HEARINGS REGARDING COMMUNIST ESPIONAGE
IN
THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25, 1948
UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
COMMITTEE ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES,
Washington, D. C.
The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10: 30
a. m., in the caucus room, Old House Office Building, Hon. J. Parnell Thomas
(chairman),presiding.
Committee members present: Representatives J.
Parnen Thomas,Karl E. Mundt, ,John McDowell, Richard M. Nixon, Richard
B. Vail,and F. Edward Hebert.
Staff members present: Robert E. Stripling, chief
investigator; Louis J. Russell, William A. Wheeler, Donald T. Appen, investigators;Benjamin
Mandel, director of research; and A. S. Poore, editor, for the committee.
The CHAIRMAN. The meeting will come to order.
Take your seats, please, those who have seats.
The record win show that those present are Mr.
Mundt, Mr. McDowell, Mr. Nixon, Mr. Vail, Mr. Hebert, and Mr. Thomas.
A quorum of the fun committee is present.
The Chair would like to make this short statement.
On August 3 the committee received testimony from Whittaker Chambers regarding
the operation within the Government of the Communist apparatus during the
period 1934 to 1937. According to the testimony of Mr. Chambers, Mr. Alger
Hiss was a member of this group, which had as its purpose Communist infiltration
of the American Government, with espionage as one of its eventual objectives.
On August 5 the committee heard in open session
Mr. Alger Hiss at his own request, who categorically denied the testimony
and stated that he had never known an individual by the name of Whittaker
Chambers and could not identify him as a person he had ever known by photographs
which were shown him.
The committee in an effort to determine the facts
promptly sent a subcommittee to New York and again called Whittaker Chambers,
took his testimony in executive session in the Federal Building in New
York City on August 7. Mr. Chambers was questioned at length regarding
his associations with Mr. Hiss. He gave the committee such detailed information
concerning his associations with Mr. Hiss and his family during the period
in question that the committee came to the conclusion that it was impossible
for the two persons not to have been closely associated.
Following this session, part of the staff of the
committee was then detailed to corroborate, if possible, the testimony
of Whittaker Chambers, which had been taken in New York City. As a result
of this investigation, on August 16 the committee again brought before
it Mr. Alger Hiss, who was questioned in executive session in Washington
concerning the detailed testimony that Mr. Chambers had given in New York
in executive session. During the course of this testi-
mony Mr. Hiss again failed to identify Whittaker
Chambers from the photographs which .were shown to him. However, he did
advise the committee that he had searched his mind and that he did recall
an individual by the name of George Crosley, whom he had known during the
period in question. He expressed some doubt, however, that this was the
person known as Whittaker Chambers.
The following day, August 17, the committee brought
about a confrontation at an executive session of the committee at the Commodore
Hotel, New York City, between Alger Hiss and .Whittaker Chambers, at which
time Mr. Hiss made the positive identification of Whittaker Chambers as
an individual that he knew as George Crosley.
While the testimony of Whittaker Chambers is not
directly involved in the two espionage rings which the committee has been
investigating -namely, the Silvermaster and Perlo groups, as disclosed
by ElIzabeth T. Bentley-nevertheless, because of the direct conflict in
the testimony of Mr. Hiss and Mr. Chambers, the committee has continued
its investigations and has subpenaed both of these witnesses to appear
here in public session this morning in an effort to determine the true
facts. As a result of this hearing, certainly one of these witnesses will
be tried for perjury. The Congress and the American people are entitled
to the truth on this important matter. These hearings will be fair
and impartial.
I should, therefore, like to caution the people
present today that they are guests of the committee. We are glad to have
as many representatives of the American public as is possible to crowd
in this room today. I shall ask, therefore, that you conduct yourselves
in an orderly manner and to refrain from any demonstration whatsoever,
including applause.
I should like to say to the news reels and photographers
that they are likewise welcome here, but they must not in any way interfere
with the orderly procedure of the committee.
With this understanding, we shall proceed to
call the first witness.
Mr. Stripling, the first witness.
Mr. STRIPLING. Mr. Alger Hiss.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Hiss, raise your right hand,
please.
Do you solemnly swear the testimony you are about
to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,
so help you God?
Mr. HISS. I do.
The CHAIRMAN. Sit down.
TESTIMONY OF ALGER HISS, ACCOMPANIED BY COUNSEL,
JOHN F. DAVIS
Mr. STRIPLING. Are you accompanied by counsel?
Mr. HISS. I am, Mr. Stripling.
Mr. STRIPLING. Will you have your counsel identify
himself?
Mr. DAVIS. My name is John F. Davis. I am a partner
in the firm of Hilmer & Davis, with offices at 1700 I Street NW., Washington,
D. C.
Mr. STRIPLING. Mr. Hiss, you are here this morning
in response to a subpena which was served upon you on August 17 at the
Commodore Hotel in New York City; is that correct?
Mr. HISS. Mr. Stripling, as I told the subcommittee
on that day, there was no need to serve a subpena on me. A subpena was
handed to me. I had already told the committee I would be very glad to
be here on August 25.
Mr. STRIPLING. You are here also in response
to the subpena, however?
Mr. HISS. I received the subpena; yes, Mr. Stripling.
Mr. STRIPLING. You are here in response to it;
is that correct?
Mr. HISS. To the extent that my coming here quite
voluntarily after having received the subpena is in response to it; I would
accept that statement.
Mr. STRIPLING. Mr. Chairman, I would like to
read a brief statement at this time.
Public Law 601 of the Seventy-ninth Congress,
second session:
House Resolution 5 of the Eightieth Congress
provides the authority for the Committee on Un-American Activities, United
States House of Representatives.
Public Law 601 states:
The Committee on Un-American Activities as a
whole or by subcommittee is authorized to make from time to time investigations
of (i) the extent, character, and objects of un-American propaganda activities
in the United States, (ii) the diffusion within the United States of subversive
and un-American propaganda that is instigated from foreign countries or
of a domestic origin and attacks the principle or the form of government
as guaranteed by our Constitution, and (iii) all other questions in relation
thereto that would aid Congress in any necessary remedial legislation.
Pursuant to this mandate
the committee has been conducting an investigation in the past several
months into alleged Communist infiltration by Communist agents in the Federal
Government and the operation within the Government of certain persons who
were collecting information to be turned over to a foreign government.
The hearing this morning is for the purpose of pursuing this investigation.
Among the witnesses who have been subpenaed to appear this morning are
Mr. Alger Hiss and Mr. Whittaker Chambers.
All questions propounded
to Mr. Hiss and Mr. Chambers or the other witnesses will be pertinent to
the inquiry, and they shall be required to answer them.
Mr. HISS. Mr. Chairman, I
would like to address a question to the chairman if I might.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Hiss.
Mr. HISS. May I be permitted
to make an opening statement?
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Hiss, is
that opening statement the same as the letter you sent to me?
Mr. HISS. I would like to
read that letter into the record so that it is actually a part of the record
in these proceedings.
The CHAIRMAN. Is it
the same as the letter?
Mr. HISS. In part it
is, but I have a few additional comments I would like to make in addition
to reading--
The CHAIRMAN. We have
already read the letter in the newspapers.
Mr. HISS. But it is
not a part of the record of this proceeding, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. STRIPLING. Mr. Chairman.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Stripling.
Mr. STRIPLING. May I
suggest that we proceed with the questions and at the conclusion of the
questions and answers the committee take
Mr. Hiss' statement
under advisement as to whether he should read it.
The CHAIRMAN. Without
objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. HISS. Mr. Chairman,
do I understand your ruling that I may not read the letter into the record?
The CHAIRMAN. Not necessarily.
You may not read the letter right at this point. Later on we will take
under consideration whether or not the letter will be read.
Mr. HISS. May I, Mr.
Chairman, make the other part of the statement I desire to make at the
outset of the meeting?
The CHAIRMAN. Not at
this point. Go ahead, Mr. Stripling.
Mr. STRIPLING. Mr. Hiss,
would you kindly stand up, please?
Mr. Chambers, will you
stand up?
Mr. Hiss, have you ever
seen this individual [Mr. Stripling points to Mr. Chambers.]
The CHAIRMAN. Would
you repeat the question, please?
Mr. STRIPLING. Have
you ever seen this individual who is standing?
Mr. HISS. I have.
Mr. STRIPLING. Do you
know him?
Mr. HISS. I identify
him, Mr. Stripling.
Mr. STRIPLING. As who?
Mr. HISS. As George
Crosley.
Mr. STRIPLING. When
did you know him as George Crosley?
Mr. HISS. According
to my best recollection-and I would like to repeat what I have said to
the committee before, that I have not had the opportunity to consult records
of the time-I first knew him sometime in the winter of 1934 or 1935.
Mr. STRIPLING. When
did you last see Mr. Crosley, as you have identified him ?
Mr. HISS. Prefacing
my answer with the same remarks I have just made, I would think sometime
in 1935.
Mr. STRIPLING. In 1935
was the last time you saw him?
Mr. HISS. According
to my best recollection, not having checked the records.
Mr. STRIPLING. Would
you remain standing a moment, Mr. Hiss?
Mr. Chairman, would
you swear in Mr. Chambers?
The CHAIRMAN. Do you
solemnly swear the testimony you are about to give will be the truth, the
whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I do.
TESTIMONY OF WHITTAKER CHAMBERS
Mr. STRIPLING. Mr. Chamber,
do you know the individual who is now standing at the witness stand?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I do.
Mr. STRIPLING. Who is
he?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Mr. Alger
Hiss.
Mr. STRIPLING. When
did you first meet Mr. Hiss?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I think
about 1934.
Mr. STRIPLING. 1934?
Mr. CHAMBERS. 1934.
Mr. STRIPLING. When
did you last see :Mr. Hiss?
Mr. CHAMBERS. About
1938.
Mr. STRIPLING. About
1938. Have a seat, Mr. Chambers. Sit down, Mr.
Hiss.
Mr. Hiss, when you appeared
before the committee on August 3, I think it was--
TESTIMONY OF ALGER HISS--Resumed
Mr. HISS. I appeared
on August 5, I think.
Mr. STRIPLING. August
5-I am sorry-you were shown pictures of Mr. Whittaker Chambers.
Mr. HISS. I was shown
a photograph.
Mr. STRIPLING. At that
time you could not identify this individual from that photograph.
Mr. HISS. That is correct.
Mr. STRIPLING. When
you appeared before the committee in executive session in Washington on
August 16, you were again shown a picture of Mr. Whittaker Chambers.
Mr. HISS. I think I
was shown two pictures that day, according to my recollection.
Mr. STRIPLING. You also
failed at that time to identify Mr. Chambers as Mr. Crosley.
Mr. HISS. I said that
the pictures were definitely of a face that was not unfamiliar to me. There
was a certain familiarity about it.
Incidentally, Mr. Stripling
is referring to certain testimony of mine taken in executive session, Mr.
Chairman. I wonder if there is any reason why all of the testimony thus
far taken in this case should not be made public. A good deal of it has
reached the press by one means or another. There is a considerable amount
of distortion and misunderstanding.
I have no reason to want any
of that testimony-mine or Mr. Chambers', which I have never seen-to remain
secret. It seems to me the public and the press would like to have full
access to all of the testimony that has been taken to this date.
Mr. STRIPLING. Mr. Chairman,
I suggest that the committee make all of the testimony public as or this
moment.
Mr. HISS. I think that
would be a very good idea.
Mr. MUNDT. Mr. Chairman,
may I suggest that yesterday, in your absence, the members of the committee
who were here decided that today we would make all the testimony available
provided it was agreeable to the other members of the committee.
Mr. HISS. I am very
gratified.
The CHAIRMAN. All right.
Without objection, it will all be made public as of this moment.
Mr. STRIPLING. Mr. Hiss,
.would you relate to the committee the circumstances under which you first
met the person you have identified that you knew as George Crosley?
Mr. HISS. Mr. Stripling,
I have already in an effort to be helpful to the committee when I came
to the executive session on the 16th willingly in response to a request
from the chairman given the best recollection that I have.
As I said then, I have
no opportunity to consult records. The connection between Crosley and Chambers
did not enter my mind until Monday morning, the 16th, while I was on the
way by train to the afternoon session. According to my best recollection,
without checking the records-and I do think it would be more helpful if
the committee would go by records; I would like to know what the records
say; some of the records I find are not available to me; I believe they
are in the custody of the committee. I have attempted through counsel in
the last few days to have access to the records.
Mr. STRIPLING. .Just
a moment, Mr. Hiss. What records have you attempted to obtain which were
in the custody of the committee?
Mr. HISS. I have attempted
to obtain records of leases of premises where I was resident during the
period in question. I have attempted to get the records with respect to
the Ford automobile that I owned. I am informed that the records with respect
to the latter in particular are not in their normal, official location
but are in the custody of the committee.
Mr. STRIPLING. That
is absolutely untrue. The committee has issued no subpenas upon any realty
company nor has it obtained any leases.
It has subpenaed a photostatic
copy of a document from the Department of Motor Vehicles or the District
or Columbia. However, the original document is still in the files.
Mr. HISS. I am told,
Mr. Stripling, that the original document is no longer in the files. I
tried to have my counsel have access to it.
Mr. STRIPLING. .When
did you try to secure that document?
Mr. HISS. I will have
to rely on counsel to say just when they tried.
The CHAIRMAN. It would
be interesting to the committee to know from counsel when you tried to
get this document.
Mr. DAVIS. A representative
of mine tried to get this document yesterday afternoon, I am informed by
the representative. I did not myself go to the Motor Vehicle Bureau. He
was told that it was photostated at some time prior to yesterday but the
document itself
had been taken from its normal place yesterday.
Mr. MUNDT. Who was that
representative and who told him it was taken from the place and who took
it from the place? Let's get down to specific facts. If you were not told
yourself, who was your representative?
Mr. DAVIS. I am sorry-I
am not trying to be evasive-I do not know who the person was that went.
I can ascertain who went to the Bureau to find out. I do not know.
Mr. MUNDT. You do not
know who it was who told you that?
Mr. DAVIS. I do not
know and I do not know that it was stated that the committee had taken
the original. All I know is he was told the original had been removed from
its normal place.
Mr. MUNDT. But you don't
know who told you that or who told the other man that. That is very vague
from the standpoint of our committee, you understand.
Mr. DAVIS. I understand
it is very vague. I do not know who it was. I can ascertain who it was
during a recess.
Mr. MUNDT. Was he a
member of your firm?
Mr. DAVIS. He was not
a member of my firm.
Mr. NIXON. How did you
find it out, then?
Mr. DAVIS. I was informed.
Mr. NIXON. By whom?
Mr. DAVIS. I was informed
of this--
Mr. STRIPLING. I suggest,
Mr. Chairman, that counsel be sworn if he is going to testify. Perhaps
it would be better if you were sworn.
The CHAIRMAN. Stand
and raise your right hand.
Do you solemnly swear
the testimony you are about to give will be the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Mr. DAVIS. I do.
The CHAIRMAN. Sit down.
Mr. NIXON. It would
be helpful to the committee if counsel would tell us how he received the
information that these records were missing from their normal place. Who
told him?
Mr. DAVIS. I would
be very glad to.
Mr. NIXON. Yes.
Mr. DAVIS. I was told.
as I recollect, by Mr. Fontaine Bradley, who is an attorney in Washington,
and whom I had asked while I was in New York to make certain inquiries
in Washington in respect to these matters.
Mr. MUNDT. Would you
please identify the firm of which Mr. Fontaine Bradley is a member?
Mr. DAVIS. I believe
that Mr. Bradley is a member of the Covington firm.
Mr. NIXON. When did
he tell you this?
Mr. DAVIS. He told me
this fast evening when I saw him when I finally got to Washington.
Mr. NIXON. Then you
know this is the man who told you that, don't you? You said "to the best
of my recollection." I mean, if he told you last evening, you certainly
know if it was he or somebody else, don't you ?
Mr. DAVIS. I believe
it was he.
Mr. NIXON. You believe.
Did you have a conversation with him, Mr. Davis?
Mr. MUNDT. Mr. Chairman.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Mundt.
Mr. MUNDT. I would just
like to register a protest at this continuous evasion on the part of these
witnesses. I am getting tired of flying half-way across the country to
get evasive answers. If the gentleman doesn't know who told him, let him
say, "I don't know." If he knows, let him say "I do know." Let's not say
"I believe" or "I think."
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Nixon,
you have the questioning, so you may proceed with the questioning.
Mr. NIXON. I want counsel
to take plenty of time to answer the question. I think the question is
quite simple.
Last evening somebody told
him about these records. Now certainly you can remember who told you last
night, Counsel.
Mr. DAVIS. Mr. Nixon,
there were three people present at this time.
There was Mr. Bradley,
there was a partner of Mr. Bradley, and there was Mr. Hiss and myself,
four persons present, as I remember, at the time of this conversation.
Mr. NIXON. I see.
Mr. DAVIS. I think it
was Mr. Fontaine Bradley who gave me this information.
Mr. NIXON. Who else
could it have been?
Mr. DAVIS. It is possible
it was his partner who was there who gave me the information, but I do
not believe that was so.
Mr. NIXON. Then it definitely
was Mr. Bradley or his partner who gave you the information?
Mr. DAVIS. That is to
the best of my recollection, and I shouldn't forget what happened last
night.
Mr. NIXON. Certainly.
This conversation you had wasn't a telephone conversation?
Mr. DAVIS. It was a
person-to-person conversation.
Mr. NIXON. Just what
did he tell you?
Mr. DAVIS. He told me,
as I have just stated, that inquiries--and my memory is not certain whether
he said the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles, or what the bureau is, the
official bureau where you go with respect to getting the certificates of
title--inquiry had been made, I think not by him, but by some agent that
he sent, to see if we could examine that certificate, and that he ascertained
that the certificate itself had been photostated by the committee, I believe,
at some prior time, but that the certificate itself had been removed from
its customary place and was not available for inspection by our agent at
the time we were there.
Mr. NIXON. Thank you
very much, Counsel.
The CHAIRMAN. Does anyone
else want to ask counsel any questions before Mr. Stripling proceeds with
the witness?
Mr. Stripling.
