August 3

On August 3rd, 1948, Whittaker Chambers accused Alger Hiss of being a spy.

Alger Hiss had been employed by the Department of State. He had been a delegate at the Yalta Conference, involved with some foundations for the United Nations.

Whittaker Chambers was a former Communist and editor at Time Magazine. On August 3rd, he was testifying for the HUAC hearings. He claimed that Alger Hiss was also a communist, and they had worked together spying for the Soviet Union. Congressman Richard Nixon pressed for more investigation on the allegations, and was one of the committee that questioned Hess.

The FBI had suspicions about Hiss prior to this time, based on testimony from defectors.

Chambers later produced documents that Hiss had given to him that were passed on to the Soviet Union; the Baltimore Documents and then the Pumpkin Papers. Chambers admitted to perjury, which complicated the case. But the documents included notes in Hiss' handwriting. Despite this, Hiss had an impressive array of character witnesses, including a sitting Supreme Court judge.

Because of the statute of limitations, Hiss was only convicted of perjury, serving three years, eight months. His government career was over, his legal license revoked.

In 1996, the Verona Documents were released. These papers refer to a spy codenamed Ales, who many believe was Hiss.

While the Alger Hiss case remains in dispute for some, the majority opinion is that Alger Hiss was indeed spying for the Soviet Union.