Alger Hiss: Truth and Consequences
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Alger Hiss: Truth And Consequences .Ford ended up in the hands of a Celli-. PERJURY: The Hiss-Chambers munist functionary. Clearly somebody was lying. Case. By Allen Weinstein. I must begin this review of Allen Knopf. 674 pp. $15 Weinstein's superb and detailed book by saying that I went to the second By MERLE MILLER Hiss perjury trial in November 1949 (at first, eight members of the jury had believed him guilty and four had not) T 73, ALGER HISS, while not quite convinced as most good liberals were A the star of the college lecture cir- then and some still are that Alger was cuit, is reeiving standing ovations and innocent. Had I not myself seen Cham- impressek fees (to be used, he says, in bers lurking around the halls of Time his continuing light for vindication) during my brief tenure there? He was after telling students who were not a fat, untidy man, and 1. knew from born at the time that he was the victim friends on the staff that he changed a of a black period of American history, lot of copy from foreign correspon- of Richard M. Nixon (and after Water- dents on the grounds that it wasn't gate who wants to doubt that?) and as- anti-Communist enough. sorted other scoundrels, including a Alger—well, he wasn't really, but be man named (although he used several looked' and acted as if he were a true other names at one time or another) patrician, clean, with what appeared Whittaker Chambers, who was then a to be a perfect set of teeth, and it was senior editor at Time magazine and impossible to imagine him lurking. who said that he and Alger had been By January 1950—I didn't miss a day Communists and spies together. of the trial—I agreed with the jury; At first Alger said that he had never Alger had lied. I wrote the whole thing laid eyes on the man; then he admitted up for The New Republic saying just that, yes, he had had a brief encounter that, although adding that It was likely with him although he had 'called him- that Alger was one of those young self George Crosley and had pretended idealists who in the 1930s agreed with to be a journalist; they had never been that great muckraking journalist Lin- close, and "Crosley" turned out to be a coln Steffens that the Soviet Union deadbeat with bad teeth. What might represented "the future, and it be called the dental scene in this book, works." at the Commodore Hotel in New York, I did not then address myself to the is alone worth the price of admission. question of why so high-minded a Yes, Alger guessed that the "George young man should a decade later lie, a Crosleys" had from time to time stayed lie that later helped Senator Joe Mc- in the Hiss apartment, and yes, he and Carthy's most preposterous charges his wife Priscilla had sublet an apart- seem possible. To many Americans, if ment to the "Crosleys" in 1935, al- an impeccable young man who had though previously he had denied see- been secretary to Justice Oliver Wen- ing "Crosley" after 1934. And, yes, out dell Holmes and an impressive public of the goodness of Alger's heart, they servant in several responsible govern- had at the time of the subletting ment jobs—the last in the State De- thrown in an old Ford_ And no one partment—and who was then presi- could have been more surprised than dent of the Carnegie Endowment, If he Alger when it was discovered that the had been a Communist spy, then maybe Ole Joe was right in saying that there were still 210 or 180 or however MERLE MILLER, the author of Plain many it was Communists in the De- Speaking: An Oral Biography of partment. And God and Joe alone Harry S Truman, is working on an knew where else. oral biography of Lyndon Baines John- son. --(Continued 07E pageES) Alger Hiss: Truth and Consequences (Continued from page EU-- guished memoir, Witness, should not Alger Is not a simple man. I go along be published. If by some mischance it with the late Hiram Haydn, the writer " Most of my friends—a few of whom was, it should not be reviewed or ad- and editor, who while he was at Ran- preferred to become ex-friends—be- vertised. And anyway, nobody nice dom House described what was to lieved every word that Hiss said and would read it. have been a job interview with Alger. discounted all of Chambers' testimony Of course, a great many people did Haydn wrote, "Mask succeeded mask, despite substantial evidence that sup- read it and were convinced and even role role, personality personality. ported it moved by it. Almost nobody read Al- There was a half-hour during which Anyway, they said, suppose Alger ger's little book, published in 1957, our actual situation was reversed, as had storied a little. He was either pro- called In the Court of Public Opinion. though he had granted me an inter- tecting his wife Priscilla—because It said nothing that had not been said view." that's the kind of noble guy he was—or before and said it with a singular lack It is quite possible that Alger now his stepson Timothy Hobson, whom of passion. himself believes be was innocent and Chambers was alleged to have se- I do not see how anybody can read believes the nonsense about the duced, and that explained why. Or Allen Weinstein's book and continue "faked" Woodstock typewriter— else, and this was a hypothesis Alger to believe in Alger's innocence, al- which Alger's supporters thought was himself tried out then and still is try- though a great many will. Some, with- used to forge copies of government ing out, Chambers, a man who admit- out reading it, have already de- documents—the details of which I ted to homosexual experience, had nounced it. Alger, somewhat shabby leave to Weinstein. Three years ago at made a pass at him; Alger had rejected but still jaunty, continues to tell the his favorite Greenwich Village restau- him, and angry at being spurned, same old lies, and a great many people rant, Alger told me that he knew who Chambers had . who have listened to them and to him had built the phony Woodstock and One large, quite vehement group in- for 30 years continue to believe. He's a where the man lived. He said he was sisted that Alger had been a double cult figure; maybe he should found a going to announce his findings to the agent and had done what he had done religion; perhaps he has. press in a week or so. under the secret and personal orders He even lied to his loving and loyal There are those who say that Allen of Franklin D. Roosevelt himself, al- son Tony, the result of which is Tony's Weinstein's book is cruel and inhu- though one wondered why Roosevelt cloyingly cute book called Laughing man, again without having read it, would want Alger to spy on the Soviet Last, which tells a good deal one which is the best way. Hasn't poor Union since, many of these same would as soon not knoW about his par- Alger suffered enough? Perhaps, al- people said, there would have been no ents' sex life. Tony also says that "Al" months. One long afternoon he sat on though he has always seemed to me to cold war if Franklin were still alive. He is a dandy father, which is no doubt a sofa in my living room saying that enjoy the role of martyr. He may be, as and Uncle Joe Stalin, a man well true if one overlooks lying to his son. the only regret of his life was the fail- Tony says, laughing last, laughing at known for his benevolence, under- Tony addtthat in "Al's" Washington ure of his marriage. When a drunken his lengthy success as an impostor. He stood each other. All the trouble had days he not only was not a Communist friend said that he had once consid- has betrayed his country, his family, been started by that dreadful little himself, he didn't even know any—at ered Hiss "the worst traitor since Ben- and his friends, and as a great many man from Missouri who wore those least not well—although indisputable edict Arnold," Alger smiled disarmin- writers, including E. M. Forster, awful double-breasted J. C. Penney evidence has proved for 30 years now gly—he often does—and said, "A great Shakespeare, and Dante, have said, suits. that many people he worked with and many people do, but before the end of betraying one's friends is a far more Then and now the Hiss-Chambers saw socially in those days have admit- my life I shall prove them wrong." heinous crime than betraying one's case has seldom been discussed ration- ted that they were Party members. Now he says that he expects to be country. ally. In those days some lifetime mem- I have seen Alger, though not fre- "respected and vindicated" by the Allen Weinstein's obligation was MA bers of the American Civil Liberties quently, quite a few times since No- time he is 80, in 1982; after all, Holmes Union wrote angry letters to news- to soften things up for Alger; his obli- vember of 1954 when he got out of was 88 when Alger started working for gation was to history, and he has per- papers saying that Chambers' an- Lewisburg prison, where he spent 44 formed it brilliantly.