Book Report on "Alger Hiss: Why He Chose"

Book Report 11 pages (3339 words) Sources: 1

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Hashing over those particulars are thus serving historical accepting. The Arguments make it appear as though John Loewenthal is Hiss follower. However, it is looked at being a comparatively small value to pay for the watchful skepticism of spectators who study their antagonists' action of the evidence.

General Volkogonov's current statements that are in regard to Alger Hiss suggest a new look at some of the measures in narratives by those who believe that Alger Hiss was remorseful. The whole Hiss account is being improved by associating the rhetoric and some of the description methods of Chambers, Richard Nixon and Hiss, in their respective autobiographies.( Shelton,100) In assessments of Allen Weinstein's "Dishonesty" and "In Re Alger Hiss," Hiss's short-range supporting his petition for a command of mistake, some questions are being posed about some of Weinstein's historiographical method of doing some things.( Shelton,120) These questions are being followed up with additional study of the story in "Lying," disbelieving if not shaking its huge position as, in the arguments of Eric Sundqulst, "the final explanation" of the circumstance, the "conclusive picture of Hiss's fault [that] has never been taken away." (Shelton, 125)

It is clear that Alger Hiss's journey from a distressed middle-class Baltimore family to his rise to a big place in the State Department and studies a diversity of clarifications for his choice to aid communist Russia. Hiss manages to avoid the main questions but at the same time tries to maintain that he is innocent. However, Hiss's guilt remains such a differentiating matter more than half a century after his principle for lying to a grand jury about his undercover activities.

Hiss case has been thoroughly dissected in books where it outlines many of the details of his years, and Ms. Shelton acknowledges that her book "covers familiar ground." She recognizes that openings persist in the historical record. Starting from the KGB documentations all the way over to the Soviet military intelligence, the GRU, Hiss's employer, are not open but stay closed; it is still quite unclear exactly when Hiss went from being a talented attorney with left-wing compassions to a Soviet spy working inside the United States government.

Even without Glavnoye Razvedyvatel'noye Upravleniye files, Ms. Shelton notes a massive amount of proof that actually confirms that Hiss is guilty. Documented evidence backs Chamber's story of their connection all through the 1930s, when Chambers, who at the time was a communist, was getting government paperwork from Hiss. There is Archival information that comes from Hungary, the United States and Russia also defends his claims. KGB officers flexibly talked about Hiss's work for "the neighbors" -- that is, Soviet military brainpower -- and was able to lament that their own agency did not have a source so flawlessly placed to get the secrets.

Going back to August 3, 1948, Whittaker Chambers, who is a former Communist Party member, comes before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC). He is doing this because he wants to denounce Alger Hiss. At Time magazine, a senior editor, Chambers had written a mockingly satirical editorial and most of it is really just being critical of the Yalta agreements,(135)Chambers is making the assertion that he knows Hiss as an associate of "an underground group that is part of the United States Communist Party" in the 1930s (Shelton,140). The group is recognized as the "Ware Group," and they are being put together by farmers led by Harold Ware. Ware is an American Communist put together black and white tenant farmers in the American South. As said by Chambers, "the resolve of this group at this point is not mainly espionage. Chambers is saying that its original purpose is the Communist penetration of the American Government.

Nevertheless espionage was positively one of its ultimate purposes." (Shelton, 150) Historian Tim Weiner is making his point known which the following is: "This is a crucial point. Intrusion and invisible political power are wicked, nevertheless debatably not unlawful. Espionage is considered to be treason, traditionally this is supposed to be punishable by death. However, the distinction is not being lost on the smartest associate of HUAC, Congressman Richard Nixon who over the past five months is learning the FBI's files, courtesy of J. Edgar Hoover. Nixon is now in the procedure of beginning his political occupation in hot pursuit of Hiss and the unproven underground Communists of the New Deal." (Shelton, 152)

Rumors are circulating all over the place. This has been going on about Hiss since 1939, when Chambers made the choice to go see Assistant Secretary of State Adolf A. Berle, Jr. When he arrives, he makes no delay in accusing Hiss of having belonged to a secretive Communist cell (200). In 1942, Chambers is not changing his mind because he is still holding on to this allegation to the FBI. Now, in 1945 two other sources start coming on the scene in order to connect Hiss. During September, 1945, a Belorussian cryptograph office worker for the Soviet Embassy who goes by the name Igor Gouzenko deserts from the Soviet Union all the way to Canada. Gouzenko is reporting that an unidentified associate to United States Secretary of State Stettinius was a Soviet agent. Hoover assumed he was referring to Alger Hiss. (202) Now with three months later Elizabeth Bentley, who was supposed to be an American spy for the Soviet Union who was serving as courier among Communist groups, (205) mentioned to the Federal Beau Investigation, as recognized in the Federal Beau Investigation Silver master File that, "Just now Kramer told me that the person who had originally been taken Glasser away from Perlo's group is the one that is named Hiss and that he was in the United States Department" (Shelton, 208).

Bentley likewise made the point that the man that was in question, whom she then named "Eugene Hiss" was working in the State Department and was also recognized as an consultant to the man named Dean Acheson. In both situations, the Federal Beau Investigation decided that Alger Hiss was the one that had the likely match. (Shelton, 221) Now, Hoover starts putting a wiretap on Hiss's house phone to keep tabs on him and then had him and his wife to start investigating and then started tailing for the next two years. (Shelton, 226)

In reply to Chamber's charges, Hiss is going around protesting his innocence and is also insisting on coming before HUAC so as to clear himself. Now it Appearing on August 5, 1948, and telling to the court that he fully denies having ever been a Communist or having anything to do with the communist. While he is testifying, he goes on to mention that he personally never even set eyes on Chambers let alone meeting him in person. Under intense pressure coming from the White House, President Truman is not crazy about going ahead with its investigation against so famous of a man. (Shelton, 260) it just is not what they want to do. Committee member Richard Nixon, on the other hand, a Congressman from the state of California, who on this particular day is describing Hiss's demeanor as, "disrespectful," "pompous," and "rude in the extreme," required to press on. (Shelton, 262)Nixon got some secret information in regards to the FBI's doubts from John Francis Cronin. Cronin is a Roman Catholic priest that is going around penetrating labor unions in Baltimore all through World War II. He is doing this in order to report on some of the Communist activities and had has all of the access to files that are coming from the FBI files (Shelton, 267).

Now there is some reluctance, for instance, the Working group is voting to make Nixon the chair of a subcommittee. The purpose this reluctance is to find out who is doing the lying, rather it be Chambers or Hiss. It is clear they were ever involved with each other. (Shelton,270) once he is being shown a picture of Chambers, Hiss raises his eyebrow and then mentions that the face "does look familiar" and now wants to see who Chambers in person. The confrontation starts, taking place right in person inside a hostel elevator with House UN American Activities Committee representatives standing right there.

Hiss opens his mouth and confesses that that he does indeed knows the man called Chambers, nonetheless under the name called "George Crosley," who was a man that represented himself as a writer that is freelancer. Hiss is mentioning that in the mid-1930s he was renting his studio flat to this person named "Crosley" and made the decision to given him an old car that he did not want.( Shelton,280) Now, Chambers, for his part, is denying on the witness stand for ever having used the alias Crosley, though he self-confessed to Hiss's attorneys during some kind of a secluded verification stating that it could have been one of his pen names.( Shelton, 281)… READ MORE

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