Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case

by Allen Weinstein

Overview

When the Hiss-Chambers case first burst on the scene in 1948, its main characters and events seemed more appropriate to spy fiction than to American reality. The major historical authority on the case, Perjury was first published in 1978. Now, in its latest edition, Perjury links together the old and new evidence, much of it previously undiscovered or unavailable, bringing the Hiss-Chambers’s amazing story up to the present.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780817912253
Publisher:	Hoover Institution Press
Publication date:	04/01/2013
Edition description:	3rd Edition
Pages:	766
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 2.20(d)

About the Author

Allen Weinstein founded the Center for Democracy, a Washington-based nonprofit, and remained its president until 2003. He served as archivist of the United States from 2005 to 2009 and has held professorships at Smith College, Georgetown, and Boston University. He received the United Nations Peace Medal, the Council of Europe’s Silver Medal twice, and the Edgar Allan Poe Special Award from the Mystery Writers of America for his original edition of Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case. His previous books include Freedom and Crisis: An American History, The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America—the Stalin Era, Prelude to Populism, and The Story of America.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 1

Part 1 Origins

I HUAC: A Month of Headlines 13

II Alger and Whittaker: The Crucible of Family 81

III The Un-Secret Agent 123

IV The Ware Group and the New Deal 143

Part 2 Espionage

V Perjury: A Question of Documents 173

VI The Dual Life 209

VII Spies and Bureaucrats: The Stolen Documents 247

Part 3 Concealment

VIII Perjury: A Question of Candor 287

IX The Defection of "Karl" 325

X Alger and Whittaker: The Forging of Careers 353

Part 4 Disclosure

XI Rumors and Whispers: The Pursuit of Evidence 399

XII Deadlock: The First Trial 437

XIII Conviction: The Second Trial 495

Part 5 Consequences

XIV Cold War Iconography I: Alger Hiss as Myth and Symbol 529

XV Alger and Whittaker: The Vigil and the Death Watch 549

XVI Cold War Iconography II: From Watergate to Red Square 573

Part 6 Memory

XVII The Hiss Labyrinth: Six Profiles 605

Appendix: "Forgery by Typewriter": The Pursuit of Conspiracy, 1948-1997 623

Notes 649

Bibliography 713

About the Author 729

Index 731

Editorial Reviews

"In the revised Perjury, Weinstein is absolutely microscopic in his examination of the case. The book is over seven hundred pages long, but it remains interesting all the way through." —Mark Judge, realclearbooks.com

From the Publisher