Mr. STRIPLING. Mr. Hiss,
will you continue to give the committee the circumstances under which you
met the person you have identified as George Crosley.
Mr. HISS. According
to my best recollection, a man representing himself to me as George Crosley
came into my office in the Senate Office Building while I was acting as
chief counsel to the Senate Committee Investigating the Munitions Industry.
He represented himself as a free-lance writer for magazines. He represented
himself as preparing a series of articles about the munitions investigation.
As did many other members
of the press, research people, and similar people, he had a perfect right
to come to my office either directly or by reference from the central office.
Very many members of the press and others interested did come to see me
about the cases of which I was in charge.
It was one of my duties
to give the press such helpful information about the record, such guidance,
one might say. as to the significance of what the committee had been developing.
That is my best recollection of how I first met George Crosley.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Counsel,
may I interpose a question here on a matter which Mr. Hiss has previously
covered?
Mr. STRIPLING. Yes.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Hiss,
I understood you to say that you felt that the records of the leases should
be checked before you could testify actually as to date; is that correct?
Mr. HISS. I was asked,
Mr. Nixon, on the 16th and, I think on the 17th-the record will show--
(At this point an unknown
person confers with Mr. Davis.)
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Counsel,
will you please identify the man who came up?
Mr. DAVIS. The man who
came up is Mr. Harold Rosenwald.
Mr. MUNDT. A little
further identification, please. Is he counsel?
Mr. DAVIS. He is a practicing
lawyer in New York City.
Mr. MUNDT. His address
and the name of his firm?
Mr. ROSENWALD. 55 Liberty
Street, New York City. The firm is Oseas, Pepper & Segal, O-s-e-a-s-,
Pepper & Segal. I am employed by them.
(At this point there
was a further consultation between Mr. Rosenwald and Mr. Davis.)
Mr. HISS. Mr. Chairman,
since the committee seems to be very much interested in counsel for giving
me any kind of assistance, may I just state that not being a man of considerable
means, I have been much gratified by the volunteer assistance of friends,
many of whom not unnaturally are lawyers.
Mr. Rosenwald, who has
just been identified, is a graduate of the same law school that I am. I
knew him also in practice in Boston, and have kept in touch with him since.
He has been voluntarily
assisting me in attempting to get records and similar materials.
Mr. Davis, who is with me today, is also a personal
friend of some standing, some long standing. I have had some difficulty
with respect to continuity of counsel.
The first adviser I
had, Mr. Willam Marbury, an old friend in Baltimore, who accompanied me
to the other hearing on August 5, was sent within the week or within 10
days to London by the Government on important business.
I have been doing the
best I could to get such assistance of a voluntary nature as I possibly
could. I think it may be appropriate to put that in, since the committee
seems to be very much interested in who are helping.
Various others have
volunteered their assistance.
The CHAIRMAN. I will
say this for the committee. We are very much interested in hearing what
you have to say.
Mr. Nixon, did you have
a question?
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Hiss
was interrupted when he was answering.
Mr. HISS. Will you repeat
your question? I am sorry.
Mr. NIXON. I understood
you to say that you thought the committee should check the leases and also
I thought I understood you to say that you had not yet checked the leases
yourself. I wanted to be sure I heard you correctly.
Mr. HISS. Mr. Nixon,
I have not checked the leases myself. I thought I had the leases in my
papers in New York.
Mr. NIXON. You so testified.
Mr. HISS. I said on
the 16th I thought they were there. I have now looked in my apartment in
New York, and I must have got rid of the leases when I moved from the house
into an apartment which meant a certain contraction of possessions. I did
get rid of a good many old papers at that time, and apparently the leases
were among them.
So it has meant going back,
first, remembering the real-estate agents I dealt with, and, second, going
back to the real-estate agents to find out from them what the actual terms
and dates of the leases were.
I was asked on the 16th and
on the 17th a good many questions by members of the committee and I think
by Mr. Stripling as to where I lived at various times. I was not even able
to recall the street correctly. To the best of my recollection, I testified
that I lived on Twenty-ninth Street. I have now ascertained that it was
Twenty-eighth Street.
My reference to the leases was that I could not
after all these years be expected to remember with accuracy and to be really
helpful to the committee in its presumed search for truth and the complete
truth unless I did have the opportunity to consult records.
But I also told the
committee that I was not in any sense going to be evasive. I hope the acting
chairman's reference to evasiveness was not in any remote sense an implied
reference to me.
I went forward, Mr.
Nixon, and said, testifying simply on recollection of rather trivial housekeeping
details of 14 years ago, I would tell you the best I could recall, and
so I did.
Mr. NIXON. Then, the
point is that you have not checked the leases as of this morning?
Mr. HISS. I still have
not been able to get hold of all the leases. Some of the leases have been
consulted, there have been some telephone conversations with the real-estate
people. I have asked counsel to prepare as rapidly as possible a collection
of all the available record evidence--photostats, originals, or copies--of
all the record evidence on these matters, which it is apparent the committee
considers of importance.
That has not been completed
yet.
Mr. NIXON. That is all.
Mr. STRIPLING. Mr. Hiss,
do you have the lease between you and Mr.. Crosley?
Mr. HISS. I have never
testified that there was any lease between me and Mr. Crosley. I said that
it was an oral arrangement; a sublease orally arranged.
Mr. STRIPLING. Now,
you gave the committee the circumstances under which you met Mr. Crosley.
Could you give us the date, the approximate date?
Mr. HISS. Again, my
best recollection would be--and this is a reconstructed memory trying to
recall when I did various things with the Nye committee. I have not even
been able to get the list of all the staff of the Nye committee, for example.
I would think it must
have been either in the late winter of 1934 or the early winter of 1935.
Mr. STRIPLING. At this
point, I would like to read from your testimony which you gave on August
16.
Mr. HISS. The name of
the man I brought in--and he may have no relation to this whole nightmare--is
a man named George Crosley. I met him when I was working for the Nye committee.
He was a writer. He hoped to sell articles to magazines about the munitions
industry. I saw him, as I saw in my office over in the Senate Office Building,
dozens of representatives of the press, students, people writing books,
research people. It was our job to give them appropriate information out
of the record, show what had been put in the record. This fellow was writing
a series of articles, according to my best recollection, freelancing, which
he hoped to sell to one of the magazines. He was pretty obviously not successful
in financial terms, but as far as I know was not actually hard up.
Mr. STRIPLING. What
color was his hair?
Mr. HISS. Rather blondish;
blonder than any of us here.
Mr. STRIPLING. Was he
married?
Mr. HISS. Yes, sir.
Mr. STRIPLING. Any children?
Mr. HISS. One little
baby, as I remember it, and the way I know that was the subleasing point.
After we had taken the house on P Street and had the apartment on our hands,
be one day in the course of casual conversation said he was going to specialize
all summer in getting his articles done here in Washington, did not know
what he was going to do, and was thinking of bringing his family. I said,
"You can have my apartment. It is not terribly cool but it is up in the
air and near the Wardman Park." He said he had a wife and little baby.
The apartment was not very expensive and I think I let him have it at exact
cost. My recollection is that he spent several nights in my house because
his furniture van was delayed. We left several pieces of furniture behind.
The P Street house belonged to a naval officer overseas and was partly
furnished, so we did not need all our furniture, particularly during the
summer months, and my recollection is that definitely, as one does with
a tenant trying to make him agreeable and comfortable, we left several
pieces of furniture behind until the fall. His van was delayed, was not
going to bring all the furniture because he was going to be there just
during the summer, and we put them up two or three nights in a row, his
wife and little baby.
Mr. NIXON. His
wife and he and little baby did spend several nights in the house with
you?
Mr. HISS. This
man Crosley; yes.
Mr. STRIPLING. Now, is
that as you recall it, Mr. Hiss?
Mr. HISS. That was the
best recollection I had on the day I testified and that is why I so testified.
I have since learned that
my lease on the house began earlier than I thought and my lease on the
apartment terminated somewhat earlier than I thought. The overlap which
I remembered, and which was the main thing in my memory, was, according
to the best records I have so far been able to check, accurate.
Mr. STRIPLING. When
did you first move into the P Street house?
Mr. HISS. Mr. Stripling,
I really think the best way for this committee to get full facts is to
go to records, if possible. I have said that several times in these hearings.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Witness.
Mr. HISS. I have not
been able yet to get--and I will furnish it to the committee as soon as
I get it--the actual records of when I took the lease on the P Street house
and when I moved into the P Street house.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Hiss,
we appreciate your suggestions as to how to conduct these hearings, but
if you do not mind, and if the committee does not mind, we have certain
questions we would like to proceed with.
Mr. HISS. Certainly.
The CHAIRMAN. Go ahead,
Mr. Stripling.
Mr. STRIPLING. Mr. Chairman,
at this point I would like to read into the record a letter from Sandoz,
Inc., real estate and insurance, dated August 20, 1948, from Teresa B.
Mileham, who signed herself as a bookkeeper, addressed to Robert E. Stripling,
Chief Investigator:
My DEAR MR. STRIPLING: This
is to certify that our records show that we rented 2905 P Street NW., to
Priscilla Hiss for 1 year from May 1, 1935, to June 15, 1936, at a monthly
rental of $105.
Very truly yours.
Does that refresh your recollection
on that at all, Mr. Hiss?
Mr. HISS. Mr. Stripling, I
would have thought in view of information I have received as to the date
during which my tenancy of the apartment on Twenty-eighth Street lasted,
that I must have moved into the P Street house a little earlier than the
date just read, which I understood to be May 1.
(Mr. Stripling hands letter
to Mr. Hiss.)
Mr. HISS (continuing). And
again I would like to check all possible records to see whether I moved
in before the date of the lease, according to their records, which is sometimes
the custom, to be given a month or so in addition to your regular lease,
earlier or later, at the beginning preceding the lease or after its termination;
so that again I can't testify with any exactness without an opportunity
to refresh my recollection by trying to refer to various records which
are not easy to get hold of after all this lapse of time.
Mr. STRIPLING. Now I
believe you testified earlier, Mr. Hiss, that you sublet your apartment
on Twenty-eighth Street-that was apartment 42, at 2831 Twenty-eighth NW.,-to
George Crosley. Is that correct?
Mr. HISS. I did so testify
and I did so sublet.
Mr. STRIPLING. When
did you sublet this apartment to George Crosley?
Mr. HISS. My recollection
had been that it was at the beginning of the summer. whether it was a little
earlier or a little later than that I couldn't be sure-and again I would
want to have access to all the records possible in order to be as accurate
as possible.
The CHAIRMAN. What year?
Mr. HISS. What year
did what happen?
The CHAIRMAN. The summer
of what year?
Mr. STRIPLING. That
you sublet the apartment.
Mr. HISS. The summer
of 1935.
Mr. STRIPLING. What
was the agreement regarding this apartment between you and Mr. Crosley?
Mr. HISS. According
to my best recollection, the agreement was that of a simple informal sublease
at the cost to me, the privilege of his occupying the premises as long
as I had disposition of them, and it has been my recollection from Monday,
the 16th of this month, on that I did have the disposition of that apartment
or could assure the disposition of that apartment over a period of several
months after I moved into 2905 P Street.
Mr. STRIPLING. Do you
recall just when your lease for the apartment expired?
Mr. HISS. No; I do not.
Mr. STRIPLING. How long
did Mr. Crosley remain in the apartment?
Before you answer that,
I believe you testified on August 16 on page 52, you were asked by Mr.
Nixon:
Can you state again just
when he first rented the apartment?
referring to Mr. Crosley.
You say:
I think it was about
June of 1935.
Do you recall whether
or not it was June?
Mr. HISS. My best recollection
at the time I testified was it was about June. Whether it was a little
earlier or a little later after 14 years or so I am afraid I just am not
able to recall.
Mr. STRIPLING. Do you recall
how long he remained at the apartment?
Mr. HISS. I have no idea.
My recollection is that he was entitled, as far as I was concerned, to
remain for several months and that I was in a position to assure him that
he could remain for several months. Whether he did or not would be no concern
of mine.
Mr. STRIPLING. At this
point, then, Mr. Chairman, I should like to read into the record a letter
from Randall H. Hagner & Co., real estate, 1321 Connecticut Avenue,
Washington, D. C. The letter is addressed to Robert E. Stripling, chief
investigator of the Committee on Un-American Activities, and signed by
Mary Petherbridge. The letter reads:
DEAR MR. STRIPLING: Our records
show that Alger Hiss made application to us through the manager, Mrs. W.
M. Jeffers, on May 29, 1934, for apartment 42, 2831 Twenty-eighth Street
NW. His tenancy began on July 1, 1934, for 1 year. We assume from the application
that a lease was made. However, our old leases have been destroyed. Mr.
Hiss vacated on June 28, 1935. His previous address given at that time
was 3411 0 Street NW. The number of occupants was listed as two adults
and one child. This apartment was vacant for the month of July.
On August 1, 1935, it was rented to W. E. Isemann.
Very truly yours.
Mr. HISS. May I say it is apparent
that the committee has been better staffed with people to inquire into
records than I have been. May I also say with reference to my earlier statement
about the assistance of friends, that I did not mean to exclude any friends
who have been helpful by not mentioning their names.
It might be appropriate to
mention that Mr. Bradley, whose name has come into the testimony, is also
a personal friend of some standing.
Mr. STRIPLING. Now,
Mr. Hiss, when you moved to the P Street house, did you take your furniture
with you?
Mr. HISS. Mr. Stripling,
I have been and will continue to do the best I can to remember these housekeeping
details. I have talked to my wife on the telephone and asked her to remember
as best she can.
My best recollection is that
I did not take all of the furniture that was in the Twenty-eighth Street
apartment when I first moved into the P Street house; that I left some
of it behind for Mr. Crosley's use.
As I testified, it is my recollection
that the house at 2905 P Street was furnished or partly furnished, and
that we did not actually need all of our own furniture in order to furnish
that house.
Mr. STRIPLING. So you
sublet the apartment to Mr. Crosley; is that correct ?
Mr. HISS. Under the circumstances
I have stated, according to my best recollection, the answer is "Yes."
Mr. STRIPLING. Now,
you stated that Mr. Crosley and his wife and baby stayed several days in
your house on P Street prior to moving into the apartment. Is that correct?
Mr. HISS. That again
is to the best of my recollection, Mr. Stripling.
Mr. STRIPLING. And the
reason they stayed with you is because they were waiting for a moving van
to come down?
Mr. HISS. So I recall,
Mr. Stripling.
Mr. STRIPLING. Now,
I will read your testimony which you gave on August 16, beginning on page
53.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Stripling,
before you go into that may I clear up the matter about the lease?
Mr. STRIPLING. Yes.
Mr. NIXON. I think that
from the testimony Mr. Hiss has given and from the documents Mr. Stripling
has presented that it is very clear as to what these terminal dates for
this lease were.
As I understand it, Mr. Hiss'
lease on the house he moved to on P Street started on May 1; is that correct?
Mr. STRIPLING. That
is correct.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Hiss
has suggested he might have moved into that house before, that as a courtesy
he might have received a month or so free rent before he moved into the
house, but the lease as far as the records show--he first had his rental
contract on his new house on May 1.
You have also indicated that
the apartment which he sublet to Mr. Crosley was rerented to a new tenant,
not Mr. Crosley, commencing August 1. Is that correct?
Mr. STRIPLING. That
is correct.
Mr. NIXON. Now, when
did Mr. Hiss' lease on the apartment run out? Have you put that matter
into the record yet?
Mr. STRIPLING. That
is in the record. It expired on the 28th of June.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Hiss'
lease on the apartment expired on the 28th of June?
Mr. STRIPLING. That
is right.
Mr. NIXON. In other
words, the amount of time for which his sublease could have run would be
approximately from May 1 to June 28.
That was the period
at which Mr. Hiss had the disposal of the apartment and in which he could
have been in the new house. Is that correct?
Mr. STRIPLING. That
is what it appears from the records.
Mr. HISS. Is that a
question to me or to Mr. Stripling?
Mr. NIXON. I am making
the statement. If you have objection to the statement, you are perfectly
welcome to make it.
Mr. HISS. The only thing
I would like to say, Mr. Nixon, first, in general there seems to me to
be relatively little disagreement as between the testimony of Mr. Chambers
as he now calls himself and me with respect to the period and the circumstances
of our acquaintance.
As I said in the letter which
I sent to the chairman, the chairman said he read my letter of yesterday
in the newspapers. That was certainly not necessary. The letter was delivered
to the chairman's office, a signed letter by me.
The CHAIRMAN. The Chair
would like to say that the chairman was not in the office when your letter
arrived; but he did have an opportunity to read the letter in this morning's
New York Herald Tribune.
Mr. HISS. It was delivered
to your office yesterday afternoon, Mr. Chairman.
The important issues,
the important charges are not questions of leases, but questions of whether
I was a Communist, and it was to try to get the issues raised that are
the real issues--it seems to be topsy-turvy to be talking only about leases,
Mr. Nixon; in such a
serious charge as this it seems to me we should
be getting after the question of my record and what did people who worked
closely and intimately with me think of me.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Hiss,
I would like to say again that the committee appreciates your suggestions
as to how to conduct these hearings, but we do have certain questions to
ask and, if you don't mind, Mr. Nixon will continue questioning if he has
any more questions.
Mr. NIXON. Yes; I have.
I would like to comment upon Mr. Hiss' statement that the only issue in
this hearing today is whether or not Mr. Hiss was a Communist.
The issue in this hearing
today is whether or not Mr. Hiss or Mr. Chambers has committed perjury
before this committee, as well as whether Mr. Hiss is a Communist.
Now, as far as these what
are termed housekeeping details by Mr. Hiss are concerned it isn't the
intention of the committee to hold Mr. Hiss to exact dates; it isn't the
intention of the committee to hold him to exact details on matters that
happened years ago, but it certainly is the intention of the committee
to question both Mr. Hiss and Mr. Chambers very closely on the matter of
their acquaintanceship, because it is on that issue that the truth or falsity
of the statements made by Mr. Hiss and Mr. Chambers will stand or fall.
Mr. HISS. May I say,
Mr. Nixon, that that does not seem to me a very rational basis for determining
credibility. Obviously, the committee may ask the questions it chooses.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Hiss,
you are an attorney. I think you are aware probably of the standard instruction
which is given to the jury on cases of credibility of witnesses.
