Richard Nixon exposed Alger Hiss as a traitor

Grand Old Partisan ^ | August 16, 2010 | Michael Zak

[Michael Zak]

On this day in 1948, Rep. Richard Nixon (R-CA) and his House Un-American Activities Committee questioned Alger Hiss, a State Department officer suspected of being a Soviet spy. Nixon zeroed in on contradictions in Hiss's testimony, revealing that Hiss had lied about not knowing Whittaker Chambers, another Soviet spy. Though never convicted of being a spy, Hiss did go to prison for perjury.

For decades, many Democrats asserted that Hiss was innocent and that Nixon had persecuted an innocent man. After the fall of the Soviet Union, de-classified records revealed that Alger Hiss had indeed been a Soviet spy.

[La Lydia]

Nixon exposed Alger Hiss as a traitor and the American Left has never been able to forgive Nixon for this. Because it showed them up for the fellow travelers, useful idiots and downright traitors that they are. From that moment on, Nixon had to be disgraced, even if it took them 20 years.

[WLR]

Richard Nixion remains an unheralded hero of the Cold War. Very much an American Patriot.

W

[Frantzie]

Why do you think they hated Nixon?

[hal ogen]

Hey, LIBs, DIMs & Commies: Ha! Ha!

[B-Chan]

Yes. Nixon also proposed a guaranteed annual income program for all Americans, the Family Assistance Plan. It passed the House of Representatives, and was defeated in the Senate by only 10 votes.

[holden]

Truth is such a precious commodity!   Many have died seeing that it be preserved.

When Weather Underground, founded with the help of William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, defined the value they placed on lives of their opposition as they sought the most effective ways to kill 25M "diehard capitalist" Americans, one might think that every future American would shun friendship with such people. But no, the current pres__ent even had Ayers write his memoirs.

But of course Ayers has renounced his views, right? No!?!

Connect the dots, America!

HF

[wally_bert]

Good bit of history.

[DarthVader]

These days are coming again after November.

[cripplecreek]

Its important to understand what we’re up against.

In January of 1963 congressman A.S. Herlong of Florida read the communist goals for America directly from the American communist manifesto. They are listed here and I think those who haven’t seen them will be astounded at how much trouble America is really in.

http://www.uhuh.com/nwo/communism/comgoals.htm

[Chunga]

Yes. Nixon also proposed a guaranteed annual income program for all Americans, the Family Assistance Plan. It passed the House of Representatives, and was defeated in the Senate by only 10 votes.

Maybe you should start a thread about that.

[IndyTiger]

I heard Alger Hiss give a lecture at Ohio University in the mid-70's. Of course, this was just after Watergate when Nixon-bashing was at its peak.

Hiss avoided talking about his specific case and instead spoke in generalities about current foreign policy. When asked by a questioner about his case, Hiss went on about how the evidence they got on him was acquired illegally, blah, blah, blah.

Hiss never came out and said "I was framed!", instead, he used lawyerly evasions to defend himself.

I walked away from that lecture convinced that Hiss was guilty of spying as accused.

[Liz]

TIME MAGAZINE
Monday, Aug. 11, 1975
The Pumpkin Papers

More than a quarter-century after the glaring headlines, former State Department Official Alger Hiss finally found the answer last week to a much disputed mystery in one of the most celebrated spy cases of the cold war era. On being denounced in 1948 as a Communist, Hiss filed a libel suit against his accuser, Whittaker Chambers, who thereupon dug out some evidence that a relative had hidden for him in an abandoned dumbwaiter in New York City.

As he later told it in his book Witness, he had saved an envelope full of documents he had received from Hiss —typewritten summaries of State Department papers, some memos handwritten by Hiss, and five pieces of what turned out to be 35-mm. film (two developed strips, three undeveloped rolls).

Chambers, then a TIME senior editor, gave the papers to the pretrial investigators in the libel case, but he held back the film, partly because he wanted to learn what was on it. Word of Chambers' sensational new revelations quickly reached the House Un-American Activities Committee, before which he had originally accused Hiss.

When Committee Member Richard M. Nixon issued a subpoena for any further evidence, Chambers led agents to his Maryland farm and pointed to a hollowed-out pumpkin. Fearful of prowling Hiss investigators, he said, he had put the films in the pumpkin while he was gone for the day. Thus were baptized the famous "pumpkin papers."*

Precious Secrets. Congressman Nixon made much of the films. He was photographed peering at them through a magnifying glass. When the Justice Department asked for them, he declared that he could not turn over such precious "State and Navy Department" secrets unless the House approved, but he soon released them. When Hiss was tried for perjury, only two of the films (the two already developed) were introduced; prints from them showed State Department documents relating to U.S.German relations in the late '30s.

Despite their fame, however, a prominent evidence expert, Professor Irving Younger of Cornell Law School, writes in the current issue of Commentary that these films were not conclusive evidence against Hiss since someone else could have passed them to Chambers. Far more decisive, says Younger, were such items as the summaries of State Department secrets typed on a typewriter shown to have belonged to Hiss. --SNIP--

SOURCE http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,917670,00.html

[IronJack]

Nixon: validated by history.
McCarthy: validated by history.
Marx: discredited by history.

Give you one guess who the Left puts their faith in ...

[Mouton]

Hiss was one of many....they blasted Macarthy for bringing this to aboil citing his personal foebles. That is the tact of the commie, when the facts are against you, destroy the witness or prosecutor.

[Michael Zak]

Hiss denied knowing Chambers, which was a lie.

[carton253]

So... what does that have to do with Nixon exposing Hiss as a traitor?

[Liz]

WIKI: Hiss was charged with two counts of perjury; the grand jury could not indict him for espionage since the statute of limitations had run out. Chambers was never charged with a crime. Hiss went to trial twice. The first trial started on May 31, 1949, and ended in a hung jury on July 7. Chambers was forced to admit on the witness stand that he had previously committed perjury several times while he was under oath. Chambers also was forced to admit that he needed to change key dates when confronted with contradictions in his story.

Hiss's character witnesses at his first trial included such notables as future Democratic presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson, Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, and former Democratic presidential candidate John W. Davis. The second trial lasted from November 17, 1949, to January 21, 1950.

Hiss was charged with two counts of perjury; the grand jury could not indict him for espionage since the statute of limitations had run out. Chambers was never charged with a crime. Hiss went to trial twice. The first trial started on May 31, 1949, and ended in a hung jury on July 7. Chambers was forced to admit on the witness stand that he had previously committed perjury several times while he was under oath. Chambers also was forced to admit that he needed to change key dates when confronted with contradictions in his story. Hiss's character witnesses at his first trial included such notables as future Democratic presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson, Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, and former Democratic presidential candidate John W. Davis. The second trial lasted from November 17, 1949, to January 21, 1950.

Alger Hiss in Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary
(Photos courtesy of the Federal Bureau of Prisons)

[Liz]

Venona project: The Venona project was a long-running secret collaboration of the US and UK intelligence agencies involving cryptanalysis of messages sent by intelligence agencies of the Soviet Union, mostly during World War II.

There were at least 13 code words for this project that were used by the American and British intelligence agencies (including the NSA); "Venona" was the last that was used. That code word has no known meaning.

The word "Venona" is an anagram for the word "Novena"; however, it is unknown whether this is an intentional relationship. (In the decrypted documents issued from the National Security Agency, "VENONA" is written in capitals, but lowercasing is common in modern journalism.)

[Old Teufel Hunden]

His and the Rosenbergs received their just rewards. The Rosenbergs moreso. Thank God for the Verona files!