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A Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 38: Why do people still care about this case? This is my final Podcast, and the shortest one — just my last thoughts after decades of study. The Hiss-Chambers Case will live on because it is important post-WWII American history, and also a great yarn, a feast for trial lawyers, and an example of the endless fight between totalitarianism and freedom, between shiny lies and messy reality. I hope it fascinated and educated you as much as it has me. Thank you for your interest in my words.2023-09-2004 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 37: What did not come out in court?Whittaker Chambers This Podcast, the second to last, is the longest one. The Hiss-Chambers Case did not die. Many new facts were discovered, the majority of them harmful to Hiss, starting in the 1970s. The Freedom of Information Act led the US government (after a lawsuit) to produce about 40,000 pages of paper, mostly from the FBI. Hiss made the files of his defense counsel available to researchers. One wonders if he knew what was in there, some of it was so damaging to him. Most damaging in these and other files is powerful evidence that Hiss and his wife k...2023-09-1330 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 36: Hiss and Chambers After the Trials As Chambers wrote to his friend Bill Buckley, most of us think the story of Oedipus ends when he learns he married his own mother and puts his eyes out. In fact, however, Oedipus lived for years afterwards. After the trials, Chambers lived for 10 years and Hiss for 45. Neither escaped The Case, nor did their wives and children. (Add this, by the way, to all the reasons that committing treason is a bad idea.). Each man wrote a book. Chambers’ became a best-seller, a major American autobiography, and a sacred text of the post-WWII right. Hiss’s book sank like...2023-09-0619 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 35: Forgery by Typewriter Several people have told me that, of my 38 episodes, this is their favorite. See if you agree. It is all about the question Hiss could never answer: how, if Hiss is innocent, did the 64 Typed Spy Documents get typed on his home typewriter. You may recall that Hiss first told The Grand Jury that Chambers broke into his house in 1938 and typed them on it himself when no one was looking. That didn’t work. Second, Hiss told the jury at the second trial that Hiss gave the Typewriter to the Catlett Kids in late 1937; they put it in the back room...2023-08-3023 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 34: The Impact of the Guilty Verdict on AmericaAlger Hiss is taken to prison Alger Hiss’s conviction — technically for perjury, but effectively for treason — was a major event. It was a disaster for The Establishment, especially liberal Democrats, and vindication for Republicans and populist Democrats. The 18 month labyrinth of HUAC hearings, depositions in Hiss’s libel suit, grand jury proceedings, and two criminal trials were the long, long overture to the so-called McCarthy Era. Senator McCarthy, in fact, gave his famous “I have a list . . .” speech just weeks after Hiss’s conviction. This Podcast gives an overview of the many and complex reactions to the guilty verdict. Everyone, it seems...2023-08-2327 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 33: The Summations, and the VerdictProsecutor Thomas F. Murphy In this Podcast, we hear the closing speeches, and the verdict of the second jury. In a mirror image of the first trial, this time it was Hiss’s lawyer Claude Cross who was quiet, even plodding, and it was Prosecutor Murphy (like Hiss’s barrister Stryker at the first trial) who delivered the barn-burner. Then — after a year and a half of HUAC hearings, Hiss’s libel suit, the Grand Jury proceeding, and two trials — finally comes the jury’s verdict. Further Research:- Alistair Cooke (at 335) described Mrs. Hiss after the guilty verdict was utter...2023-08-1616 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 32: The Second Trial - The Surprise WitnessEdith Murray This is a short podcast, describing a last-minute rebuttal witness for The Prosecution. Into court came a black woman named Edith Murray. Alistair Cooke (at 299) found her “lively.” She testified that, at times in 1935 and 1936, she had been the household servant (cleaning and cooking) for Whittaker and Esther Chambers. She knew them as the Cantwells and was told that Mr. Cantwell was home so seldom because he was a traveling salesman. The Cantwells, Mrs. Murray testified, had no social life except for one young