That instruction. as
I recall it is that if any matter a witness is found to be telling an untruth
on any question which is material and which is raised during the course
of the court's proceedings, his credibility on other questions is also
suspect.
Now, as far as this
matter is concerned, you, yourself, have made an issue of the fact as to
(1) whether you knew Chambers at all--that issue has now been resolved;
and (2) how well you knew Chambers and whether you knew him as a Communist.
That is the purpose
of this questioning now.
Now, I would appreciate
it if you would again comment upon the matter of this lease.
Do I understand that
May 1 to June 28 would be approximately the length of the rental agreement
with Mr. Crosley?
Mr. HISS. May I refer
back to what I said earlier this morning, that my recollection in terms
of an impression about these events is that I considered that I had the
disposition or could assure the disposition of the Twenty-eighth Street
apartment for a period of several months.
Whether my lease overlapped--whether
my legal lease overlapped my moving into the P Street apartment by several
months, or whether it was somewhat less than that, and I was aware that
anyone who wanted to get the apartment month to month or any other way
after my lease expired during the summer, whether that was part of my thinking
at
the time I frankly can't tell in terms of details.
The significant thing
in my memory is my recollection that I was in position to assure Crosley
of several months' occupancy of the apartment which I had been living in
on Twenty-eighth Street.
Mr. NIXON. I think we
can cut through it with these short questions:
You did not lease the
apartment to Crosley until you had moved into the other house; is that
correct?
Mr. HISS. That is my
best recollection.
Mr. NIXON. Your lease
on the other house according to the records began on May 1. You will agree
with that?
Mr. HISS. That is what
the records seem to show. I have not seen the records myself.
Mr. NIXON. We have the
letter which Mr. Stripling just handed you. If the records show that, you
will agree that the records are correct on that point?
Mr. HISS. I have no
reason for questioning the records.
Mr. NIXON. You suggested
that we go to the records.
Mr. HISS. I didn't hear
you.
Mr. NIXON. You suggested
that we go to the records.
Mr. HISS. I have, indeed.
Mr. NIXON. That is what
we have done, and it showed that lease began on May 1.
Mr. HISS. I have been
trying to go to them, too, Mr. Nixon.
Mr. NIXON. Certainly.
The records also show that your lease on the apartment ran out on June
28. It is quite apparent, then, that the time Mr. Crosley could have stayed
in this apartment was a period of approximately 8 to 9 weeks from May 1
and June 28.
Mr. HISS. Mr. Nixon,
I doubt if this is the occasion for any argumentation as to what the facts
mean.
Mr. NIXON. I am not
arguing.
Mr. HISS. But I think
I heard Mr. Stripling read that the apartment, according to Randall Hagner--were
they the agents?
Mr. STRIPLING. Yes.
Mr. HISS. According
to their records was not leased to anyone during the month of July; so
there could be a third month when, if Mr. Crosley had wanted to stay on
in that apartment, he could presumably have done so by arrangements with
Randall Hagner.
Mr. STRIPLING. Mr. Chairman,
this might clarify that point. According to the records of the Potomac
Electric Co., the electricity was turned off at the Twenty-eighth Street
apartment on June 29, 1935.
Mr. NIXON. When was
the gas turned off in that apartment?
Mr. STRIPLING. It was
turned off on June 26,1935.
Mr. NIXON. June 26.
If Mr. Crosley did stay in that apartment another month up to August 1,
he stayed there without gas or electricity.
Mr. HISS. Mr. Nixon,
may I comment? I have not been testifying at any time as to how long Mr.
Crosley stayed there. I have been talking about how long I thought I was
in position to let him stay there, to facilitate his staying there, if
he so desired.
I do not know and I have not
attempted to testify as to how long he in fact stayed there.
Mr. NIXON. You will
now agree, though, that it could only have been for 2 months?
Mr. HISS. You mean how
long he actually stayed there? On the basis of gas and electricity being
turned off and this man's record I don't think I would want to say what
he was doing or wasn't doing.
Mr. NIXON. You think
he might have stayed in the apartment even with the gas off?
Mr. HISS. Let's not
speculate.
Mr. NIXON. With a small
baby.
Mr. HISS. Let's not
speculate, Mr. Nixon.
Mr. NIXON. Proceed,
Mr. Stripling.
Mr. HISS. I don't know
whether his wife and baby were with him at that time, or whether they were
always with him or not.
Mr. STRIPLING. Mr. Hiss,
George Crosley, who you testified you first met in 1934--do you know of
anyone here in Washington who knew him as George Crosley?
Mr. HISS. In answer
to that question, Mr. Stripling, I have naturally among the very many other
things that I have been trying to check in the few days since Monday of
last week, I have been trying to run down the list of staff members of
the Senate Committee Investigating the Munitions Industry.
As far as I can find out,
there is no one single official list anywhere now available. I have recalled
certain of the members of the staff. I recalled three names offhand of
people that Crosley might have met in addition to me around the committee.
I mentioned Mr. Raushenbush,
the chief investigator. He is away on vacation. I have seen in the press
that the press reached him and he doesn't have any recollection of Crosley.
I want to talk personally to Mr. Raushenbush. I want to see if he can recall
from my description of the circumstances under which I knew Crosley more
than he has told
the press.
I recalled the name
of Robert Wohlford.
Mr. STRIPLING. You gave
both of these names to the committee in New York?
Mr. HISS. Yes; I did-who
was also a member of the staff. I recalled my off-the-cuff recollection.
He is now in New York, I understand. I have asked friends of mine to talk
to Bob Wohlford.
I remembered also the
name of Miss Elsie Gullender, who was, as it were, the chief receptionist
of the committee. She was Mr. Raushenbush's secretary and acted as sort
of an over-all chief of the secretarial staff.
If Crosley had been
referred to me by the central office of the committee-and our offices were
scattered all over the Senate Office Building and we took what space was
vacant, what we could get and what we could use-it would probably have
been Miss Gullender who would first have sent him to me, although he could
have come direct to me because I had been conducting hearings, my name
was publicly known, the cases that I was working on were publicly known.
I have been informed
that Miss Elsie Gullender is now dead. I am not sure that is the fact.
I want, if possible, to locate Miss Gullender. I have been trying to locate
other members of the staff and trying to find out the names of some of
the other members.
I have a recollection
of one man whose name I have not yet been able to recall, though I recall
his personality. I would like to find out from him.
I would hope that I
will be able to find others than myself and my wife who remember George
Crosley under the circumstances I have testified to. I shall certainly
continue without rest to attempt to find out all the information I can
on this subject and on this man, both as Crosley and as Chambers, and let
the committee have whatever I can find out.
I think we were just
beginning the inquiry.
Mr. MUNDT. Mr. Hiss,
is this a fair summary, then, of your position up to now?
That as of today you
have not found anybody other than your wife who ever knew this man over
here under the name of George Crosley?
Mr. HISS. I received
a telephone call--rather, one of my counsel did-from someone, a woman,
who said she had known George Crosley at this time, that she was fearful
of getting her employer in Dutch or something by publicity. We were not
able to trace the call. She may have been imagining.
So far, the answer to
your question is: I have not yet been able to find any witness other than
my wife who remembers him as George Crosley.
Mr. MUNDT. Let me ask
this question. The possibility would seem very plausible to me that since
Mr. Crosley, as you call him, lived in your home for awhile while he was
getting his furniture transferred, that your brother Donald undoubtedly
visited your home frequently.
Have you ever conferred
with Donald to see whether he knew this man as George Crosley?
Mr. HISS. I have asked
him and he has no recollection.
Mr. MUNDT. He had no
recollection?
Mr. HISS. No; and I
have tried to locate my neighbors in the apartment. My next door neighbor
I have been unable to locate, though I have his name and we are doing our
best to find him. It takes a long, time to reconstruct these details after
a long time when one's resources are limited.
Mr. STRIPLING. Now,
Mr. Chairman, the three names the witness has mentioned-Elsie Gullender,
Robert Wohlford, Stephen Raushenbush-were the three that he gave the committee
in New York, and we asked him if he could furnish us the names of three
people to corroborate his statement that Whittaker Chambers was known to
him as George Crosley in 1934 and '35.
The New York Herald Tribune
carried a story which stated that they had communicated with Mr. Raushenbush
and he had no recollection of it. As Mr. Hiss has stated, according to
our investigation, Elsie Gullender died September 24, 1946. We have been
endeavoring to locate Robert Wohlford. His office here at the Department
of Justice had advised us that he was in. We have sent numerous telegrams,
all of which have been returned.
Now, because Mr. Hiss
stated Mr. Crosley was a free-lance writer for American magazine and other
publications--
Mr. HISS. May I interrupt?
What I think Mr. Stripling has been stating in summary is exactly my recollection
of my testimony-- I did not testify as a fact that Mr. Crosley wrote for
American magazine.
I testified that my
best recollection was that he had told me that American magazine was one
of the magazines he hoped to sell his free-lance articles about the Munitions
Committee to.
Mr. STRIPLING. Well,
Mr. Chairman, we asked the Library of Congress, Director of Legislative
Reference Service, to check their files for any articles by George Crosley.
The following letter
was received from Ernest S. Griffith, Director, Legislative Reference Service,
addressed to Mr. Benjamin Mandel, Director of Research:
DEAR MR. MANDEL: In response
to your request for any writings by George Crosley, the following sources
have been examined with reference to George Crosley or Crosley. The results
of the search are indicated.
Readers Guide to Periodical
Literature, January 1929-June 1941-No reference.
Public Catalogue---Two references,
one to a book of poems written by G. Crosley in 1905, the other to a scientific
pamphlet on ultraviolet light by G. E. Crosley, M. D., in 1936.
Copyright Division-No additional
references.
Any further searching you
may suggest, we shall be glad to undertake.
Sincerely yours,
EUNEST S. GRIFFITH,
Director, Legislative Reference
Service.
I also have a letter here,
Mr. Chairman, from the American magazine, that states that they have never
published any articles by George Crosley.
Now, Mr. Hiss. I should
like to read now from your testimony which you gave before the committee
on August 16, page 53:
Mr. STRIPLING. What kind of
automobile did that fellow have?
referring to Mr. Crosley.
Mr. HISS. No kind of automobile.
I sold him an automobile. I had an old, Ford that I threw in with the apartment
and had been trying to trade it in and get rid of it. I had an old, old
Ford we had kept for sentimental reasons. We got it just before we were
married in 1929.
Mr. STRIPLING. Was it
a model A or model T?
Mr. HISS. Early A model
with a trunk on the back, a slightly collegiate model.
Mr. STRIPLING. What color?
Mr. HISS. Dark blue.
It wasn't very fancy, but it had a sassy little trunk on the back.
Mr. NIXON. You sold
that car?
Mr. HISS. I threw it
in. He wanted a way to get around, and I said, "Fine; I want to get rid
of it. I have another car, and we kept it for sentimental reasons, not
worth a damn. I let him have it along with the rent.
Now, would you give
the committee the arrangements of this lease again, Mr. Hiss.
Mr. HISS. Of the lease
of the apartment?
Mr. STRIPLING. That
is right. And the car, the manner in which you threw the car in.
Mr. HISS. My best recollection
is that at the time, or shortly after we first talked about Crosley's subletting
my apartment, he said that he wished to get a car because his family would
be with him while he was in Washington. I think he asked if you could rent
a car, and my best recollection is that I told him that I had an old car
which I would let
him have, a car which
had practically no financial value. That is the best recollection I have
on the car transaction after all these years.
Mr. MUNDT. Was the reason
that that car had no value to you the fact that you had another automobile
at the time?
Mr. HISS. My best recollection
is that at some time, Mr. Mundt, I had both a Plymouth and this old Ford.
Whether that overlap occurred prior to my letting Crosley use the Ford,
I cannot recall with positiviness. I do have a very definite, although
general, recollection that I had both a Ford and a Plymouth for a period
of time, with the Ford of no use, deteriorating, being left outdoors.
Mr. STRIPLING. .Now,
Mr. Chairman, I should like to read from--
Mr. HEBERT. Mr. Stripling,
may I interrupt there to sort of pursue this a little further, with regard
to what Mr. Mundt has asked Mr. Hiss?
Mr. Hiss, you would
remember if you had two automobiles at one time; would you not?
Mr. HISS. I say I do
remember that I did have two automobiles at one time. That made quite an
impression on me.
Mr. HEBERT. It made
an impression on you that you owned two automobiles at one time?
Mr. HISS. That is right.
But, as to the particular time when I had the two automobiles, it was sometime
during this general period. As to the particular time, without consulting
the records, I am not able to testify with positiveness.
Mr. HEBERT. I want to get
this clear. In other words, you would not have given up the mode of transportation
if you did not have any transportation yourself.
Mr. HISS. Unless I was
not going to need automobile transportation for a period of time.
Mr. HEBERT. Then the
logical assumption would be that you did have two automobiles at the same
time that you gave this man Crosley your automobile.
Mr. HISS. That is my
best recollection. Whether it is accurate in detail I will know better
when I get the records and can attempt to refresh my recollection, Mr.
Hebert.
Mr. STRIPLING. Now,
Mr. Chairman, let me put the remainder of the testimony regarding the ownership
of the automobile which is on page 56.
Mr. NIXON. You gave
this Ford car to Crosley?
Mr. HISS. Threw it in
along with the apartment and charged the rent and threw the car in at the
same time.
Mr. NIXON. In other
words, added a little to the rent to cover the car?
Mr. HISS. No.; I think
I charged him exactly what I was paying for the rent and threw the car
in addition. I don't think I got any compensation.
Mr. STRIPLING. You just
gave him the car?
Mr. HISS. I think the
car just went right in with it. I don't remember whether we had settled
on the terms of the rent before the car question came up, or whether it
came up and then on the basis of the car and the apartment I said, "Well,
you ought to pay the full rent."
On page 58 the record
continues:
Mr. STRIPLING. What kind
of a bill of sale did you give Crosley?
Mr. HISS--
referring to the car--
Mr. HISS. I think I just
turned over-in the District you get a certificate of title, I think it
is. I think I just simply turned it over to him.
Mr. STRIPLING. Handed
it to him?
Mr. HISS. Yes.
Mr. STRIPLING. No evidence
of any transfer. Did he record the title?
Mr. HISS. That I haven't
any idea. This is a car which had been sitting on the streets in snows
for a year or two. I once got a parking fine because I forgot where it
was parked. We were using the other car.
Now, Mr. Hiss, is that
the testimony, according to your best recollection?
Mr. HISS. That testimony
was according to my best recollection at the time I gave it, and that is
why I gave it. I have not yet been able to get the record, as my counsel
has testified. We have not been able to ascertain from the Motor Vehicle
Bureau people what their records show with respect to that car.
Mr. STRIPLING. What
did Mr. Crosley do with this Ford, do you know?
Mr. HISS. I frankly
do not recall. It is possible that he used it; it is even possible that
he returned it to me after using it. I really would not be sure of the
details.
My impression and recollection
was that I got rid of it by giving it to him, but if the records show that
it bounced back to me from him, that would not surprise me either.
Mr. STRIPLING. Well,
as a matter of fact, Mr. Hiss, you sold the car a year later, did you not?
Mr. HISS. Not to my
recollection. I have no definite recollection of it.
Mr. STRIPLING. You do
not recall selling the car?
Mr. HISS. I have no
definite recollection.
Mr. STRIPLING. Did you
have a Plymouth during this period? Did you have another car?
Mr. HISS. My recollection
is that I did have a Plymouth during part of the same time that I had the
Ford.
Mr. STRIPLING. Now,
Mr. Chairman, I have here an application for a certificate of title of
the Motor Vehicles and Traffic Bureau of the District of Columbia, wherein
it states that Alger Hiss, 2905 P Street, NW, purchased or acquired the
above-described car: Plymouth, new, model; year, 1935; body, sedan.
It gives the serial number, engine number, and
states:
How secured: Conditional
sale; date, September 7, 1935, purchased from the Smoot Motor Co., Inc.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Chairman,
I would like to ask a question at this point.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Nixon.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Hiss,
your recollection is still that you gave the car--to Crosley as part of
the apartment deal; is that correct?
Mr. HISS. My recollection
is as definite as it can be after this lapse of time, Mr. Nixon, that as
I was able to give him the use of the apartment, I also and simultaneously,
I think, although it could possibly have been a little later, gave him
the use of the model A 1929 old Ford. That is my best recollection.
Mr. NIXON. That was
in the spring of 1935?
Mr. HISS. My best recollection
is that the car and the apartment transactions were simultaneous. That
I cannot be sure of without checking the records more thoroughly.
Mr. NIXON. Well, there
were facts, as I recall, just checking through the record, 18 occasions
in which you were asked the specific question, specifically about this
on Monday and Tuesday in the record, as to whether you had given him the
car, sold him the car, threw it in, given him the title, and as to whether
it was part of the apartment deal, and in each case you said, "Yes," and
at that time you did not qualify your answers with "to the best of my recollection."
Mr. HISS. Mr. Nixon-excuse
me.
Mr. NIXON. Proceed;
I am sorry.
Mr. HISS. It is my recollection
that on the 16th and on the 17th I informed the committee that I had not
been able to check my records.
Mr. NIXON. On the leases.
Mr. HISS. At one point
I said to the committee that for them to ask me questions about various
personal details of long ago did not seem to me entirely fair to me, because
of the various leaks that had been occurring with respect to supposed secret
testimony.
I said that in spite of those
reservations, if the committee wanted me to testify as to the best of my
recollection, unsupported by records, I would, of course, do so, and I
remember Mr. Hebert particularly spoke up and said he did want me to, and
so did you, and I said, on that understanding of what I had said, made
no difference to the committee, they still wanted me to testify, and on
the basis of recollection, after all these years, I was perfectly prepared
to testify. I think the record would show that, Mr. Nixon, and I am glad
the entire record is going to be made generally available to the public
and not just excerpts, which, in the past, have somehow reached the press,
and which today are being put in out of context by Mr. Stripling.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Hiss,
in that connection, I think the record should show that you requested and
have received, a full copy of your testimony that you have given before
this committee, both in public and in executive session; is that correct?
