HISS, ALGER
For the United States, the prosecution of Alger Hiss was a pivotal domestic event of the COLD WAR. A former high-ranking federal official with a seemingly impeccable reputation, Hiss was accused in 1948 of having spied for the Soviet
Union. The charges shocked the nation.Not only
had Hiss held government positions of extreme
importance, but he was also one of the architects
of postwar international relations, having helped
establish the UNITED NATIONS. He steadfastly
maintained his innocence in hearings before the
House Un-American Activities Committee
(HUAC). But a relentless probe by the commit-
tee’s lead investigator, Representative RICHARD
M. NIXON, of California, led to a GRAND JURY
investigation. In 1950, Hiss was convicted of two
counts of perjury, for which he served forty-four
months in prison. His case became a cause
celebre for liberals, who regarded him as a victim
of the era’s anti-Communist hysteria. It also
fueled a passion for anti-Communist investiga-
tions and legislation that preoccupied Congress
for the next several years.
Before coming under suspicion, Hiss had a
meteoric rise in public service. A Harvard grad-
uate in 1929, the INTERNATIONAL LAW specialist
served in the Departments of Agriculture and
Justice from 1933 to 1936.He then moved to the
STATE DEPARTMENT, where he assumed the post
of counselor at global conferences during
WORLD WAR II. In 1945, Hiss advised President
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT at the Yalta Confer-
ence, at which the Allied powers planned the end
of the war. He was forty-one years old. Next
came a leading role in the establishment of the
United Nations, appointment to the administra-
tion of the U.S.Office of Special Political Affairs,
and, in 1946, election to the presidency of the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