white married couple from Washington whose female half she knew as “Miss P...2023-08-0905 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 31: The Second Trial - Chambers' Mental ConditionPsychiatrist Dr. Carl Binger This Podcast presents the testimony of an eminent psychiatrist, Dr. Carl Binger. He opined that Whittaker Chambers suffered from a mental illness, called “Psychopathic Personality,” which causes its sufferers to make false accusations that they sincerely believe to be true. Dr. Carl Binger was supposed to be, to use a baseball metaphor, The Clean-Up Hitter of The Hiss Defense. The Defense had loaded the bases with Hiss and his wife (we barely knew Chambers/Crosley), the character witnesses (Alger is a fine upstanding man), and the Catletts (we had The Typewriter when The Spy Documen...2023-08-0224 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 30: The Second Trial - IntroductionHede Hassing, a key witness in the 2nd trial The second trial: new Judge (an elderly Republican), a new jury (seven women!), a new lawyer for Hiss (Boston’s distinguished, quiet Claude Cross), a new strategy by each side, and a lot more witnesses. The next three Podcasts bring you three witnesses who did not testify at the first trial, but did at the second. One journalist wrote that the minor characters in this Case contained the raw material for a shelf of unwritten novels. You’ve already met Julian Wadleigh. Now meet Hede Massing, a Viennese actress, thrice mar...2023-07-2613 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 29: The Summations and The VerdictPic: Hiss Defense Attorney Lloyd Paul Stryker At last we hear the two great trial lawyers, Lloyd Paul Stryker for The Hiss Defense and Thomas Murphy for The Prosecution, sum up the evidence and loose their rhetorical flourishes. Stryker, remember, was going for a hung jury, just trying to get one or two jurors to hold out for a Not Guilty verdict no matter what the others thought. Murphy had to convince all twelve. Stryker’s speech was a masterpiece of rhetoric, which Murphy in his speech dismissed as ‘cornball stuff’ and ‘old, old.’ Murphy stuck to what he called the...2023-07-1918 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 28: The Defense - the Catlett Family Podcast #28 recounts the testimonies of three black Washingtonians named Catlett. Claudia Catlett, the Hisses’ household servant, had only one memory of Chambers being in the Hiss house. She’d likely have seen him more if he’d been coming by regularly to pick up spy documents. Two of her sons, teenagers when the alleged spying occurred, did handyman jobs for the Hisses and received The Hiss Home Typewriter from the Hisses as part payment for helping them move within Georgetown, maybe in December 1937. If the Catlett Kids had the Typewriter in early 1938 (the dates of The Typed Spy Documents), obviously The Typed S...2023-07-1215 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 27: The Defense - Priscilla Hiss and the Character Witnesses Podcast #27 is short, covering the testimony of Mrs. Priscilla Hiss and the “character witnesses.” Mrs. Hiss corroborates her husband down the line. However, she is notably nervous on the witness stand, and admits to changing her story in a few ways, all favorable to her husband, since The Grand Jury. Favorable testimony by family members is risky. It’s a “dog bites man” story, no surprise. You don’t expect them to incriminate their loved ones, especially the family breadwinner back when women couldn’t get good jobs. On the other hand, any slip up is a “man bites dog” story, and...2023-07-0508 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 26: The Defense - Alger Hiss Testifies In Podcast 26, Alger Hiss takes the stand! In the courtroom corridor, Hiss said: “I have been waiting for this a long time.” (Smith at 383.). Lloyd Paul Stryker walked him through his golden resume, emphasizing all the times he had been trusted with secrets and remained loyal (as far as anyone knew). Hiss denied every bad act of which Chambers had accused him and ended by telling the jury that he was not guilty. If you were cross-examining Hiss, you might be tempted, given his charm and rhetorical skills, to ask him just a few questions and then let him go. You could...2023-06-2815 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 25: Intermezzo - The Sleeper Issue of Homosexuality Each side in this Case had a male homosexual secret. Remember that we’re in 1949, when conservatives thought that male homosexuality was a sin and a crime and enlightened liberals thought that gay men were tragic mistakes of nature, mentally ill, women trapped in