Mr. HISS. May I answer
that question by saying it was a long, hard pull to get that testimony.
I was promised it long before I got it. I remember the explanation of the
committee that Mr. Banister, who was taking it, the stenographer, had not
been able to transcribe it.
It took me a long time,
with my office here constantly calling both the committee and the stenographer,
for me ever to get it. I got it quite belatedly.
Mr. NIXON. When did
you get it?
Mr. HISS. You gave me
part of it, a relatively small part, perhaps half of the 16th, on the 18th.
Mr. NIXON. On the 17th;
on the 17th, the day yon testified, 24 hours after you gave the testimony,
you had the first half.
Mr. HISS. Did yon give
it to me the day I testified in New York?
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Hiss,
you recall--
Mr. HISS. Or was it
some time--I am asking whether it was the day I testified or the day Mrs.
Hiss testified?
Mr. NIXON. You will
recall it was the day you testified.
Mr. HISS. Well, I do
not challenge what you say. I do remember the difficulty with which I was
pursuing getting it. I had been assured that it would be ready the first
thing next morning, and it was not.
Mr. NIXON. In other
words, the first half of your testimony that you gave in your executive
session on Monday you received 24 hours later on Tuesday, when I delivered
it to you in New York.
Mr. HISS. After very
considerable inquiry and demand, and having heard a variety of stories
out of the committee as to why it was not possible. There had to be a letter
of approval, there had to be this, and that, and the rest of my testimony
I got late Friday, only by having a messenger fly it up to New York to
get it to me, Mr. Nixon.
Mr. NIXON. The messenger
received that testimony from the committee on Friday morning, did he not?
Mr. HISS. I do not know
the exact time. I know he was not able to get it to me in New York until
about 5 or 5: 30 of the afternoon of Friday, and I know he flew in order
to get it to me, Mr. Nixon.
Mr. NIXON. That was
48 hours after the testimony had been completed; is that correct?
Mr. HISS. The record
will show exactly when the testimony was completed. If it is 48 hours,
it is 48 hours.
Mr. NIXON. That is right.
In other words, you had the testimony for 5 days then?
Mr. HISS. Mr. Nixon,
the way you put the question would indicate--that if I had done nothing
it would have reached me 48 hours after. I had to move heaven and earth
to try to get it.
Mr. NIXON. Well, the
point is, Mr. Hiss, that you got the testimony, didn't you, and you have
had it for 5 days?
Mr. HISS. I have had
the testimony since Friday afternoon.
Mr. NIXON. All the testimony
that you have given before the committee.
Mr. HISS. That is correct.
Mr. NIXON. That is correct.
Now, returning to the
automobile, did you give Crosley a car?
Mr. HISS. I gave Crosley,
according to my best recollection--
Mr. NIXON. Well, now,
just a moment on that point. I do not want to interrupt you on that "to
the best of my recollection," but you certainly can testify, "Yes" or "No"
as to whether you gave Crosley a car. How many cars have you given away
in your life,
Mr. Hiss? [Laughter.]
That is a serious question.
Mr. HISS. I have only
had one old car of a financial value of $25 in my life. That is the car
that I let Crosley have the use of.
Mr. NIXON. This was
a car that had a certain sentimental meaning to you, I think you said.
Mr. HISS. And that is why
I had not been prepared previously to accept merely $25 for it.
Mr. NIXON. That is right.
Mr. HISS. I was more
interested in having it used than in merely getting $25 for it.
Mr. NIXON. And this
car, which had a sentimental value to you, was the only car you ever gave
away in your life?
Mr. HISS. It is not
only the only car that I ever gave away in my life, it is the only car
of that kind that I have described that I ever had.
Mr. NIXON. I see. And
you cannot recall whether or not you did give Crosley that car?
Mr. HISS. Mr. Nixon,
according to my best recollection I definitely gave Crosley the use of
the car, as I was able to give him the use of my apartment.
Mr. MUNDT. May I interrupt
just a minute? On page 53 of these hearings which took place in New York,
at which I was not present, the last 2 days, I, too, have read all of the
testimony in this whole case, and you were asked the question "What kind
of automobile did that fellow have," the man you called Crosley, and you
said, "No kind of automobile. I sold him an automobile."
Now, Mr. Hiss, I am
trying to get at the truth of this, and I wish you would make a statement
and stand by it. Once you say, "I sold him an automobile, period." Now.
you come here and say "I gave him the use of the car," and then you say
"I cannot tell whether or" not after he had the car he gave it back to
me or not."
Well, now, in 1934 and
1935 we were in a depression; automobiles were not so numerous and so plentiful
that a Government employee would forget what happened to the cars that
he had in his possession.
You certainly know whether
or not you gave Crosley an automobile; you know whether or not Crosley
gave that car back, and we want the truth, that is all.
Mr. HISS. Mr. Mundt,
I am as interested in getting at the truth of this matter as any member
of this committee can be, and I shall do all I possibly can, whatever it
costs me, within my means, to get at the truth.
Mr. MUNDT. Then, tell
us the truth.
Mr. HISS. Now, what
is the nature of your question? Will you repeat it, please, because I paid
more attention to the embellishments
Mr. MUNDT. Did you not
testify in New York under oath to the effect that "I sold him-Crosley-an
automobile?" I find it here in the printed testimony which we are now releasing
to the public at the request of the committee, and it is your request.
Mr. STRIPLING. That
is page 58.
Mr. HISS. What is the
specific question? The embellishments to your question made more impression
on me than the question.
Mr. MUNDT. There are
no embellishments, and I ask you: Did you testify under oath in New York--
Mr. HISS. I certainly
did.
Mr. MUNDT. As follows:
"What kind of automobile did that fellow have?" Pointing at Crosley. And
you said, "No kind of automobile. I sold him an automobile."
Did you say that or
not?
Mr. HISS. If the record
says I said it.
Mr. MUNDT. The record
says that.
Mr. HISS. I do not challenge
the record.
Mr. MUNDT. Your counsel
can look at page 38; there it is, it is in the record.
Mr. HISS. Mr. Mundt, there
may be one or two inaccuracies in the record which we will have to correct.
Mr. MUNDT. Is that an inaccuracy?
Mr. HISS. That is not an inaccuracy
in the record. I have complete confidence in Mr. Banister as a reporter.
Mr. MUNDT. You also
know whether or not Mr. Crosley gave you back the automobile you sold him.
You said this car had a good sentimental value to you, you had kept it
a long time. You certainly know, and we know that you know, whether you
got that car back. We want you to tell us the truth, that is all.
Mr. HISS. You know a
great deal, Mr. Mundt.
Mr. MUNDT. It is very
hard to know very much about this evasive type of testimony, but I am trying
to get at the truth.
Mr. HISS. Mr. Mundt,
you referred to the depression. It is also a fact that old second-hand
cars had a not considerable value during the depression. If the depression
is relevant to our question, it seems to me that an additional fact is
also relevant. Now, what is the exact question you are asking me.
Mr. MUNDT. You have
answered it. I have asked it, and you have answered it.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Mundt,
may I interpose a question at that point?
Mr. MUNDT. Yes.
Mr. NIXON. As far as
the value of Ford roadsters at that time go, I think it might be relevant
to quote from the want ads which appeared in the Washington Evening Star
in June 1935 as to the value of 1929 Ford roadsters. The value which is
given here, the lowest cash value, is $59. In consulting the dealers in
Washington, the committee investigators found that the trade-in value on
a car would be more than $59. The lowest cash value of all the want ads
that appeared at that time for '29 Ford roadsters was $59.
I only bring this in
to show that the car had something a little more than a sentimental value,
even in 1935.
Mr. HISS. Mr. Nixon,
as I have testified before, my recollection is that I was at no time ever
told that that car, during this period, had a value of more than $25 or
$30 or $35.
Mr. MUNDT. Well, let
us assume it was worth $35. Are you a man, or were you at that time a man,
of such means that $35 meant nothing to you at all ?
Mr. HISS. Mr. Mundt,
as I have also testified, I had a sentimental attachment to this car which
transcended $35 or $20 or $25 or $30.
Rather than simply see
it go on the scrap heap through a trade-in, or a casual sale, I had hung
on to it as it depreciated in value.
Mr. MUNDT. Very well
but it had depreciated down to $35, according to your testimony, or $59,
according to the official Blue Book at the time, or something over $59,
as a trade-in value.
Now, you said you sold
him the car, and you again repeated that today, and on page 58 of your
statement.
Mr. HISS. Mr. Mundt,
I think I also in the course of that same testimony, and with equal truthfulness,
so far as I could recall, said that I gave it to him. I have not been through
the record on this particular point. I think you will find various references
to the
transaction on the 16th, the testimony of the
16th.
Mr. MUNDT. That is right.
Mr. HISS. And the testimony
on the 17th.
Mr. MUNDT. You testified
originally--
Mr. HISS. It may be--
Mr. MUNDT. Wait a minute.
It may be that you testified--
The CHAIRMAN. Let us
have one speaker at a time.
Mr. MUNDT. Yes; you
have something to say?
Mr. HISS. It may be
that you are pointing to the one place in the testimony where I said "sold."
It may be I said "sold" more than once. I have not checked, Mr. Mundt.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Mundt,
may I just, to clear this up, say that I have made a study of this record
on the automobile, and I would like to read for the record at this time
the references, all the references, which I have been able to find concerning
what Mr. Hiss did say about this car. I want the committee to know the
type of question and the type of answer.
I also want the committee
to know whether or not in these cases Mr. Hiss qualified his answers with
the "to. the best of my recollection" statement.
I want to say that before
I do read this, that Mr. Hiss, as he has stated when he first began to
testify said that he did not want to testify concerning his leases, and
his apartments, without checking the leases, and that on that point he
did want to testify to the best of his recollection.
Now, let me read this just
for the record at this point so that there will be no question in the minds
of the members of the committee or of Mr. Hiss that we are reading only
parts of the record on this automobile.
The CHAIRMAN. Without
objection, so ordered.
Mr. MUNDT. That is a good
idea.
Mr. NIXON. The first reference
comes on page 52 and I shall read:
Mr. STRIPLING. What kind
of automobile did that fellow have?
Mr. HISS. No kind of
automobile. I sold him an automobile. I had an old Ford that I threw in
with the apartment and had been trying to trade it in and get rid of it.
I had an old, old Ford we had kept for sentimental reasons. We got it just
before we were married in 1929.
Mr. STRIPLING. Was it
a model A or model T?
Mr. HISS. Early A model
with a trunk on the back. a slightly collegiate model.
Mr. STRIPLING. What color?
Mr. HISS. Dark blue. It wasn't
very fancy but it had a sassy little trunk on the back.
Mr. NIXON. You sold that car?
Mr. HISS. I threw it
in. He wanted a way to get around and I said, "Fine. I want to get rid
of it. I have another car, and we kept it for sentimental reasons, not
worth a damn." I let him have it along with the rent.
Mr. DAVIS. To make the
record clear, I think you said page 52--I think it is page 53.
Mr. NIXON. Page 53,
you are correct; it is 53 that I am reading from.
There is a strike-over
on my page; it looks like 52.
Mr. DAVIS. Mine, too.
Mr. NIXON. I have that
page:
"I have another car, and we
kept it for sentimental reasons, not worth a damn."
I let him have it along with
the rent.
The next reference to the car
comes on page 56 of the record, as I recall it, and I must say that there
may have been one spot, two spots, that I have missed, but I have attempted
to get them all here so that the record will be clear.
Mr. NIXON. You gave
this Ford car to Crosley?
Mr. HISS. Threw it in
along with the apartment and charge the rent and threw the car in at the
same time.
Mr. NIXON. In other
words, added a little to the rent to cover the car?
Mr. HISS. No; I think
I charged him exactly what I was paying for the rent and threw the car
in addition. I don't think I got any compensation.
Mr. STRIPLING. You just
gave him the car?
Mr. HISS. I think the
car just went right in with it. I do not remember whether we had settled
on the terms of the rent before the car question came up, or whether it
came up and then on the basis of the car and the apartment I said, "Well,
you ought to pay the full rent."
The next reference that
I find in the record concerning the car is on page 58 starting at the bottom
of page 57:
Mr. STRIPLING. What
kind of a car did you get?
Mr. HISS. A Plymouth.
Mr. STRIPLING. A Plymouth?
Mr. HISS. Semisedan.
Mr. STRIPLING. Four-door?
Mr. HISS. I think I
have always had only two-door.
Mr. STRIPLING. What
kind of bill of sale did you give Crosley?
I should like to interpose
at this point that when a bill of sale is discussed, a bill of sale refers
to a transfer of title to an automobile.
Mr. HISS. I think I just
turned over--in the District you get a certificate of title, I think it
is. I think I just simply turned it over to him.
Mr. STRIPLING. Handed
it to him?
Mr. HISS. Yes.
Mr. STRIPLING. No evidence
of any transfer. Did he record the title?
Mr. HISS. That I have
not any idea. This is a car which had been sitting on the streets in snows
for a year or two. I once got a parking fine because I forgot where it
was parked. We were using the other car.
I turn now to the testimony--I
think this is the next reference--to the testimony given on the following
day, on the 17th, and I will refer the committee to page 13 of that testimony,
and we again pick up the car at that point:
In the course of the negotiation
he referred to the fact that he also wanted an automobile.
And then, turning again--that
is Mr. Hiss' testimony--I will refer the committee to page 19 of the testimony
on Tuesday, the 17th--we will start at the bottom of page 18 so that you
can get the continuity:
Mr. NIXON. So you agreed
with him that he could move into your apartment for 3 months, approximately?
Mr. HISS. That is correct.
Mr. NIXON. Which would be
for a consideration of, say, $225, roughly?
Mr. HISS. Whatever the
actual cost to me was.
Mr. NIXON. And then
there was some conversation about a car. What was that?
Mr. HISS. There was.
Mr. Crosley said that while he was in Washington he wondered if he could.
get a rented car or something, because he would like to have it while his
family were with him, get out week ends, something like that. I said, "You
came to just the right place. I will be very glad to throw a car in because
I have been trying to get rid of an old car which we have kept solely for
sentimental reasons which we couldn't get anything on for trade-in or sale."
I would be very glad to let him have the car because we
wanted somebody to make real
use of it. We had had it sitting on the city streets because we had a new
one.
Mr. NIXON. It was a '29 Ford?
Mr. HISS. One of the first
model A Fords.
Mr. NIXON. The year of this
transaction would be 1935?
Mr. HISS. That would be my
best recollection.
Mr. NIXON. A 6-year-old Ford?
Mr. HISS. That is right.
Mr. NIXON. You just gave him
the car with his $225 rental?
Mr. HISS. As part of the total
contract. That is my best recollection.
Mr. NIXON. The rent was simply
the going rate, as you indicated?
Mr. HISS. That is right.
Mr. NIXON. And you just threw
in this 6-year-old car with it?
Mr. HISS. That is my best
recollection. I don't think it figured as a financial element in the transaction.
Mr. NIXON. Do you know the
Blue Book value of a 1929 Ford in 1935?
Mr. HISS. I certainly don't.
I know what the going rate was with sellers of new cars. I think the most
I had ever been offered for it was $25 or $30 at that time, a few months
before that.
Mr. NIXON. So you gave him
this car?
Mr. HISS. As part of the whole
transaction.
I now turn to page 40 of the
record on Tuesday:
Mr. NIXON. You never knew this
man under the name of Carl?
Mr. HISS. I did not.
Mr. NIXON. You never paid
this man any money for Communist Party dues?
Mr. HISS. I certainly did
not.
Mr. NIXON. This is the man
you gave the car to?
Mr. HISS. Car?
Mr. NIXON. Yes.
Mr. HISS. C-a-r-yes.
On page 41:
Mr. NIXON. You have never given
Crosley anything you recall besides the car?
Mr. HISS. I have no such recollection.
I don't consider I gave him the car, but threw it in with the whole transaction.
Mr. Chairman,
those are the references to the car, and there are these points that I
think are significant:
In the first place,
we note that Mr. Hiss not only once but at least twice used the word "sold"
in referring to the car.
In the second place,
we note that there was discussion concerning a title, a transfer of title.
A transfer of title on a car is a matter which is discussed when you are
selling a car to another person, and transferring it rather than a case
where you are loaning the car to
another person; and Mr. Hiss discussed the transfer
of title along that line.
Mr. Hiss, throughout
this testimony, used the words "get rid of" and he used the words "threw
it in," and in answer to a question concerning the words "You gave him
the car," his answers were as the record has been read.
Now, I have read those portions
from the record because I think that Mr. Hiss is entitled to have the entire
record on the car read in at this point, and I wanted the committee to
know what the references were.
I will say for myself
that I am amazed to hear Mr. Hiss say this morning that he can only now
testify to the best of his recollection as to whether he ever gave Crosley
a car at all, that he is not sure as to whether or not he transferred the
car to Crosley, that he might have given it to him for his use only, and
that he is not even sure when the transaction occurred, and I think Mr.
Hiss should be given every opportunity to explain just what his recollection
was as to this car at the present time, and if he wants to change his testimony,
that he change it, and tell us exactly what did happen to that car.
l Mr. HISS. Mr. Nixon, I am
surprised if not amazed that you said just now that I testified this morning
that I could not remember whether I had ever let Mr. Crosley have the use
of my car. I don't think I did so testify, Mr. Nixon.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. -Hiss,
since you have raised that point, you will recall that when I asked you,
did you give Crosley a car, you said:
Mr. Nixon, to the best of my
recollection, I did.
Mr. HISS. Right.
Mr. NIXON. And I said:
Mr. Hiss, certainly on this
point, you need not qualify your answer with the words "to the best of
my recollection." If you gave him a car, you gave him a car, and you should
be able to give a categorical answer to the question.
Now, I ask you again,
just so that the record will be clear, did you give Crosley a car? And
if you can answer the question, "Yes" or "No," I think the committee would
be glad to get the answer.
Mr. HISS. Mr. Nixon,
it is evident that the committee has had access to far more record information
than I have had.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Hiss,
do you have to have records in order to know whether or not you gave a
car away, the only car you ever gave away in your life?
