial: Fourteen Who Stood Accused, from Anne Hutchinson to Alger Hiss . Rev. ed. New York : Harper&Row, 1967. Interesting and informative examination of fourteen major trials in the United States , ranging from the seventeenth century to Alger Hiss.

O’Reilly, Kenneth. Hoover and the Un-Americans: The FBI, HUAC, and the Red Menace . Philadelphia : Temple University Press, 1983. Thorough account of subversive activities in the United States and the government response during the twentieth century.

SPECIALIZED SOURCES

Cooke, Alistair. A Generation on Trial: U.S.A. vs. Alger Hiss . (1952). Reprint. Westport , CT : Greenwood , 1982. Detailed account of the Hiss trial and its ramifications.

Levitt, Morton, and Michael Levitt. A Tissue of Lies: Nixon vs. Hiss . New York : McGraw-Hill, 1979. Informative examination of communism and subversive activities in the United States , with an emphasis on the Nixon-Hiss encounter and HUAC.

Moore, William H. Two Foolish Men: The True Story of the Friendship between Alger Hiss and Whittaker Chambers . Portland , OR : Moorop Press, 1987. Brief examination of the Chambers-Hiss relationship and the nature of national security in fighting communism.

Rappaport, Doreen. Alger Hiss Trial . New York: HarperCollins, 1993. Presents the evidence in the controversial case and asks readers to be the judge. Points out issues, strategies, relevant evidence, and so forth.

Tiger, Edith, ed. In Re Alger Hiss: Petition for a Writ of Error Coram Nobis . New York: Hill&Wang, 1979–1980. 2 vols. An extensive array of exhibits as well as narrative in support of Hiss’s petition to reexamine the case in volume 2.

Zeligs, Meyer A. Friendship and Fraticide: An Analysis of Whittaker Chambers and Alger Hiss . New York: Viking, 1967. Detailed account of the friendship between the two men, with an interpretation of its conclusion.

BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

Chambers, Whittaker. Witness . (1952). Reprint. Chicago: Regnery Gateway, 1984. Detailed autobiography written by Chambers three years after the Hiss trial; best-seller at the time.

Hiss, Alger. Recollections of a Life . New York: Seaver, 1988. Focuses only partially on Hiss’s avowed innocence and his unsuccessful attempt to establish it legally.

Hiss, Tony. Laughing Last: Alger Hiss . Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1977. Brief biography written thirty years after the trial.

Smith, John C. Alger Hiss, The True Story . New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1976. Detailed biography that claims to present the accurate version of Hiss’s career and trial.

Tanenhaus, Sam. Whittaker Chambers: A Biography . New York: Random House, 1997. Exhaustive research on Chambers with emphasis on his life after Hiss; examines his political ideas and contempt for liberalism.

Worth, Esme J. Whittaker Chambers: The Secret Confession . London: Mazzard, 1993. Brief biography of Chambers with clarification of subversive activities in the United States at the time.

AUDIOVISUAL SOURCES

The Spy Who Broke the Code . Santa Monica, CA: PBS Home Video, 1989. Interesting and informative 60-minute interview with a former spy who sold the USSR information about military codes.

WORLD WIDE WEB

‘‘Alger Hiss, Perjurer.” Detroit News . December 1996. http://detnews.com/EDITPAGE/9611/20/2edit/2edit.htm Editorial from a conservative newspaper written at the time of Hiss’s death.

Navasky, Victor. ‘‘Alger Hiss.” The Nation . December 1996. http://www.thenation.com/issue/961209/1209nava.htm An opposing view from the editor of a liberal journal.