men’s bodies, but fortunately there was talk therapy, shock treatment and, if all else fails, lobotomies. (Homosexual men were subjected to lobotomies until recently in Communist Cuba.) Chambers, during his years in the Communist underground, had had gay sex with men he met in public places. And Hiss’s stepson (Mrs. Hiss’s son by her first mar...2023-06-2116 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 24: The Prosecution - Were the two families friends, and for how long? There were two disagreements between the Hisses and Chamberses. First was whether Hiss had been a Communist and Soviet spy with Chambers in the mid- and late 1930s. Who was telling the truth could not be proved. Hiss would never confess and, from his point of view, it’s almost impossible to prove that you did not do something years ago. As for proof by external evidence, good luck. When you join the Communist underground you don’t sign a contract and send a copy to the Justice Department. But on the other issue — whether (as the Hisses said) the families had...2023-06-1414 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 23: The Prosecution: Henry Julian Wadleigh This Podcast is the closest the trials get to high comedy. Dreamy, arrogant State Department economist, Henry Julian Wadleigh, worked in the same area as Hiss (several levels below Hiss). Wadleigh testifies that he passed State Department documents to Chambers in 1937 and 1938 without authorization. He thus corroborates Chambers’ testimony that Chambers was the hub of a spy ring in State in those years. But might he also help Hiss? Could it have been Wadleigh who gave Chambers all those documents? How might Hiss make a case that it was Wadleigh who passed the papers that Chambers said he got from H...2023-06-0719 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 22: The Prosecution - Raymond FeehanPhoto: http://www.spartacus-educational.com Now comes the witness who, in my opinion, dooms Alger Hiss. He gives expert testimony supporting Chambers’ claim that the typed spy documents were passed to him by Alger Hiss after Mrs. Hiss typed them on the Hiss home typewriter. Lloyd Paul Stryker did not ask this witness a single question on cross-examination. Listen to this Podcast to learn who was the witness and how he formed his expert opinion. After the witness left the stand, all ears waited to hear Hiss explain how dozens of documents, obviously prepared for espionage, got typed...2023-05-3109 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 21: The Prosecution, the DocumentsRobert Stripling & Richard Nixon Everyone always asks about the topic of this Podcast #21: “What was in the secret State Department documents?” These are the 126 pages that Chambers introduced as the last documents that Hiss gave him. State Department men authenticated them as copies (or summaries or excerpts) of actual State Department documents, many marked CONFIDENTIAL and all dated between December 31, 1937, and April 1, 1938. The documents concern many subjects, but they generally share two characteristics. First, they had little or nothing to do with Hiss’s job, which was trade between the US and other countries. Second, they had a lot to do wi...2023-05-2416 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 20: The Prosecution - Whittaker and Esther ChambersLloyd Paul Stryker, Hiss's Defense Atty (Digital Commons) Whittaker Chambers, and then his wife Esther, testify in court. Both their direct testimonies were rocky due to Stryker’s objections and Judge Kaufman’s rulings. Their cross-examinations by Stryker were brutal. Chambers sat there and passively took blow after blow, but Mrs. Chambers shouted back at Stryker as forcefully as he had shouted at her. But each got to say what needed to be said — that Hiss passed Chambers State Department documents in 1937 and 1938 and that the two families were friends. At the second trial, both Chamberses were more relaxed an...2023-05-1721 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 19: The Opening StatementsPic: Prosecutor Thomas Murphy In this Podcast, I deliver, in my best courtroom voice, short versions of Prosecutor Murphy’s down-to-earth opening statement for the government and Lloyd Paul Stryker’s incandescent overture for the Hiss defense. See which one you think is more impressive — Murphy’s calm, rational promise of convincing evidence or Stryker’s dazzling contrast of Saint Alger and the “moral leper” Chambers. FURTHER RESEARCH: Episode 19: Strangely, neither Hiss nor Chambers in his memoir spends many words on the opening statements of the two great trial lawyers, Murphy and Stryker. Indeed, Hiss’s