Mr. HISS. No; Mr. Nixon,
I have testified, and I repeat my testimony, that my best recollection--and
to have an exact recollection of trivial housekeeping details of 14 years
ago, when I was a very busy man, doing more important things than these
matters you are asking me to testify to about this morning, and I have
been a relatively busy man since, it does not seem to me, being as objective
as I can about it, that it is unusual for a man to preface his statements
about the details by which he gave the use of a car, under the circumstances
I have described, to a man who meant nothing in particular to him by the
words "to the best of my recollection."
Now, I do think that
the committee has had access to more records. It has had a fuller staff
than I.
In reading over the
record over the week end, I noticed one of your questions to me, after
I had been testifying to the best of my recollection, that I lived on Twenty-ninth
Street, and at one point you said, "Now, this apartment was on Twenty-eighth
Street," and I, in my ignorance, corrected you, and said, "No, Twenty-ninth
Street," and you
said, "Oh, no, Twenty-eighth Street."
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Hiss,
there is not going to be any question about the committee raising a question
as to whether you said Twenty-eighth or Twenty-ninth. That is something
that any person could forget. But I do not think--
Mr. HISS. But I think
you knew, Mr. Nixon.
Mr. NIXON. But I do
not think--I have not raised the point this morning, and do not intend
to.
Mr. HISS. No; but I
say I think you knew it was Twenty-eighth Street when you asked me. I think
you already had access to records that I had not had time to have access
to in order to refresh my recollection.
Mr. NIXON. Certainly.
Mr. HISS. That is all
on that.
Mr. NIXON. My point
on the car is, is your testimony now that you gave Crosley a car, or is
it that you did not give him a car?
Mr. HISS. Mr. Nixon,
my testimony, I believe from the beginning, based upon the best recollection
I have, is that I gave Crosley the use of the car, as I gave him the use
of the apartment.
Now, whether I transferred
title to him in a legal, formal sense, whether he returned the car to me
in connection with my upbraiding him for not having repaid various small
loans, and the loans stick in my memory as of more significance than the
rental of the house itself, because that rental did not involve anything
that I was going to get from any other source in any event, a couple of
months left over, a couple of months in the summertime, for an apartment
in Washington-that was not a very great financial asset in those days.
Mr. NIXON. Well, now,
is your testimony this morning then that you did not give Crosley the car,
that you gave him the use of the car?
Mr. HISS. Mr. Nixon,
I have testified, and I repeat it, that my best recollection is that I
gave Crosley the use of the car. Whether I gave him the car outright, whether
the car came back, I don't know.
Mr. NIXON. You do not
know whether you had the possession of this car after Crosley left you?
Mr. HISS. That, I am
afraid, I cannot recall. I do recall having a Plymouth and a Ford at the
same time for some months, not just a few days. I do recall the Ford sitting
around because it was not being used, the tires going down because it was
just sitting on the street.
Mr. NIXON. In fact,
you have testified that that is the reason you gave Crosley the car, because
you did have the two cars.
Mr. HISS. I testified
that that was the reason, I believe, the car was of no financial consideration
to me, Mr. Nixon, during the period we are talking about.
Mr. NIXON. Yes, Mr.
Hiss. You will recall I had just read the testimony where you said "I gave
Crosley the car because I had a new one."
Mr. HISS. That is my
best recollection.
Mr. NIXON. In other
words, this transaction in which you gave this car to Crosley occurred
after you got your new car, is that correct?
Mr. HISS. That is my
recollection, Mr. Nixon. Whether my recollection is accurate or not, I
frankly do not know without consulting records which are not available
to me.
Mr. NIXON. Now, is your
testimony then that you did give Crosley the use of the car?
Mr. HISS. That is my
testimony, Mr. Nixon.
Mr. NIXON. On that point
you are sure?
Mr. HISS. As sure as
I can be of any of these details of 14 years ago, Mr. Nixon.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Hiss--
Mr. HISS. Have you ever
had occasion to have people ask you continuously and over and over again
what you did on the night of June 5, 1934 or 1935? It is a novel experience
to me, Mr. Nixon.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Hiss,
I will answer the question. I will tell you this: That if I had given anybody
the use of a car for a period of 2 months, I would remember.
Mr. HISS. Well, I have
testified to you that I do recall that.
Mr. NIXON. All right.
Now, your testimony is that you did give Crosley the car for a period of
2 months. When did that occur?
Mr. HISS. My best recollection
is that it coincided with the sublease.
I am not positive that
it occurred then, rather than in the fall or some other time.
Mr. NIXON. And you do
not know whether it occurred at the time of the sublease or in connection
with that transaction?
Mr. HISS. My recollection
is that it occurred because it is fixed in my memory in a rather vague
way as connected with the lease. Whether it preceded or followed or was
simultaneous, I am afraid I am not able to testify with exactness.
Mr. STRIPLING. Mr. Chairman--
Mr. NIXON. Just a moment.
Mr. Hiss, it is not likely that you would have given the car to Crosley
after he failed to pay the rent, is it?
Mr. HISS. I do not recall
the details of when I concluded he was a fourflusher.
Mr. NIXON. Well, now,
you have testified that he went--
Mr. HISS. It was sometime--not
after this.
Mr. NIXON. Your testimony
was that you had seen Mr. Crosley after he failed to pay the rent.
Mr. HISS. Yes; I feel
quite confident I saw him some time after the sublease transaction.
Mr. NIXON. Now, do I
understand you to say that you might have loaned Crosley a car for a couple
of months after he failed to pay the rent?
Mr. HISS. I might have,
if I had considered that his reasons for not paying were as plausible as
his reasons had been for not paying back small loans, because the rent
was not a major consideration in my mind. Of that I feel quite confident.
Mr. NIXON. When were
the small loans made?
Mr. HISS. Again. Mr.
Nixon, I am testifying from the best of my recollection, which I have certainly
in the course of the last few days done my very best to go over and over
again. I think I loaned Crosley a total, in small amounts, of $25 or $80.
Whether they were made prior to the sublease, some of them after the sublease,
I just frankly do
not recall with exactness. But at some stage
I reached the conclusion that this had better be terminated, that I was
being used, that my kindness was being abused.
Mr. NIXON. And your
testimony then is that the car-that you are not sure that the car was tied
in to the rental transaction; you think it might not have been.
Mr. HISS. It could have
been tied in toward the end, it could have been tied in toward the beginning.
My best recollection is that there is a connection between the two transactions.
Mr. NIXON. Could it
have taken place several months after the rental transaction?
Mr. HISS. Mr. Nixon,
it could have.
Mr. NIXON. You mean
several months after he had refused to pay the rent?
Mr. HISS. After he failed
to pay the rent.
Mr. NIXON. Well, didn't
you ask him for the rent?
Mr. HISS. Mr. Nixon,
I don't recall at any time his ever refusing, ever saying, "I just am not
going to pay." Quite the contrary, he was always going to pay at some time.
Mr. NIXON. How long
after he moved out of his apartment did you decide he was a dead beat?
Mr. HISS. Mr. Nixon,
I am not able to testify with exactness on that.
Mr. NIXON. But you think
it is possible that you loaned him a car or gave him a car after he failed
to pay the rent?
Mr. HISS. I may very
well have given him the use of the car even though he had not paid the
rent at that particular time.
Mr. NIXON. And your
testimony is that this man was simply a casual acquaintance.
Mr. HISS. This man was
an acquaintance. Under the circumstances this man was an acquaintance,
under the circumstances to which I have testified.
Mr. NIXON. You said
he was not a guest in your home. You objected when Mr. Stripling used that
phrase.
Mr. HISS. That is correct.
Mr. NIXON. You objected
when there was any suggestion that Mr. Crosley was a friend of yours, and
you are now testifying that it is possible that you gave him a car after
he failed to pay the rent.
Mr. HISS. Yes, Mr. Nixon.
Mr. NIXON. All right.
Mr. MUNDT. Mr. Chairman,
I think we can resolve this matter of a car by a very simple question,
and I want to say, first of all, that it is certainly inconceivable, Mr.
Hiss, that you would not know some of the details of this automobile in
the manner in which you have described it. You have described it as a car
that was purchased about the time of your marriage, that you had a sentimental
value connected with it, that, I say, is understandable. You say that it
had been around for a considerable period of time, and you no longer had
a need for it because you had another automobile. and so you either
sold or gave or loaned the automobile to the
man that you identify as Mr. Crosley.
Now, that is a correct
summation, I believe, of your position up to now.
Mr. HISS. It sounds
to me quite correct.
Mr. MUNDT. And I want
to ask yon this question, and on this one, Mr. Hiss, you will not have
to consult the records, and I certainly hope that you will not have to
use the phrase "to the best of my recollection," which you have used over
75 times thus far before this committee. This one you should be able to
say yes or no to. Did you ever dispose of that 1929 automobile to anybody
else in any way besides to Mr. George Crosley?
Mr. HISS. Mr. Mundt,
I would hate to disappoint you in any expectation.
Mr. MUNDT. You have
already done that, but answer the question.
Mr. HISS. I am not able, without
consulting the records, to testify with exactness or finality as to the
way I ultimately completely disposed of my interest in that automobile."
Mr. MUNDT. You have no memory
at all of having disposed of the car in any other way except by this series
of three possibilities by which you conveyed it to Mr. Crosley? Would you
like to have this committee believe, Mr. Hiss, actually believe, that you
cannot remember how you finally disposed of an automobile that had such
a sentimental attachment to you, and which meant something to you?
Mr. HISS. Mr. Mundt,
I have already testified that my recollection is that I let Crosley have
the use of it: I may have let him have complete disposition. He may be
the person who disposed of it.
Mr. MUNDT. Yes; just
a moment; may I interrupt you? As a matter of fact, whether you gave it
to him or loaned it to him or made it part of the--a material part of the
lease--unless, you had let him make final disposition of it, you certainly
would know what you had done with the car after that.
Mr. HISS. If the car
came back to me, if he returned the car to me and I later disposed of it--
Mr. MUNDT. You would
know of it.
Mr. HISS. I do not have
a recollection of what I did.
Mr. MUNDT. But you would
have a recollection of it, of having it back.
Mr. HISS. I would like
to have an opportunity to consult the records, and I have been attempting
to consult the records, and they are not available to me, Mr. Mundt.
Mr. MUNDT. It is not
necessary for anybody in this room to consult a record as to what he did
with an automobile that he did not dispose of unless it happened to be
an automobile dealer. Individual Government clerks, Mr. Hiss, do not have
so many automobiles that they are giving them away, and loaning them, or
disposing of them with no recollection, and certainly not one with a sentimental
value like this 1929 Ford had for you and Mrs. Hiss.
Mr. HISS. Mr. Mundt,
it may not be pertinent for the record, but I did not consider myself simply
a Government clerk at the time. I don't know whether that is relevant or
not.
Mr. MUNDT. Maybe I misspoke.
The CHAIRMAN. I think
Mr. Hiss is correct there.
Mr. MUNDT. But you did
testify that you were not a man of means, with a whole fleet of automobiles.
Mr. HISS. That is certainly
correct.
Mr. MUNDT. So the record
shows, then, to the best of your recollection, you do not recall making
any other disposition of that car finally except this transfer to Mr. Chambers
or Mr. Crosley.
Mr. HISS. Mr. Mundt,
we have been dealing in off-the-cuff recollections so long the importance
which this committee is now evidently attaching to these details is such
that I think I should recall with such aids to memory as I possibly can
take.
Mr. MUNDT. But you need
no aids to your memory on a matter like that automobile. On your leases
I can understand, and your address I can understand. From the standpoint
of disposing of an automobile of that type you certainly would stretch
the credulity of this
committee if you would have us believe that you
have no memory at all of what happened to this automobile.
Mr. HISS. I am not an
expert on the credulity of this committee.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Vail.
Mr. VAIL. Mr. Hiss,
as a lawyer, don't you think it is a rather peculiar procedure for a tenant
who is signatory to a written lease to sublease an apartment containing
valuable furniture to a comparative stranger?
Mr. HISS. Mr. Vail,
it so happens that I did exactly that same thing 3 or 4 years before I
sublet, without any formal arrangement, a house I then had as the tenant
in Georgetown on Thirtieth Street to a man who was then a casual acquaintance
in Washington.
I had his name recalled to
me this winter through other circumstances. I have asked him or had him
asked whether his recollection of that transaction of the summer of 1930,
I think it was, is the same as mine, that it was done at the cost to me
of my lease, that it was done informally and without writing, and he said
to the best of his recollection it was done exactly the same way then.
Last summer and this
summer, the two places that I have taken for the summer, I have also taken
without a formal lease from the owners of the premises, simply an informal
understanding.
Now, to me, Mr. Vail,
it is not an unusual procedure, because I have done it on a number of occasions.
It may be unusual to other people; it has not seemed so to me.
Mr. VAIL. It would not,
however, be a recommendation to a client on your part, as an attorney,
would it?
Mr. HISS. No; if I were
thinking of protecting a client's interests, who was then handling property
of sufficient value to consult an attorney, I would advise him to do it
with more written records of the transaction. These, in all of the occasions
that I have mentioned, the sums were not very large either from my point
of view or from the point of view of the person with whom I was dealing.
I have never myself attempted to write out leases, although I am a lawyer.
.When I came to sell my house in Georgetown, where the sums were greater,
I did not attempt to handle the written papers personally. I turned that
over to counsel, to the title company.
Mr. VAIL. But on this
occasion, Mr. Hiss, you went a step further and took a further risk You
gave to this subtenant the use of an automobile. You owned at the time
two cars. Were both of those cars covered by liability insurance?
Mr. HISS. My recollection
is that from the time I lived in Massachusetts I have had liability insurance.
I think in Massachusetts it is obligatory, and I believe that I have had
liability insurance.
Mr. VAIL. Were the cars
registered in Massachusetts, both cars?
Mr. HISS. No; because
I had only the Ford when I was living in Massachusetts.
Mr. VAIL. But you believe
that the Ford car at the time that you loaned it to Mr. Chambers was covered
by insurance?
Mr. HISS. I am sorry,
I do not recall really.
Mr. VAIL. Well, as a
lawyer, would you not say that it was a highly important thing that a car
that was registered in your name be covered, if operated by a comparative
stranger, against liability?
Mr. HISS. I think that
is a very good point, Mr. Vail, speaking in terms of hindsight. It did
not occur to me at the time.
Mr. VAIL. You are a
lawyer, Mr. Hiss?
Mr. HISS. I am a lawyer,
Mr. Vail.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Stripling.
Mr. STRIPLING. Now,
Mr. Hiss, I want to know if we can agree on something here. It was certainly
in the spring or summer of 1935 that Mr. Crosley and his family occupied
or sublet the apartment on Twenty-eighth Street.
Mr. HISS. That is correct.
Mr. STRIPLING. Is that
correct? It could not have been the following year?
Mr. HISS. Not so far
as I can possibly recall.
Mr. STRIPLING. It could
not have been in the fall of 1935?
Mr. HISS. Not so far
as I can recall.
Mr. STRIPLING. All right.
Now, Mr. Chairman, I
want to read from the testimony of Martha Pope, who was a maid in the home
of Mr. Hiss during this period.
Her testimony was taken
yesterday, and I quote from the testimony:
When Mr. Hiss was living at
the apartment on Twenty-eighth Street, what kind of an automobile did he
have?
Mrs. POPE. A roadster.
Mr. STRIPLING. What
kind of a car was it?
Mrs. POPE. It was with
a back, you know, little coupe, with the back seat like--rumble seat.
Mr. STRIPLING, A Ford?
Mrs. POPE. Yes.
Mr. STRIPLING. A Font
rumble seat, What color was it?
Mrs. POPE, I think it
was black with one of those tan tops, I think.
Mr. STRIPLING. Now,
when you moved to the P Street house, did he still have the Ford car?
Mrs. POPE. Yes.
Mr. STRIPLING. Did he
still have the Ford car?
Mrs. POPE. That is the
only one I remember.
Mr. STRIPLING. Did he ever
have anything else while you worked for him?
Mrs. POPE. No.
Mr. HISS, May I ask,
Mr. Stripling, if you asked Martha Pope the dates when she worked for me?
Mr. STRIPLING. Yes;
we did.
Mr. HISS. Would you
mind giving them also?
Mr. STRIPLING. She testified,
Mr. Hiss, that she was working for you at the time you moved from the Twenty-eighth
Street apartment and that when you moved to the P Street address, and,
in fact, she testified that you did not move any furniture.
Now, here is the testimony:
Mr. STRIPLING. Now,
did you work for them at this apartment until they left?
Mrs. POPE. Yes.
Mr. STRIPLING. Were
you there with them until they left the apartment?
Mrs. POPE. Yes.
Mr. STRIPLING. When
you moved, when they left the apartment, they went over to P Street?
Mrs. POPE. P' Street.
Mr. STRIPLING. And moved
into a house; did they not?
Mrs. POPE. Yes.
Mr. STRIPLING. Was that
house on a corner?
Mrs. POPE, I do not
remember the corner house. I do not know whether it was a corner house
or not.
Mr. STRIPLING. But they
did move into this house.
Mrs. POPE. They moved
to a P Street house.
Mr. STRIPLING. And it
was already furnished?
Mrs. POPE. Yes.
Mr. STRIPLING. In this
apartment on Twenty-eighth Street, when they moved out, did they take the
furniture?
Mrs. POPE. I do not
remember them taking the furniture.
Mr. STRIPLING. Do you
remember their taking any furniture?
Mrs. POPE. I do not remember
taking any furniture. All I remember is their going to this P Street house.
Mr. HISS. Mr. Stripling,
you did not quite answer the question I asked. When did Martha Pope testify
that she left my employ?
Mr. STRIPLING. Well,
she testified, Mr. Hiss, that she was in your employ during the period
in question here. I will be glad to make her testimony available to you,
but we are dealing here now with a specific period.
Mr. HISS. But you do
not know her testimony as to when she left my employ, the actual date;
how long after we moved to P Street?
Mr. STRIPLING. Yes;
I will have that looked up. It is right here.
In the meantime. Mr.
Chairman. I should like now to refer to the testimony of Whittaker Chambers,
which he gave on August 7 in New York City in the Federal Building.
Mr. NIXON. Did they have
a car--
referring to Mr. and Mrs. Alger
Hiss.
