Soviet Spies and the Fear of Communism in America Reactions of Congress to the Alger Hiss Case, 1948-1960 Mémoire Brigitte Rainville Maîtrise en histoire Maître ès arts (M.A.) Québec, Canada © Brigitte Rainville, 2013 Résumé Le but de ce mémoire est de mettre en évidence la réaction des membres du Congrès des États-Unis dans le cadre de l'affaire Alger Hiss de 1948 à 1960. Selon notre source principale, le Congressional Record, nous avons pu faire ressortir les divergences d'opinions qui existaient entre les partisans des partis démocrate et républicain. En ce qui concerne les démocrates du Nord, nous avons établi leur tendance à nier le fait de l'infiltration soviétique dans le département d'État américain. De leur côté, les républicains ont profité du cas de Hiss pour démontrer l'incompétence du président Truman dans la gestion des affaires d'État. Il est intéressant de noter que, à la suite de l'avènement du républicain Dwight D. Eisenhower à la présidence en 1953, un changement marqué d'opinions quant à l'affaire Hiss s'opère ainsi que l'attitude des deux partis envers le communisme. Les démocrates, en fait, se mettent à accuser l'administration en place d'inaptitude dans l'éradication des espions et des communistes. En ayant recours à une stratégie similaire à celle utilisée par les républicains à l'époque Truman, ceux-ci n'entachent toutefois guère la réputation d'Eisenhower. Nous terminons en montrant que le nom d'Alger Hiss, vers la fin de la présidence Eisenhower, s'avère le symbole de la corruption soviétique et de l'espionnage durant cette période marquante de la Guerre Froide. iii Abstract This masters thesis examines the reactions of members of the House of Representatives and the Senate to the Alger Hiss case starting in 1948 until the end of 1960. Through analysis of the Congressional Record, a striking contrast in political opinions emerged. While Northern Democrats denied the possibility of Soviet infiltration during the HUAC hearings, Republican‟s used the Hiss scandal to demoralize the Truman administration. The election of Dwight D. Eisenhower to the presidency in 1952 changed the way both parties reacted to the communist issue and the repercussions of the Hiss case. Whereas Democrats had previously contradicted accusations of Soviet espionage in the State Department, they began criticizing the Republican administration of being soft on communism in an attempt to recreate the same atmosphere of distrust that had plagued Truman‟s time in office. By the end of Eisenhower‟s presidency in 1961, Alger Hiss‟ name came to represent Soviet espionage of the Cold War era. v Table of Contents Résumé ............................................................................................................................................... iii Abstract ................................................................................................................................................v Table of Contents .............................................................................................................................. vii Acknowledgments .............................................................................................................................. xi Introduction ..........................................................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 1-A Traitor in their Midst: Hiss, Chambers and the Conspiracy Revealed to the House Un-American Activities Committee, 1948 .........................................................................................19 The path towards communism: Alger Hiss and Whittaker Chambers ...........................................21 1.1-House of Representatives .........................................................................................................27 1.1.1-Democrats .........................................................................................................................27 1.1.2-Republicans .......................................................................................................................35 1.2-Senate .......................................................................................................................................38 1.2.1-Democrats .........................................................................................................................38 1.2.2-Republicans .......................................................................................................................40 CHAPTER 2-Seeing Red: Congressional Reactions to the Infamous Hiss Perjury Trials, May 1949- January 1950 ......................................................................................................................................45 2.1-House of Representatives .........................................................................................................45 2.1.1-Democrats .........................................................................................................................46 2.1.2-Republicans .......................................................................................................................49 2.2-Senate .......................................................................................................................................63 2.2.1-Democrats .........................................................................................................................64 2.2.2-Republicans .......................................................................................................................65 CHAPTER 3-Alger Hiss, the New Benedict Arnold: His Evolution from State Department Red Spy to Symbol of Cold War Treachery, 1950-1960 ..................................................................................71 3.1-House of Representatives .........................................................................................................72 3.1.1-Democrats .........................................................................................................................72 3.1.2-Republicans .......................................................................................................................83 3.2-Senate .....................................................................................................................................104 3.2.1-Democrats .......................................................................................................................105 3.2.2-Republicans .....................................................................................................................109 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................123 Bibliography .....................................................................................................................................129 vii In loving memory of my grandfather Earl Larocque. Your strength will always be an inspiration. ix Acknowledgments First, I would like to thank my supervisor Bernard Lemelin for his invaluable insight, suggestions and encouragement throughout this process. Thank you to my parents, Gilles and Colette and to my siblings, Amélie and Joey. Your support and long distance phone calls kept me connected to home from so far away. Thank you to my best friends, Breigh and Karah. Though we may not see one another often, our enduring friendship means everything to me. Finally, a big thank you to Louis, whose humor and boundless support these last few years made accomplishing this goal that much easier. This journey would not have been as enjoyable without you. Je t‟aime. xi Introduction Anti-communist sentiment ran rampant in the United States during the years of the Cold War. This „anti-red‟ hysteria was the product of both internal fears and external struggles such as the nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union, the Berlin blockade and the Cuban missile crisis. Nonetheless, the abhorrence of socialist principles in the U.S. can also be explained by the subversive activity of Communist party members. Several „red‟ spies succeeded in attaining prominent government positions for the sole purpose of stealing classified intelligence. Well-known agents include Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were executed for sending atomic secrets to the Soviet Union1, Elizabeth Bentley, who defected from the communist underground and supplied information to the American authorities2, as well as Judith Coplon, a Department of Justice employee suspected on several occasions of transferring restricted material to a Soviet contact.3 Similar to the notoriety of the Rosenberg case, the perjury trials of ex-State Department official and New Deal lawyer Alger Hiss forced Americans to rethink their preconceived notions of „red‟ spies. His extensive career was put into question after he was publicly accused in 1948 of subversive activity for the Communist party based in Washington. His accuser, Whittaker Chambers, had been a member of the same covert organization, conducting courier duties between sources and his superiors, only to leave in the late 1930‟s once he realized his principles no longer aligned with the party‟s objectives. Allen Weinstein and Alexander Vassiliev‟s The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America-The Stalin Era recounts that Chambers began collecting stolen documents from his informants before his break in order to use as insurance to