description of the trials is all about th...2023-05-1012 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 18: The Lawyers, the Judge, and the JuryFederal Courthouse, NY, 1938 This is a short podcast to acquaint you with the actors about to come on stage in the drama of Alger Hiss and Whittaker Chambers. They are the government Prosecutor Thomas Murphy, Hiss’s principal defense lawyer Lloyd Paul Stryker, Judge Samuel Kaufman, and the jury. Additional Research Murphy, a 6’ 4” muscular giant of a man with an enormous walrus mustache, tried to come across as the quiet, somewhat plodding, but totally competent and honest government attorney just doing his job. He knew he could not match Hiss’s barrister Lloyd Paul Stryker, the greatest criminal defense law...2023-05-0306 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 17: You be the Lawyer. How strong is your case?Pic: Library of Congress Alger Hiss is going on trial for perjury. This Podcast is a survey, at 23,000 feet, of the possible arguments for The Prosecution and for The Hiss Defense. Of each side’s possible arguments, which are strong and which are weak? This may be of special interest to real trial lawyers, or to the inner Perry Mason who lurks within each of us. If you were The Prosecution, what would you emphasize to the jury? What are Chambers’ strengths as a witness? What are his weaknesses? You also have all the documents Chambers produced, of course. Do you have a...2023-04-2630 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 16: The Grand Jury Picture: Library of Congress With this Podcast, we leave Washington and the political boxing ring and move to New York City and the courts. There’s still drama and tension, but no more pumpkin patches on dark and frigid nights, no more rescues of Congressmen from the high seas. The process is more deliberate and the consequences are greater. Starting now, Hiss and Chambers are each looking at being the defendant in a criminal trial and going to prison — punishments that no newspaper or Congressional committee can inflict. Both men and their wives testify to a Grand Jury. Chambers has to explain...2023-04-1916 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 15: Cue the Marx BrothersCertainly, this Case was painful for Chambers — bringing him close to prison for perjury, ending the quiet and lucrative life he had enjoyed for years and costing him the only decent and decently paying job he had ever had. All the same, Chambers loved melodrama, and can you imagine any more satisfying melodrama than, on a dark and freezing night, leading two government investigators to a pumpkin vine behind your farmhouse and presenting them with five rolls of camera film containing proof of espionage and treason by the man who personifies the governing class of the country? Fu...2023-04-1225 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 14: Hiss makes the mistake of Oscar Wilde In this Podcast, Chambers appears on Meet The Press and repeats his accusations. Hiss sues him for libel, after assembling a Dream Team of eminent lawyers to vindicate his reputation.(Chambers was superbly represented, too.)In a pre-trial interview called a deposition, Hiss’s lawyer William Marbury asks Chambers to produce any written documents he has from Alger or Priscilla Hiss. Chambers, ever the man of mystery, travels to Brooklyn to retrieve a large manila envelope from the top shelf of a linen closet behind a bathtub in an apartment once inhabited by a local lawyer who wa...2023-04-0518 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 13: The Public Confrontation This is the Podcast of the public hearing at which Chambers and Hiss sat a few feet apart and testified against each other for six hours. It was one of the big stories of 1948. A history of HUAC says it was the most dramatic and crowded event of the Committee’s public history. One newspaper blared that it was “C Day” — C for Confrontation. People wanting spectator seats were lined up out the building and around the block — and the Old House Office Building is a big building on a long block. Nixon played the role of patient, ploddi...2023-03-2925 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 12: Setting Up the Public Confrontation Republican members of the House un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). (Library of Congress) Sandwiched between the drama of the Commodore Hotel (last week’s Podcast) and the equally sensational televised confrontation of Hiss and Chambers (next week’s), this Podcast #12 is a backgrounder on the political climate of 1948, the setting which was shaken to its foundations by this scandal. There