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes; they
did. When I first knew them they had a car. Again I am reasonably sure,
I am almost certain it was a Ford, and that it was a roadster. It was black,
and it was very dilapidated, there is no question about that. I remember
very clearly that it had bad windshield wipers. I remember that because
I drove it one rainy day and had to work those windshield wipers by hand.
Mr. NIXON. Do you recall
any other car?
MR. CHAMBERS. It seems
to in 1936 probably he got a new Plymouth.
Mr. NIXON. Do you recall
its type?
Mr. CHAMBERS. It was
a sedan. a two-seated car.
Mr. MANDEL. What did
he do with the old car?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Communist
Party had in Washington a service station: that is, the man in charge or
owner of this station was a Communist, or it may have been a car lot.
Mr. NIXON. But the owner
was a Communist?
Mr. CHAMBERS. The owner
was a Communist. I never knew who he was or where he was. It was against
all the rules of the underground organization for Hiss to do anything with
his old car but trade it in, and I think this investigation has proved
how right the Communists are in such matters, but Hiss insisted that he
wanted that car turned over to the open party so it could be of use to
some poor organizer in the West or somewhere. Much against my better judgment,
and much against Peters' better judgment, He finally got us to permit him
to do this thing. Peters knew where this lot was and he either took Hiss
there or he gave Hiss the address, an Hiss went there, and to the best
of my recollection of his description of that happening, he left the car
there and simply went away, and the man in charge of the station took care
of the rest of it for him. I should think the records of that transfer
would be traceable.
Mr. NIXON. Where was
that?
Mr. CHAMBERS. In Washington,
D. C., I have; certainly somewhere in the District.
Now, Mr. Chairman, I have here
a certificate of title, a photostatic copy of a certificate of title, District
of Columbia, Director of Vehicles and Traffic. It shows that on July 23,
1936 Alger Hiss assigned the title of this car to the Cherner Motor Co.
and I now ask that Mr. Hiss step aside, and that Mr. Russell take the stand.
Mr. DAVIS. Mr. Chairman, before
that happens, may I make a request of the committee?
The CHAIRMAN. Yes.
Mr. DAVIS. I would like
to ask whether Mr. Chambers' testimony, a transcript of Mr. Chambers' testimony,
can be made available to me at this time, so that as this hearing goes
along we will have the advantage which the committee has of knowing what
the entire testimony is.
The CHAIRMAN. We will
be glad to make it available to you, but not at this time.
Mr. DAVIS. You understand
the importance of it. This hearing is apparently going to go on for some
time.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Counsel,
I will make the remark at this point that I think will clear it up, and
you, as counsel, will agree.
Mr. Chambers has not
had a copy of Mr. Hiss' testimony. In fact, he has not seen a copy of his
own testimony, and as far as this matter is concerned, as you can see,
where the credibility of witnesses is concerned, it is important that we
question the witness concerning these matters, so that we can get objective
answers to objective questions, and, Mr. Chairman, I believe, under the
circumstances that we should proceed in the usual order.
The CHAIRMAN. Without
objection, so ordered.
Mr. Russell, would you
take the stand, please. Stand and raise your right hand. Do you solemnly
swear that the testimony you are about to give will be the truth, the whole
truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Mr. RUSSELL. I do.
TESTIMONY OF ALGER HISS --Resumed
The CHAIRMAN: All right,
Mr. Stripling.
Mr. STRIPLING: Mr. Hiss,
I show you this photostatic copy of assignment of title, title No. 245647,
for a Ford used, model A, 1929 Roadster, and the numbers are A-21888119-19-33-
that was the date on the which it was originally registered in the District
of Columbia. The tag I believe, was 245647, in the name of Alger
Hiss, 3411 O Street NW., Washington, D.C.
Now, Mr. Hiss, is this your signature which appears
on the reverse side of this assignment of title? [Showing witness
photo static copy.]
Mr. STRIPLING: No: I
do not know.
Mr. HISS. This is a
Photostat. I would prefer to have the original. Do you have
the original?
Mr. STRIPLING: The original
document, Mr. Chairman, cannot be removed from the Department of Motor
Vehicles. They keep it in their possession.
Mr. HISS: They have
it in their possession now?
Mr. STRIPLING: I assume
they do.
Mr. DAVIS: Could it
be subpoenaed?
Mr. STRIPLING: It might
be possible to subpena it here if they bring it up themselves.
The CHAIRMAN: Well, Mr. Hiss,
can't you tell from the Photostat what his signature is? Whether
it is your signature or not?
Mr. HISS: It looks like
my signature to me, Mr. Chairman.
The CHAIRMAN: Well,
if that were the original, would it look any more like your signature?
[Laughter]
Mr. HISS: I think if
I saw the original document I would be able to see whether this Photostat
is an exact reproduction of the original document. I would just rather
deal with originals than with copies.
Mr. HERBERT: Mr. Stripling,
may I interrupt? In other words, in order to give Mr. Hiss every
opportunity--if we recall what he did with the photograph, that he did
not recognize Mr. Chambers for some time, and he finally recognized him.
I suggest that the committee issue a subpena duces tecum to the motor-vehicle
people and let them come in here with the original, and it will be just
a matter of hours, and he will have to admit it is his signature.
Mr. HISS: The reason
I asked was that we had not been able to get access to the original.
I just wondered what had happened to it.
The CHAIRMAN: We will
try, and Mr. Stripling, you try at noontime, if we ever reach noontime.
Mr. STRIPLING: I think
we can reach it this way. Do you recall ever signing the assignment,
Mr. Hiss?
Mr. HISS: I do not at
the moment recall signing this.
Mr. STRIPLING. Is this
your handwriting? There is written here, "Cherner Motor Co., 1781 Florida
Avenue NW." Did you write that?
Mr. HISS. I could not
be sure from the outline of the letters in this photostatic copy. That
also looks not unlike my own handwriting.
Mr. MUNDT. Could you
be sure if you saw the original document?
Mr. HISS. I could be
surer. [Laughter.]
Mr.. STRIPLING. Now,
Mr. .Hiss and Mr. Chairman, yesterday the committee subpoenaed before It
W. Marin Smith, who was the notary public who notarized the signature of
Mr. Hiss. Mr. Smith is an attorney in the Department of Justice in the
Solicitor General's office.
He has been employed
there for 35 years. He testified that he knew Mr. Hiss; he does not recall
notarizing this particular document, but he did testify that this was his
signature.
Mr. HISS. I know Mr.
Marvin Smith.
The CHAIRMAN. You know
who?
Mr. HISS. I say I know
Mr. Marvin Smith.
Mr. STRIPLING. The man
who notarized this?
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Hiss,
you knew Mr. Smith, the notary, who signed this in 1936, did you not?
Mr. HISS. I did.
Mr. NIXON. It is not
likely that he would have notarized your signature unless you would have
been there?
Mr. HISS. It certainly
would not.
Mr. NIXON. On the basis-in
other words, you would not want to say now that you question the fact that
Mr. Smith might have violated his oath as a notary public in notarizing
a forged signature?
Mr. HISS. Definitely
not.
Mr. NIXON. Then, as
far as you are concerned, this is your signature?
Mr. HISS. As far as
I am concerned, with the evidence that has been shown to me, it is.
Mr. NIXON. All right;
you are willing to testify now then that since Mr. Smith did notarize your
signature as of that time, that it is your signature?
Mr. HISS. On the basis
of the assumptions you state, the answer is "Yes."
The CHAIRMAN: Mr. McDowell.
Mr. McDOWELL. I would
like to say this, Mr. Chairman. While Mr. Hiss is on the witness stand
I would like to make the following comment: That I have been present every
time that Mr. Hiss has appeared before this committee and one other time,
and in view of the many high and important positions he has held in our
Federal Government,
I have treated him with every possible courtesy.
However, he testified some time ago this morning that there was a rather
heavy inference that the Committee on Un-American Activities was stalling
in giving him the testimony, the copy of the-testimony that was given to
him.
I think the record will
show that it was constantly through his efforts. I recall his efforts to
get the testimony. I was a member of the subcommittee which went to New
York, and I believe Mr. Hiss came to the Commodore Hotel at my invitation,
and I presided there,
and I believe he was treated with all of the
propriety which a witness should receive at the hearing.
I recall we took along
Mr. Banister, the stenographer, who had gotten that far only half of the
testimony up, and we delivered the testimony to Mr. Hiss in New York.
I would like to say,
Mr. Hiss, that you got your testimony many, many hours before I got mine,
and the heat and pressure that you were putting on the committee for the
purpose of getting the testimony was nothing at all to the heat and pressure
that I was putting on them and I want to say that there was no slowing
down in anyway or in any fashion in getting that testimony to you. I think
that should be, made a part of the record.
Mr. HISS. Mr. McDowell,
I am perfectly prepared to accept that
as an accurate statement. All that I was saying
\vas that I had difficulty and delays in getting the testimony. I have
no reason to think that those difficulties and delays were not explainable
on the basis you so stated.
Mr. HEBERT. Mr. Hiss,
now that your memory has been refreshed by the development of the last
few minutes, do you recall the transaction whereby you disposed of that
Ford that you could not remember this morning?
Mr. HISS. No; I have
no present recollection of the disposition of the Ford, Mr. Hebert.
Mr. HEBERT. In view
of the refreshing of your memory that has been presented here this morning?
Mr. HISS. In view of
that, and in view of all the other developments.
Mr. HEBERT. You are
a remarkable and agile young man, Mr. Hiss.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Stripling.
Mr. STRIPLING. Mr. Chairman,
before the committee recesses, I failed to put into the record a letter
here which we received from Gerald P. Nye, regarding George Crosley.
The letter is addressed to Mr. Benjamin Mandel,
director of research for the committee:
DEAR MR. MANDEL: Receipt is acknowledged of your
letter of August 18 in-
quiring of any recollection that might be mine
of a writer named George Crosley
who allegedly had been engaged in writing articles
in connection with the
munitions investigations in 1934 and 1935 conducted
by a Senate committee of
which I was chairman. The name of Crosley does
not enter my recollection
in any way. shape, 01' manner...
Very truly yours,
Gerald P. Nye.
The letter is dated August 19, 1948.
The CHAIRMAN. Are there
any more questions from any members?
The Chair would like to announce that we will
recess until 2: 30 this afternoon, and there will be an executive session
downstairs in the committee room at :2 o'clock.
(Whereupon, at 1: 05 p. m., the committee recessed,
to reconvene at :2: 30 p. m. this day.)
AFTERNOON SESSION
The CHAIRMAN. The hearing
will come to order. The record will show that those present are Mr. Mundt,
Mr. McDowell, Mr. Nixon, Mr. Hebert, and Mr. Thomas. A quorum is present.
Mr. Stripling, the first
witness.
Mr. STRIPLING. Mr. Alger
Hiss.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Hiss,
you, of course understands that you are still testifying under the oath
you took this morning.
Mr. HISS. I do.
The CHAIRMAN. All right,
Mr. Stripling.
TESTIMONY OF ALGER HISS-Resumed
Mr. STRIPLING. Mr. Chairman,
I would like at this time to introduce into the record certificate of examination
and inspection made by the Department of Vehicles and Traffic, District
of Columbia, of the Ford car in question.
This certificate, Mr. Chairman, was made by the
Cherner Motor Co. to the Department of Vehicles and Traffic of the District
of Columbia.
It says:
This certifies that this day the physical examination
of used motor vehicle trade number Ford .1929, body roadster, discloses
the following engine number, 2188811, and that these have been checked
against information appearing on certificate of title issued by District
of Columbia number 245647.
It is further certified that items of this motor
vehicle as shown below have been mechanically inspected and tested and
the "O. K." inserted opposite each item. It is noted that they comply with
District of Columbia traffic regulations appearing on the first side and
that the mechanical condition of this motor
vehicle is such as to permit its operation in
compliance with general safety.
The items are then listed:
Brakes, headlight, horn, rear view mirror. windshield
wiper, windshield glass. All are marked "O. K." The date is July 2, 1936.
It says:
The above engine and serial numbers were obtained
by physical examination.
It is signed, stamped in, "Cherner Motor Co.,
by Edward S. Barton"-B-a-r-t-o-n.
The above engine and serial numbers were checked
against the title by Cherner Motor Co."--stamped in--and then ;Harry L.
Cohen.
"Items of motor vehicle mechanically inspected,
Cherner Motor Co."--stamped in, and then--"Edward S. Barton."
The CHAIRMAN. The record
will show at this point that Mr. Vail is present.
Mr. STRIPLING. Now,
Mr. Hiss, do you know an individual in Washington by the name of Bialek,
B-i-a-l-e-k?
Mr. HISS. B-i-a-l-e-k?
Mr. STRIPLING. B-i-a-I-e-k.
Mr. HISS. The name means
nothing to me, Mr. Stripling.
Mr. STRIPLING. Do you
recall anything of the details concerning the transfer or sale of this
car to the Cherner Motor Co?
Mr. HISS. As I testified
before lunch, Mr. Stripling, I do not have any present recollection of
the transfer of title, a photostat of the certificate of which you showed
me before lunch.
Mr. STRIPLING. Mr. Nixon,
do you have a question? Go right ahead.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Hiss,
just to summarize this car transaction, what is your testimony now as to
what you did with the car?
Mr. HISS. Beginning
with what date, what stage in the transaction?
Mr. NIXON. Beginning
with the stage when you gave the car to Mr. Crosley.
Mr. HISS. My best recollection,
Mr. Nixon, as I believe I have ,testified previously on several occasions,
is that I made the car available to Crosley. Whether I gave it to him outright,
whether it came back to me from him, whether at some later stage he or
someone else came to me and said "You disposed of a car, there remains
a technical transaction to be completed," I have no present recollection.
Mr. NIXON. As I understand
your answer then, you are sure that you gave the car to Crosley either
for a loan or by transfer.
Mr. HISS. I am. That
is my best present recollection.
Mr. NIXON. On that point.
But you do not remember whether or not Mr. Crosley gave the car back to
you and whether or not you transferred it later to the Cherner Motor Co.?
Mr. HISS. No; I do not.
Mr, NIXON. You don't recall that incident at
all?
Mr. HISS. No; I do not.
Mr. NIXON. You don't
deny, however, that the notarization of your signature on the transfer
to Cherner Motor Co, in July of 1936 is your signature?
Mr. HISS. I certainly
do not.
Mr. NIXON. I see. But
you don't recall that transaction?
Mr. HISS. I do not recall
it. I would want to talk to Marvin Smith to see what his recollection is.
I have no recollection.
Mr. NIXON. The committee
took the testimony of Mr. Smith, who testified that he did notarize your
signature, that he knew you and that had you not come before him for notarizing
the signature, he would not have notarized the signature.
Mr. HISS. I would have
the same impression, because I know Mr. Smith.
Mr. NIXON. Now, then,
there is one point on which the testimony is clear. You have testified
that you did give a car to Crosley but now you say it might have been a
loan, that it might not have been simply an outright transfer of gift.
Is that correct?
Mr. HISS. .I say it
may have bounced back or it may have been a loan. That is right.''
Mr. NIXON_. All right.
The possibilities are that you have transferred to him outright and it
came back to you or that you may simply have loaned it to him.
Mr. HISS. That is correct.
Mr. NIXON. That is right.
Now, when did that transaction occur?
Mr. HISS. The transaction
of making the car available to Crosley?
Mr. NIXON. That is correct,
whether by loan or by gift.
Mr. HISS. Again, Mr.
Nixon, I think I have testified to this before. My best recollection is
that that was connected with the subleasing transaction. Whether it was
simultaneous, whether it preceded it, or whether it followed it I am not
clear in my own recollection at the present time.
Mr. NIXON. Your testimony
is that you could have given him the car before, during, or after the subleasing
transaction?
Mr. HISS. To the best
of my recollection I would not be able to be sure.
Mr. NIXON. At the time
you gave him the car did you have your new car?
Mr. HISS. Again my recollection,
Mr. Nixon, is that I had a Plymouth and the Ford at the same time. Of that
I feel very confident.
Mr. NIXON. Of that you
are very confident?
Mr. HISS. Whether I
had them both at the time of the transaction with Crosley I cannot at this
late date be absolutely certain.
Mr. NIXON. Well Mr.
HISS. My impression is I did and that was one of the reasons
why I was prepared voluntarily to make the Ford
car available to him.
Mr. NIXON. In any event,
Crosley had the car according to your recollection for a period of say
2 months?
Mr. HISS. A period of
time, that is correct.
Mr. NIXON. If he had
the car for 2 months, it would seem quite obvious that you must have had
another car at that time.
Mr. HISS. It mayor may
not be obvious.
Mr. NIXON. It mayor
may not be.
Mr. HISS. It mayor may
not be obvious.
" Mr. NIXON. Do I understand
you to say that you might have loaned the car to Crosley for 2 months and
you didn't have a car during that period?
Mr. HISS. Mr. Nixon,
if during that particular period I for some reason had no need of a car,
either because someone had loaned me a car which was better than that one
or because I was on a vacation when the car was of no use to me, there
are many possibilities. I don't feel I have exhausted all the possibilities.
Mr. NIXON. Then you
wish to change the testimony that you gave on Monday and Tuesday that at
the time you gave the car to Crosley you had your new car. Is that correct?
Mr. HISS. Mr. Nixon,
so far as I am aware I am not changing any testimony. I am doing my best
to amplify my testimony, to continue to answer questions asked by this
committee.
Mr. NIXON. So far as
you are concerned you are not prepared to say whether or not you had a
new car at the time you gave this car to Crosley?
Mr. HISS. My recollection
is there was a connection between the new car and the transaction with
Crosley.
Mr. NIXON. Now, Mr.
Stripling, will you put in evidence at this time the registration for the
new Plymouth which Mr.-
Mr. STRIPLING. I believe
you have that, Mr. Nixon.
(Short pause.).
The CHAIRMAN. I suggest
you look for that later.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Stripling
Mr. STRIPLING. It was
read into the record this morning; as I recall, it was September 6, 1935.
Mr. NIXON. That was
read into the record this morning?
Mr. STRIPLING. That
is right.
Mr. NIXON. September
6, 1935.
Mr. STRIPLING. That
is my recollection.
Mr. NIXON. That is the
time when the new Plymouth was registered in Mr. Hiss' name?
