# Anyone Believe Alger Hiss was Innocent?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-believe-alger-hiss-was-innocent/197959>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [August 27, 2003, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-believe-alger-hiss-was-innocent/197959 "2003-08-27T13:16:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Renob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8c91f0/32.png) [@Renob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renob)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-believe-alger-hiss-was-innocent/197959/1 "2003-08-27T13:16:35Z")

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Right now I’m reading _Witness_ by Whitaker Chambers. He’s the guy who was a spy for the Soviet union in the 20’s and 30’s, and in the early 50’s he claimed that Alger Hiss, the famed government official, was a spy during that time, too. With the help of a Congressman named Richard Nixon, Hiss was eventually convicted of perjury for denying under oath that he was a spy (the statute of limitations for espionage had run out by that time).

A lot of people since then claimed that Hiss got railroaded and his reputation smeared by an unethical Nixon. Everything that I’ve read (including the superb _Perjury_ by Allan Weinstein) points to the indisputable conclusion that Hiss was indeed a spy.

What I want to know is if there are still people out there who think Hiss was not a spy, and if so, why? I’d like to know if I’m missing an important part of this controversy.

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**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2003, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-believe-alger-hiss-was-innocent/197959/2 "2003-08-27T14:10:24Z")

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Most of the Hiss defenders shut up after the opening of Soviet archives that proved, from their side, that Hiss was indeed a spy.

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**Author:** ![Daoloth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/82dd89/32.png) [@Daoloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daoloth)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2003, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-believe-alger-hiss-was-innocent/197959/3 "2003-08-28T00:21:27Z")

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I believe what **Moto** is referencing are the famous “Venona” cables, which most scholars agree proves Hiss’ guilt.