were four views of the world. Old-style conservatives wanted to return to isolationism and viewed domestic Communists as minor nuisances. Ultra-left intellectuals saw The Century of the Common Man dawning and thought, incredibly in retrospect...2023-03-2215 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 11: Face to Face Pic: Library of Congress In Podcast 11, Nixon and Stripling pull off another tactical masterstroke. They bring Hiss and Chambers together, to the surprise of both of them, in a hotel room in New York City. Despite the locale, it’s a formal hearing of Nixon’s HUAC Subcommittee and there is a transcript (not to mention half a dozen memoirs). Nixon asks Hiss, once and for all, if Chambers is the man he knew as George Crosley 10-15 years before. What happened next has been called “bizarre and even incredible” and “a bit like a Henry James story, . . . fu...2023-03-1519 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 10: HUAC Reacts In Podcast 10, Nixon’s HUAC Subcommittee reacts skeptically to Hiss’s new George Crosley story. Hiss, like Captain Renault in Casablanca, is shocked, shocked that the Representatives would even think of taking the word of the Communist and traitor Chambers over that of a distinguished personage such as himself. Representative Hebert suggests that Hiss return to his first, helpful and respectful attitude. But Hiss blows him off — not a smart move with the only member of the Subcommittee who is of Hiss’s Party. Hiss then corroborates 90% of what Chambers had told the Subcommittee about his personal life 10-15 y...2023-03-0809 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 9: Hiss' Second Testimony Alger Hiss, like Chambers, gives secret testimony to Nixon’s HUAC Subcommittee. He is outraged that they are thinking of trusting Chambers, whom Hiss labels a Communist and a traitor (Hiss pre-channeling Senator McCarthy). When confronted with Chambers’ detailed knowledge of his domestic life 10-15 years ago, Hiss drops his claim that he never knew Chambers. Oh, now it’s all coming back to me, . . . There was a man whom I knew back then, a self-styled freelance journalist who went by the name George Crosley. He was disheveled, had shockingly bad teeth, and seemed sometimes to live in a fantas...2023-03-0108 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 8: Nixon Takes the Plunge Campaigning for the US Senate, 1950. Pic - Library of Congress In this 8th podcast, we explore the thinking of Richard Nixon. Put yourself in his position. You’re 35, elected to the House in a Republican wave year from a district that is usually safely Democratic. Your plum Committee assignment was Education and Labor. But, on HUAC, this throbbing blob of a Case has come rolling in the door. You and Bob Stripling saw possibilities that no one else saw and now The Case is all yours. You have satisfied yourself that Hiss is lying and Chambers...2023-02-2209 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 7: Chambers' Secret TestimonyMembers of the House Un-American Activities Committee visit the home of Chairman John Parnell Thomas; (l-r) Rep. Richard B. Vail, Rep. Thomas, Rep. John McDowell, Robert Stripling, chief counsel, and Rep. Richard M. Nixon] Picture: Library of Congress Were Whittaker Chambers and Alger Hiss good friends from 1934 through 1937? Chambers says ‘yes’ and Hiss says ‘no.’ In this podcast, HUAC staffer Bob Stripling and Representative Nixon get Chambers under oath, in secret, and fire questions at him about Hiss’s daily life back in the day. And Chambers pours forth details (or what he says are details) for two and a half ho...2023-02-1508 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 6: Hiss' DenialRichard M. Nixon, Library of Congress Alger Hiss calmly and patiently denies Whittaker Chambers’ two charges: that the two of them were in the Communist underground in 1934-37 and that they became close friends. The Commie-hunters on the House Un-American Activities Committee are swept away by his poise and simplicity and tell him what a wonderful witness he is. Only two listeners smell something fishy in Hiss’ carefully phrased testimony: a staffer named Robert Stripling and a freshman Republican Representative named Richard Nixon. The two form a team of rivals (each claiming credit for the tall thinking and smart ta...2023-02-0812 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 5: The First HUAC Hearing Above, Elizabeth Bentley, who gave evidence at the first HUAC hearing. Pic: Library of Congress In 1948, Whittaker Chambers is Time Magazine’s Senior Editor. He is forced against his will to testify to the House Un-American