Mr. STRIPLING. That
is right.
Mr. NIXON. Now, Mr.
Hiss, does that refresh your recollection as to when this transaction with
Crosley occurred?
Mr. HISS. No, I am afraid
it does not.
Mr. NIXON. Your testimony
is, then, as I recall, that it is probable that at the time you gave this
car to Crosley it was when you had two cars available?
Mr. HISS. That seems
probable.
Mr. NIXON. Then it is
quite probable, in your opinion, that this transaction took place after
September 6, 1933?
Mr. HISS. Again I am
not able to recall in terms of actual present memory. I have done the best
I can to give this committee all the recollection I have from the very
beginning and I will continue to do so.
Mr. NIXON. When did
you last see Mr. Crosley?
Mr. HISS. Again my best
recollection is some time in 1935. Whether it was the fall or not
I am not sure.
Mr. NIXON. How many
times after Mr. Crosley's rental agreement expired on June 26 did you see
him?
Mr. HISS. I can't recall
with exactness. I would think not more than a couple of times-two, three
times. But I am not positive.
Mr. NIXON. Not more
than two or three times?
Mr. HISS. I would think.
Mr. NIXON. Did Mr. Crosley
ever stay overnight with you on any of those occasions?
Mr. HISS. I think I
testified when that question was asked me before that he may have, that
I have some recollection either before or after the sublease arrangement
of Mr. Crosley saying he had been unable to get a reservation, had come
into town late or something but I frankly don't recall his staying overnight
except the days prior to his moving into the apartment.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Hiss,
the documentary evidence which yourself suggested the committee should
introduce and which we have introduced shows clearly that you had possession
of this car for possibly 12 months and probably for at least 9 months after
Mr. Crosley received possession of it. You don't recall having had the
car during that
period?
Mr. HISS. Excuse me,
Mr. Nixon. I am not confident that the documentary evidence at the committee's
disposal and at my disposal does demonstrate conclusively that I had possession
of the car during that period.
Mr. NIXON. Do you deny
that you executed on ,July-in July 1936, this transfer of the car, the
title, to Cherner Motor Co.?
Mr. HISS. Mr. Nixon,
I hadn't finished what I was saying. Shall I finish or answer that?
Mr. NIXON. Answer that
question and then proceed to the other, if you will.
Mr. HISS. Proceeding
in inverse order, the specific question you last asked, I do not deny and
have no reason to deny that I executed the document, a Photostat of which
was shown to me this morning.
What I was saying was
that it does not to my mind conclusively demonstrate that in between that
date and the time we were talking about in the summer of '35 that I had
possession of the car. It is conceivable to me that I did not have possession
of the car during that time, that if I was asked to complete a mere formal
legal technicality at a later date, I did so, and I am trying to look into
that question at the present time. That is one of the reasons I want to
talk to Mr. Marvin Smith and anybody else who could possibly have any information.
Mr. NIXON. You mean
the person that had possession of the car at that time might have asked
you to complete this transaction?
Mr. HISS. That is quite
possible, and someone may have come into my office in the Department of
Justice- Mr. Marvin Smith was in the same office where I worked in the
Department of Justice-and may have said to me, "You disposed of a car some
time ago. There is a technical legal step that needs to be taken. Would
you simply sign a
statement ?" That I have no present recollection
of, Mr. Nixon, but I am doing my best to recall to get the evidence.
Mr. NIXON. Did Mr. Crosley
come in there and ask you to do that?
Mr. HISS. I have no
recollection of seeing Mr. Crosley after 1935.
Mr. NIXON. He is the
man you gave the car to?
Mr. HISS. That is correct.
Mr. NIXON. He is the
man that would have had possession?
Mr. HISS. That doesn't
necessarily follow, Mr. Nixon.
Mr. NIXON. Did you give
the car to anybody else?
Mr. HISS. You are leaving
out some possible steps. He may have given the car to somebody else.
Mr. NIXON. Are you testifying
to that?
Mr. HISS. I am not testifying.
I am trying to answer your questions, Mr. Nixon, which you seem to think
are pertinent and important questions.
Mr. NIXON. They certainly
are.
Mr. HISS. And I am doing
my best to be responsive to the questions and if you don't think the answers
to the questions are evidence, I am afraid that is your fault because you
are asking the questions.
Mr. NIXON. Then you
think then--your testimony is that at least the title of the car was in
your name until July of 1936?
Mr. HISS. The evidence
that I have seen today certainly looks that way, Mr. Nixon. You are asking
me to speculate and I am doing my best to comply with your request.
Mr. NIXON. If you executed
a transfer of title to the car that wasn't yours, that would be something
quite unusual, wouldn't it, Mr. Hiss?
Mr. HISS. Not if I was
merely taking care of a formal detail of transfer.
Mr. NIXON. I asked you
if the title was in your name. Obviously the title was in your name or
you wouldn't have had to take care of this formal execution. Can't you
give me a yes or no answer to that question?
Mr. HISS. The record,
Mr. Nixon, as I have seen it today would indicate the title had remained
in my name until the date Mr. Stripling has referred to in 1936.
Mr. NIXON. You don't
deny then you did execute this title?
Mr. HISS. I do not,
Mr. Nixon.
Mr. NIXON. Then the
title was in your name at that time?
Mr. HISS. The evidence
would so indicate, Mr. Nixon. [Laughter.]
The CHAIRMAN. You will
say the evidence would indicate that the title was in your name?
Mr. HISS. Yes, Mr. Chairman.
The CHAIRMAN. Do you
believe that the title was in your name?
Mr. HISS.
Mr. Chairman, I have done my best to give you beliefs conjectures--
The CHAIRMAN. There
is no question about that.
Mr. HISS. Speculations,
whatever you ask. I am not prepared at this time to say what I believe
about something 14 years ago where I don't have positive, definite recollection
and where the evidence so far before us does not, to my mind, make it absolutely
clear.
The CHAIRMAN. Do you
think that that car was in your name?
Mr. HISS. To the extent
that my thoughts are relevant and of interest to this particular committee,
it would look to me as of now--I am not now testifying as to past recollection-it
would look to me as though, on the record, the car was in my name.
I may have thought I had disposed of it before
and may have been told in '36 that I had not completely disposed of it.
The CHAIRMAN. Was the
car in your name?
Mr. HISS. The evidence
before this--
The CHAIRMAN. Never
mind the evidence. You know whether the car was in your name or not. Was
the car in your name?
Mr. HISS. I do not know
for certain, Mr. Chairman. I am testifying on the basis of the evidence
that has been submitted here today.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Hiss,
you are an attorney. You realize that under the law that if the title of
the car was in your name, you would have been liable for damages in the
event this man had an accident.
Mr. HISS. Mr. Vail asked
me that question this morning. I certainly did not realize it. I don't
know that I realized it then, Mr. Nixon.
Mr. NIXON. Would you
repeat that answer?
Mr. HISS, Mr. Vail asked
me a similar question this morning; I certainly did not realize it. I am
not sure I had it in mind at the time.
Mr. NIXON, It is rather
amazing to me that a man who stood extremely high in his class at Harvard
Law School could say that he had gone through law school and wouldn’t know
that when the title to a car was in his own name, that in the event an
accident occurred to that car that he would be liable for damages. You
are not testifying to that,
are you?
Mr. HISS. Mr. Nixon,
I would like to testify right now that as of the present moment I really
do not have a firm opinion as to what the law would be if someone were
driving a car registered in my name and were guilty of negligence causing
the injury of someone else. I am slightly surprised at your implication
that that would automatically make me as the registered owner of the car
liable. Even now at this minute.
Mr. NIXON. How much,
Mr. Hiss--
Mr. HISS. I would like
to refer that to counsel.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Hiss,
How much did you get from the Cherner Motor Co. when you transferred this
car?
Mr. HISS. I have testified
that I have no recollection of transferring the car to the Cherner Motor
Co. and I certainly have no recollection of receiving any payment.
Mr. NIXON. In other
words, you are testifying today at least to this fact: That you had never
any recollection of receiving any money for this car, to whomever you may
have transferred it is that correct?
Mr. HISS. I have no
present recollection of receiving any money for that car. That is correct.
Mr. MUNDT. Mr. Nixon,
I think he said he wanted to refer that
Question to his counsel. I would like to
have his counsel answer that question. You are an attorney in this city,
How do you advise your clients as to the responsibility for an automobile
registered in their names?
Mr. DAVIS. No one has
asked that question. If anyone asked the question, I would say I want to
search the law in the District of Columbia, and if I were pressed for an
answer I would say that the registered owner of the car in the District
of Columbia was not liable for torts of the driver of the car unless that
driver was acting as his agent. [Laughter.]
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Stripling,
this car was transferred to one William Rosen.
Mr. STRIPLING. It was
sold to one William Rosen, or transferred from the Cherner Motor Co.
Mr. NIXON. What was
the address William Rosen gave?
Mr. STRIPLING. -5405
Thirteenth Street. N.Y.
Mr. NIXON. Who lives
there now?
Mr. STRIPLING. You mean
now or in 1936?
Mr. NIXON. Who lives
there now and who lived there then?
Mr. STRIPLING. A man
by the name of Merriam lives there at the present time.
Mr. NIXON. Who lived
there then?
Mr. STRIPLING. In 1936?
Mr. NIXON. Yes.
Mr. STRIPLING. Mr. Bialek,
B-i-a-l-e-k.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Bialek
says he knows no William Rosen?
Mr. STRIPLING. Benjamin
Bialek.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Bialek
says no William Rosen lived there in '36?
Mr. STRIPLING. Mrs.
Bialek said that. Mr. Bialek is ill.
Mr. NIXON.. How long
did the Bialeks live there after '36, do you know?
Mr. STRIPLING. Yes;
I think we have that. They moved from there in 1937.
Mr. NIXON. 1937. Well,
now to summarize the situation concerning the car at this time for the
record, it would seem that the facts which the committee has available
through testimony and through documents are as follows:
Mr. Hiss testified on
Monday; the 16th, and on Tuesday, the 17th, substantially to the following
facts: He testified that he had a 1929, Ford roadster and that some time
in the spring of 1935 at the same time that he sublet an apartment to Mr.
George Crosley, that he transferred the car to him. The testimony of Mr.
Hiss on that point has been read so the committee could hear it. The testimony
certainly left every member of the committee convinced of the fact that
Mr. Hiss had conveyed the impression that the transfer was outright, that
he didn't get the car back, that it was not a loan, since he had used the
words "sold," "get rid of," and that he had even
discussed the matter of title when asked about title.
The transfer,
according to Mr. Hiss, took place contemporaneously with the making of
the lease with Mr. Crosley. The lease with Mr. Crosley, it has been established
this morning had to occur because of the rental contracts which Mr. Hiss
had-it had to occur between May 1 and June 26,1935, because Mr. Hiss' contract
for the apartment in which Mr. Crosley lived expired on June 26, 1935.
Subsequent to Mr. Hiss'
testimony concerning the automobile, the committee investigators want to
the Department of Motor Vehicles and also to the dealer from whom Mr. Hiss
had purchase the car, and as a result of investigation established these
fads from the record:
First, established
that Mr. Hiss did not get a new Plymouth automobile, which as the first
of the new automobiles that he purchased, until September of 1935, which
is 5 months approximately after the time that he indicated in testimony
on Monday and Tuesday that he had given the car to Crosley. It should also
be said that in his testimony on Monday and Tuesday, Mr, Hiss, on three
occasions, said that he gave the car to Crosley at that time because he
had a new car and did not need the other car.
It was also established
in checking: the records that no transfer of any type of an automobile
was recorded to Mr. Crosley from Mr. Hiss, either of the '29 Ford or of
any other automobile, and it was established through the records that in
July of 1936, 1 year after Mr. Hiss testified that he had given the car
to Crosley and transferred the car to Crosley, 1 year later, he had transferred
the car to the Cherner Motor Co. Also that the Cherner Motor Co. the same
day had transferred it to one William Rosen who had given an address which,
as the result of the committee's investigation so far, is a false address.
It was apparent to the committee therefore, laying
the testimony of Mr. Hiss on Monday and Tuesday-and I might say I read
from the record he was questioned concerning the car on at least 20 occasions-it
was apparent from the record that Mr. Hiss could not have transferred the
car to Crosley as he said he did in the spring of 1935.
It is apparent
that if the transfer did occur it occurred 4 months after Mr. Crosley must
have moved out of the apartment, 3 1/2 months after Mr. Crosley must have
moved out of the apartment.
It is also clear
that the transfer was a loan or that he transferred the car to Crosley
and Crosley transferred it hack to him because Mr. Hiss later had to execute
a document in order to transfer the title of the car to the Cherner Motor
Co. in July of 1936.
Now, the question has been raised as to why the
issue of the car is important. The issue of the car is important in this
case for the reason that I stated during the morning session.
The issue before this committee today is whether
or not Mr. Whittaker Chambers has falsely accused Mr. Hiss of being a member
of the Communist underground during the period that he knew him from 1934
to 1937, Mr. Hiss came before the committee and based his denial on two
grounds:
First, he denied
that he was a Communist or had ever been a Communist, and he denied it
categorically and strongly.
Second. He denied
that he had ever known a man by the name of Whittaker Chambers, and ,when
shown a picture of Mr. Chambers, he said he could not identify him at that
time and that he would want to see the man himself before making an identification.
By reason of that fact
Mr. Hiss in effect cast doubts on the credibility of Mr. Chambers. The
committee therefore took the testimony of Mr. Chambers and the testimony
of Mr. Chambers on the car has been read into the record. We also took
the testimony of Mr. Hiss on the ear on Monday and Tuesday with the results
that I have just indicated.
I should like to say
again that in this connection Mr. Hiss when he identified Mr. Crosley,
Mr. Chambers as the man he knew as Crosley, he necessarily did tell the
committee that he did not know Crosley as a Communist and in attempting
to prove to the committee that he did not know Crosley as a Communist he
made these three important points:
He said: (1), Mr. Crosley
was a free-lance writer whom I knew at the Nye committee"; (2), "He was
a man that I sublet my apartment to"; (3), "He was a man that I gave a
car to"; and I should add another: (4), "He certainly was not to my knowledge
a Communist."
The committee has been going into all of these
points. We have now gone into the point about the car and it would appear
to me, looking at the record objectively, that it is quite apparent that
Mr. Hiss could not have been correct in his testimony on Monday and Tuesday
concerning the time that he gave the car and of the type of transaction,
that it was a gift--I mean, that it was an outright transfer rather than
a loan.
It is also quite apparent
from the record that if Mr. Hiss did give Mr. Crosley a car at any time,
he gave it to him after September 1936, 1935, when he had both of his cars--and
in giving him the car at that time he obviously--it would obviously lead
the committee to believe that Mr. Hiss knew Mr. Crosley 3 or 4 months after
the period that Mr. Crosley, as Mr. Hiss said welshed on his rent.
It also was apparent
that he gave the car to him at a time--that he gave the car to him after
Mr. Hiss had learned that Mr. Crosley was not financially responsible and
that he had not paid his rent.
That is my summary of it, Mr. Chairman, and I
have no further questions on the car.
Mr. HISS. May I make
a comment at this time, Mr. Chairman?
The CHAIRMAN. Go ahead.
Mr. HISS. I would like
to say that the record which Mr. Nixon has attempted to summarize will,
of course, speak for itself. I am glad that the record is now being made
public by the committee so that others may make their own summary of it.
I do not accept the summarization that Mr. Nixon
has just made. But, of course that is his privilege. It I s
the privilege of anyone to summarize the record.
May I at this time renew
the request I made earlier to read into the record my statement? At the
time I first appeared on the stand this morning you said the committee
would reconsider my request. May I at this time be permitted to read
into the record--
The CHAIRMAN. Yes. May
I see your statement, please?
Mr. HISS. Mr. Chairman,
you say you have already seen it. You said you read it in the papers.
The CHAIRMAN. You said
there were some changes from the last one.
Mr. HISS. No; I said
I have a few points I would like to add to it, Mr. Chairman.
The CHAIRMAN. You don't
mind if I look at it?
Mr. HISS. I have them
in notes. I also have some questions that I would like to address to
Mr. Crosley-Chambers.
The CHAIRMAN. May I
see the statement just the statement?
Mr., HISS. The statement
is the letter that was sent to you yesterday.
Do you want to see that?
The CHAIRMAN: I thought
you said this morning, though, that there were some changes from that.
Mr. HISS: I said this
morning and I say again, Mr. Chairman, in addition to reading that letters
into the record I have a few other points I would like to make on which
I merely have notes, and there are a few questions I would like to ask
Mr. Chambers-Crosley.
The CHAIRMAN. Just let
the Chair see that statement and in the meantime Mr. Mundt will ask a question
of the witness.
Mr. MUNDT: You have
no recollection at all of that?
Mr. HISS: I have no
recollection of the name Rosen.
Mr. MUNDT: I want to
go into a little different matter with you for a while because this strikes
back to the first day you testified before the committee, at which time
I was the acting chairman in the absence of Mr. Thomas due to illness.
At the time when you were first appearing before
the committee you denied categorically that you ever knew Whittaker Chambers
taken the day he appeared before the committee at your own request.
You will recall you telegraphed the committee that you would like to appear
on Thursday morning, and we heard you at that time.
Mr. HISS: That is correct.
Mr. MUNDT: I have here
the picture which you were shown at that time, which you will see is an
exact likeness of the same Mr. Chambers who is now sitting over there in
that corner of the room.
Mr. HISS: May I see
this picture?
Mr. MUNDT: Yes; you
may. I am putting it down for that purpose.
Mr. HISS: I don't wish
to be technical, but this is not the picture shown to me on the 5th of
August.
Mr. MUNDT: It
may not be. That was a picture taken on that day.
Mr. HISS: I was not
shown that on August 5. I was shown one picture on that day.
Mr. MUNDT: It is not
my point that that was the particular picture, but that is a picture taken
on the day he testified.
Mr. HISS: What is the
question, Mr. Mundt?
Mr. MUNDT: The question
is whether you see any marked facial differences at all between
Mr. Chambers as he sits over there now and the
Mr. Chambers on the picture you now have before you.
