Alger Hiss

Johna BognaesEmily Urbanowski

Who is Alger Hiss?

Alger Hiss was born in Baltimore, Maryland on November 11, 1904.

When he was 2 years old his father committed suicide. 20 years later his brother died of Bright’s disease, and when he was 25 his sister committed suicide.

He went to Baltimore City College and graduated from Johns Hopkins University, where he was voted “most popular student”. Later on he received his law degree from Harvard Law School.

Who is Alger Hiss?

Married Priscilla Fansler Hobson in 1930, and in 1933 he started working as an attorney, and was involved in President Roosevelt’s New Deal

He also worked for the Nye Committee and for a short period of time in the Justice Department.

In 1936 he and his brother Donald started working in the United States Department of State. Became special assistant to the Director of the Office of Far Eastern Affairs, and became special assistant to the Director of Special Political Affairs in 1944.

Who is Alger Hiss?

Was a member of the U.S. delegation to the Yalta Conference (1945), where his work was limited to the United Nations. Later that year, Hiss served as the secretary-general of the United Nations Conference on International Organization.

Became full Director of the Office of Special Political Affairs, and left government service in 1946.

Whittaker Chambers

American writer and editor

Best known for involvement in the Alger Hiss case

Early 1939 Whittaker suggests Alger Hiss and his brother Donald were being recruited by communists

Testified against Alger Hiss accusing him of being part of an underground communist group on August 3, 1948 in front of the HUAC

The Baltimore Documents

Trying to prove Hiss guilty, Chambers presented an envelope of alleged transmissions to the Soviet Union, typed by Priscilla Hiss

The Hiss family set out to find their old typewriter, later it was proven that the Hiss’ Woodstock typewriter did not produce the letters

Chambers was accused of forging the letters

The Pumpkin Papers

A roll of film was included in the envelope with the Baltimore documents

Was not turned over to an attorney with the letters

Chambers hid the film in a hollowed out pumpkin when he heard the Hiss family was planning to steal it

House Un-American Activities Committee confiscated it and developed the film

How it ended

Convicted and sentenced to 5 years in prison on the charge of lying under oath

Was never officially convicted for being a communist spy

Was released after 5 years and didn’t go back into practicing law

Alger Hiss defended himself until he died on November 15, 1996

Works Cited

 "The Alger Hiss Story." NYU NYUHome Homepages. Web. 03 Feb. 2010. http://homepages.nyu.edu/~th15/home.html.

"Whittaker Chambers -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 03 Feb. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whittaker_Chambers>.

"Alger Hiss." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 03 Feb. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alger_Hiss>