Activities Committee about his past in the Communist underground. He names seven names, but the Committee zeroes in on one of them — Alger Hiss. With this begins the doom of both men, major climate change in American politics, and the career of a future President. Further Research: Episode 5: The best book about the colorful House Un-Ameri...2023-02-0113 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 4: Communism in the 1930s Photo: Craig Whitehead on Unsplash The backdrop of this case is American Communism — infatuation with it and disillusionment with it. Communism predicted a violent upheaval that would produce a better life. In actual practice, it produced only drab, poverty-stricken dictatorships that killed and starved millions. Around 1935, the American Communist Party stopped acting revolutionary and posed as “liberals in a hurry.” It got a few hundred Americans to join the Communist underground and work secretly for the Soviet Union. The issue is whether Hiss was one of those people. Further Research Episode 4: Podcast 4: The great book of Communism i...2023-01-2508 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter 3: Whittaker Chambers - Ex Communist Whittaker Chambers tries to have a peaceful life, working a farm and becoming a high-paid and powerful editor at Time Magazine. But his past in the Soviet underground won’t go away. Stalin’s pact with Hitler impels him to inform the government about the underground. Worse, from time to time government investigators ask him for more and more information. Chambers tries to expose the conspiracy without ruining his own career or the friends who shared his treason. How long can he continue threading the needle? If you were Chambers, how would you walk the tightrope, trying to alert t...2023-01-1812 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter Two: Whittaker Chambers - Communist Picture: Library of Congress Meet Whittaker Chambers: brilliant, melodramatic, painfully sincere, perpetually discontented and idealistic, and physically hard to forget; writer of controversial poems, plays, short stories, and communist journalism; and, as spymaster for Soviet Military Intelligence, traitor to the United States. Further Research Episode 2: About Chambers’ early and communist years, here are some references: 1) Chambers’ autobiography Witness, the first 450 pages. The book is still in print and, like most books about this case, can be found on Amazon and eBay. One reviewer said that Chambers’ description of his middle class family’s wreckage was heart-breaking...2023-01-1120 minA Pumpkin Patch, a Typewriter, and Richard Nixon: The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseChapter One: Introduction and Alger Hiss Meet Alger Hiss: Johns Hopkins, Harvard Law, Supreme Court clerk, left Wall Street to join a New Deal farming agency, counsel to a Senate Committee at age 30, aide to president Roosevelt at Yalta, Secretary General of the UN’s founding conference, President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace . . . and the most highly placed traitor in American history? Further Research: Episode 1: About Hiss’s life before the HUAC hearings, see his own autobiography, Recollections of a Life (Seaver Books 1988) at 1-148; the definitive book on the Case, Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case by Allen Weins...2023-01-0413 min
Booknotes+Ep. 44 John Berresford, The Hiss-Chambers Espionage CaseThe first ever televised congressional hearing was on August 3, 1948. The first witness was a man who said he didn't want to be there. He had been subpoenaed to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC). His name was Whittaker Chambers, an American who had been a Communist spy for the Soviet Union in the 1930s. We spoke to DC-based attorney John Berresford, who has spent years studying Chambers and the story and trial of the man Chambers accused of also being a Communist spy, Alger Hiss. Mr. Berresford has presented the story of the Hiss-Chambers espionage case...2022-01-111h 18
Futility ClosetHaggard's Dream In 1904, adventure novelist H. Rider Haggard awoke from a dream with the conviction that his daughter's dog was dying. He dismissed the impression as a nightmare, but the events that followed seemed to give it a grim significance. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll describe Haggard's strange experience, which briefly made headlines around the world. We'll also consider Alexa's expectations and puzzle over a college's name change. Intro: Marshall Bean got himself drafted by reversing his name. An air traveler may jump into tomorrow without...2021-10-1130 min