Mr. HISS: No marked
differences; no Mr. Mundt.
Mr. MUNDT. You feel
if you had seen that picture and then seen
Mr. Chambers come walking into the room, that you would identify the two
as being the same?
Mr. HISS.
Mr. Mundt, I would like to remind you- I think you were -not in New York
on the day when I first saw Mr. Chambers
since this testimony of his had occurred.
Mr. MUNDT. That is correct.
I was not present.
Mr. HISS. I identified
Mr. Chambers as the man I had known as Crosley on several different grounds.
I said then and still say that I -can only regard his present features
and picture and looking at him as having a certain familiarity.
Mr. MUNDT. And you see
no marked-
Mr. HISS. I identified
him on several grounds, which I think the record will show. One was that
he himself had testified he had had major alterations in his teeth.
Mr. STRIPLING. I can
read the record on that.
Mr. HISS. I have a recollection
of Crosley as a man with notably -poor teeth. I also identified him on
the basis of his statement in my presence that he had been in my apartment
with my permission when I was not .there, but was living on P Street, and
on the basis of his statement in my presence that with my permission he
had spent several days in my house on P Street at about the same time.
And finally because he admitted to the authorship of a tall tale which
I remembered Crosley having told me and which I think I testified to the
committee on either Monday or Tuesday that I did recall Crosley as having
told; namely, that for local color purposes as a writer he had participated
in laying the tracks of the first street railway in Washington, D.C.
That struck me when
I first heard it as a tall tale. It still does. Mr. Crosley-Chambers, in
my presence, before the subcommittee--
Mr. MUNDT. Why do you
call him Mr. Crosley-Chambers?
Mr. HISS. I first knew
him as Crosley. What his name is today I am not prepared to testify to
or what other names he may have had.
Mr. MUNDT. Did you know
him as Mr. George Crosley or Mr. Crosley-Chambers?
Mr. HISS. I knew him
as Mr. George Crosley.
To complete the statement
I was making. when I recited this tall tale in his presence, he spoke up
and said, "It is true. I remember the name of the contracting firm I worked
for."
When members of the
committee expressed some doubt, as I had, as to the credibility of that
particular story, he said, "Oh, maybe it wasn't the first street railway;
maybe it was the W. B. &, A."
On the basis of all
those facts I told your committee that I was prepared to identify Chambers
as the man I had known under the circumstances I have testified to as Crosley.
That is the record. That is the fact. Mr. Hebert accused me of agility.
I accept no accusation except that of truth.
Mr. MUNDT. Now, to get
back to my question, do you find any major deviations between the picture
which I have just shown you, which is a current likeness of Mr. Whittaker
Chambers as we now know him, and Mr. Whittaker Chambers seated over there?
Mr. HISS. No; it looks
like a moderately good likeness, slightly flattering I would say. [Laughter]
The CHAIRMAN. I will
admit that answer called for some laughter, but I think we had better have
more order.
Mr. MUNDT. I happen
to have here, Mr. Hiss two pictures of the same Whittaker Chambers which
were taken in 1934 at the time he was living in your apartment and known
to you. I want to hand those to you and see if you see any marked differences
between the pictures taken then and the picture taken on the day Mr. Whittaker
Chambers testified before the committee.
Mr. HISS. I am afraid
I wouldn't be able to recognize-you can only see part of the face there.
Again you can only see part of the face.
It would be very hard
to say. I have no distinct recollection at this time of the facial appearance
of George Crosley, and I have so testified.
My strongest recollection
is of the ball teeth. when I saw him for the first time a after these hearing
began, I asked, as the record will show, if he would please open his mouth
so I could look at his teeth.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Hiss,
on that point there is considerable in the record which will be released
today in which you did request Mr. Crosley to open his mouth and in which
you eyen asked the name of his dentist and wanted to consult with his dentist
before you made the identification positive.
My question may sound
facetious, but I am just wondering: Didn't you ever see Mr. Crosley with
his mouth closed? [Laughter]
I am serious.
Mr. HISS. The striking
thing in my memory about Mr. Crosley-
The CHAIRMAN. Are you
going to answer the question or are you going to bring up another point?
Because we want you to answer that particular question.
Mr. HISS. I am attempting
to answer the question, Mr. Chairman.
The CHAIRMAN. Proceed.
Mr. HISS. The striking
thing in my recollection about Crosley was not when he had his mouth shut,
but when he had his mouth open.
Mr. NIXON. As far as
you are concerned, the only way you can identify a person is when he has
his mouth open? Is that correct?
Mr. HISS. Mr. Nixon,
I am talking about--
The CHAIRMAN. Just a
moment. The Chair would like to say we must have order in here and if you
have got any very humorous remarks in the way of answers, call me out later
on and give them to me because I always like a good laugh, but let's not
have any more laughing in here if we can possibly avoid it.
Mr. HISS. I understood
the laughter to be at the question not at the answer, Mr. Chairman. Maybe
you or Mr. Nixon would like to withdraw and tell your jokes.
The CHAIRMAN. It makes
no difference whether it is the question or the answer. We have to have
order. Now proceed.
Mr. HISS. Will you repeat
the question, please?
Mr. NIXON. As I recall
the question, I asked whether or not in identifying a person you have known
as you had known Mr. Crosley for several months, it was necessary for you
to see him with his mouth open.
Mr. HISS. Mr. Nixon,
my testimony with respect to Crosley has been with respect to one individual
under the circumstances under which I knew that individual. I have not
testified that I cannot identify anybody generally except by whether his
mouth is open or not…
Skipped pp 1130-1135
Mr. MUNDT.
Mr. Hiss, is it then your testimony that the first time ever heard of Whittaker
Chambers in connection with allegation that you are a Communist was during
this past winter?
Mr. HISS. That is correct.
Mr. MUNDT. That would
be the winter of 19--
Mr. HISS. 1948.
Mr. MUNDT. You never
heard about it before?
Mr. HISS. I did not.
Mr. MUNDT. You are sure
of that?
Mr. HISS. I am confident
of it. That is my very best recollection.
Mr. MUNDT. Let me read
this, Mr. Hiss, because this is one of the
disturbing parts of your testimony. Let me read what you told us in your
prepared statement when you came here on August 5 of your volition, testifying
under oath. Counsel will find it on page 357:
To the best of my knowledge I never heard of
Whittaker Chambers until in 1947
when two representatives of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation asked me
if I knew him and various other people, some
of whom I knew and some of whom
did not know.
Now, what do you expect this committee to do with
a fabric of contradictory evidence like that,
Mr. Hiss?
Mr. HISS. Mr. Mundt,
may I say that I am profoundly shocked by our characterization of what
you have just read. I think you will find in the record-if not, it is high
time it got in the record, and I hope you can get from the FBI agents who
interviewed me their account of the interview-I think I testified that
when those two men came to see me, they asked me if I knew a long list
of names--30, 40--I wouldn't remember how many-I would say according to
my recollection there must have been 15 names that, I had never heard of
before.
One of the names I had never heard of before
was Chambers, Whittaker Chambers. I remembered the name, because of the
way in which the name had come up in the conversation.
Mr. MUNDT. That was
in 1947?
Mr. HISS. Just a moment,
Mr. Mundt. They in no way indicated Chambers or anyone of the other names
I had or had not heard of was making any charge against me. It was merely
one of a number of names, some of which I knew and a considerable number
of which I had never heard of before.
There is no contradiction, and I resent and protest
your saying it was contradictory testimony.
Mr. MUNDT. There is
a contradiction because you just testified to Mr. Hebert that the first
time you had ever heard of Mr. Whittaker Chambers was last winter.
Mr. HISS. I do not--
Mr. MUNDT. Now you say
you heard about him in 1941. If that isn't a contradiction, I don't recognize
it.
Mr. HISS. Mr. Mundt,
I do not think I testified to Mr. Hebert that the first time I ever heard
of Chambers was last winter. I understood Mr. Hebert to ask me when I first
heard that Chambers had said I was a Communist, and those are two very
different statements.
Mr. MUNDT. We will have
to let the record speak for that.
Mr. HISS. We certainly
will.
Mr. HEBERT. Mr. Hiss,
when the picture of Mr. Chambers was first presented to you here when you
first appeared, at that time you said you would rather see the man to positively
identify him.
Mr. HISS. I did.
Mr. HEBERT. Today you
say, you told the committee that you did recognize some familiarity in
the photograph.
Mr. HISS. I did not
testify today that I told the committee that on the 5th. It was in my mind.
I do not find it in the record. I do recall having said that to a number
of individuals on the 4th, the day before I testified. I did testify to
it on the 16th.
The fact is, there was a certain familiarity
in the features. I could not tell whether I was imagining it. There is
still a certain familiarity.
Mr. HEBERT. You told
somebody before you appeared before the committee that there was a familiarity?
Mr. HISS. I told several
people.
Mr. HEBERT. Several
people?
Mr. HISS. Yes, I did.
Mr. HEBERT. Why didn't
you tell the committee that?
Mr. HISS. The committee
did not specifically ask me. I was shown a photograph. I was asked if I
could identify it.
Mr. HEBERT. I will read
from the record, Mr. Hiss, and you have read the record, too-you seem to
have studied it pretty well.
Counsel, this is page 367:
Mr. STRIPLING. I have here, Mr. Chairman, a picture
which was made last
Monday by the Associated Press. I understand
from people who knew Mr.
Chambers during 1934 and '35 that he is much
heavier today than he was at that
time, but I show you this picture, Mr. Hiss,
and ask you if you have ever known
an individual who resembles this picture.
It seems to me that is quite a direct question.
To which you replied:
Mr. HISS. I would much rather see the individual.
I have looked at all the
pictures I was able to get hold of in, I think
it was, yesterday's paper which had
the pictures. If this is a picture of Mr. Chambers,
he is not particularly unusual
looking. He looks like a lot of people. I might
even mistake him for the
chairman of this committee.
The chairman of the committee was Mr. Mundt at
that time.
Mr. Mundt replied: I hope you are wrong in that.
Mr. Hiss replied:
I didn't mean to be facetious, but very
seriously I would not want to take oath that I have never seen that man.
I would like to see him and then I think I would be better able to tell
whether I had ever seen him. Is he here today?
Mr. MUNDT. Not to my knowledge.
Mr. HISS. I hoped he would be.
Now, that is the cold record, Mr. Hiss. Why didn't
you tell us that the picture looked familiar to you at that time? Although
you took occasion to tell people the day before?
Mr. HISS. Mr. Hebert,
as you read the record, you will notice there was an interruption and the
committee did not proceed with much more about the photograph. There was
an interruption when I said I did not mean to be facetious, and I did not,
but there had been an interruption. I have no way of knowing why I did
not happen to mention everything that was in my mind on that particular
occasion. I have told you--and it is the truth--that I did notice a certain
familiarity in the pictures. I was not sure that that familiarity was
significant.
I could be imagining it. It was not an unusual
face as I saw it in the pictures.
Mr. HEBERT. But you
did think it of importance to tell other people before you appeared before
this committee that there was some familiarity about the man's pictures?
Mr. HISS. People with
whom I was discussing this strange occurrence and proceeding.
Mr. HEBERT. But you
didn't think it of importance to tell this committee that?
Mr. HISS. It did not
at the moment that I was testifying on the particular subject of recognition.
I don't remember how many other passages there were in the record about
recognition. It didn't seem of sufficient importance for me to mention;
that seems obvious.
Mr. HEBERT. We were
trying to establish an identity which is most important and very pertinent
to this inquiry, and you left the committee with this impression, and I
am sure everybody else that heard it, that you had never seen this man
Chambers or anybody who even remotely looked like him.
Mr. HISS.
Mr. Hebert, you are better able to testify as to the impressions of the
committee than I am.
Mr. NIXON. On that point
here is another reference.
The CHAIRMAN. Just a
moment.
Mr. Hebert, do you yield?
Mr. HEBERT. Yes.
Mr. NIXON. I am reading
from page 355:
Mr. MUNDT. I am getting to it. I want to say
for one member of the committee
that it is extremely puzzling that a man who
is senior editor of Time magazine,
by the name of Whittaker Chambers, whom I had
never seen until a day or
two ago, and whom you say you have never seen
--
Mr. Hiss. As far as I know, I have never seen
him.
Now, the impression that was left with me--and
I must join Mr. Hebert in this--I think the committee left with the press
and I have read most of the stories that appeared in the newspapers the
following day--was that you testified you had never seen his man.
Mr. DAVIS. This page
was 365:
Mr. NIXON: 365.
Mr. DAVIS. And the page
Mr. Hebert was reading was what?
Mr. HEBERT. 367.
Mr. DAVIS. The picture
had not been shown at this time. It was a question of names rather than
pictures.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Hiss
had previously testified he had seen the pictures the day before. Mr. Hiss
testified he had been studying the pictures the day before. He knew what
we were. referring to and he still said, "As far as I know, I have never
seen him." I can only say that the impression left with the committee was
that he had never seen this man.
Now, I understand his testimony now is that he
did recognize a certain familiarity and told friends the day before that
he did recognize that familiarity.
Mr. HISS. That is correct,
Mr. Nixon.
Mr. NIXON. But you didn't
tell this committee that.
Mr. HISS. You have referred
to the impression not only of the committee but to the impression of the
press. My recollection is that Mr. Stripling at one of the hearings in
New York also referred to the impression of the press and I replied to
him that perhaps he had helped create the impression of the press, which
did not have any basis that I could see simply from the record to have
any such basis.
Mr. MUNDT. At that point,
if he will yield--
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Hebert
has the floor.
Mr. HEBERT. Of course,
Mr. Hiss, the record speaks for itself. Your replies were heard by the
press and the people in this room and Mr. Stripling, as a matter of fact,
had nothing to do to create any impression except by what you said.
Mr. HISS. Well, now--
Mr. HEBERT'. Let me
finish. I might also say, Mr. Hiss, that you created a most favorable impression
the first day you appeared.
Mr. HISS. Thank you,
Mr. Hebert.
Mr. HEBERT, And when
anybody had an opportunity, however, to read the cold record, they didn't
get the same impression from the record as they thought they had gotten
when you were testifying orally because as I told you before, you are a
very agile young man.
Mr. HISS. Mr. Hebert
Mr. HEBERT. Wait just
a minute. I will let you make all the speeches you want. Let me get mine
in now. I repeat you are a very agile young man and a very clever young
man and your conduct on all appearances before
this committee has shown that you are very self-possessed and you know
what you are doing and you know yourself why you are answering and how
you are answering.
Now, that is the reason
why I am trying to find out exactly where the truth lies. I can't understand
and I can't reconcile and resolve the situation that an individual of your
intellect and your ability who gives to casual people his apartment, who
tosses in an automobile, who doesn't know the laws of liability, who lends
money to an individual
just casually, is so cautious another time.
It seems to me it is
a demonstration of a very remarkable ability.
No, that is the reason why I want to be sure
in repeatedly asking these questions that there can be no doubt in anybody's
mind about what you mean to say as contrasted to what you say.
Now, the impression
was definite that you had never seen that picture--and, incidentally, these
pictures have been shown to several people, innumerable people, of Chambers
taken in '34 and the picture today. Without hesitancy every individual
has remarked about the striking similarity between the two men, which are
naturally the same man. And yet you and you alone-you, and you alone-sit
here today and stand out as alone individual who hedges and resorts to
technicalities that you can't tell.
Mr. HISS. Mr. Hebert,
that was a very loaded statement.
Mr. HEBERT. I hope it
was because I want you to get the full impact it. [Applause.]
Mr. HISS. Mr. Hebert,
we will see people's judgment of the photograph; when the photographs are
made public. I don't know how many people have seen them.
Now, your specific question
of me, I understand, again relates to the question of why I was unable
to identify a picture, a single picture that was shown. to me,. and I think
it would be wise if the record showed the particular picture which was
shown to me.
My recollection is it was a picture taken at
a candid-camera angle from under the chin. I don't know whether Mr. Stripling
still has or marked as an exhibit the particular picture shown to me. I
think that picture is relevant.
Mr. CHAIRMAN. May I
see those pictures again?
Mr. MUNDT. Mr. Chairman,
I ask unanimous consent that the pictures shown Mr. Hiss that day be put
in the record. I think you were shown two pictures.
Mr. HISS. I think just
one picture. My recollection is only one picture.
Mr. MUNDT. It should
be in the record.
Mr. HISS. Mr. Hebert,
the name Crosley was not in my mind at all when I was testifying before
the committee. There was not remote connection in my mind between that
man, the transactions I had had with him, and the charges that a man named
Chambers was now talking against me.
Why should I have connected
the two people at that time? Perhaps you knew more connections between
them than I did. I knew of no connection.
I first thought of Crosley
after various accounts apparently from his own secret testimony of his
having personal knowledge about me came to my attention, while I was on
the train coming down here voluntarily, willingly, and promptly in response
to a telegram from he chairman of your committee as to whether I would
appear in executive session on Monday, the 16th.
Now, all the confusion
might very well have been avoided if you had had him here the first day.
I hoped he would be. I remarked on the fact that he was not here the first
day.
Mr. HEBERT. Of course,
that is mere speculation on what you would lave done the first day.
Mr. HISS: You said I
could continue after you had finished, Mr.
Hebert.
Mr. HEBERT. Certainly.
I apologize.
Mr. HISS. Thank you.
You have compared what you term my caution in testifying on what to me
was a very important fact: Who was my accuser on such a serious charge?
You have compared that in importance to trivial transactions of 14 years
earlier. I do not think that is a fair comparison. I do not think it is
fair to say that because I acted in that particular case, acted with what
I have said before seems to me ordinary kindness in dealing with people
on relatively unimportant matters, that that is inconsistent on such an
important matter as my public testimony on such a charge as has been made.
I said I would want to see the man face to face.
You are privileged to have your own interpretation, Mr. Hebert, and, thank
goodness, I am privileged to have mine.
Mr. HEBERT. I always
respect your interpretation of anything the same as I think the committee
wants its interpretation respected here, and we are only trying to get
to the truth. As I told you the other day in executive session, I told
you that either you or Mr. Chambers was the damnedest liar that ever came
on the American scene.
Mr. HISS. And I am just
as anxious to get at the truth as you are.
Mr. HEBERT. And whichever
one of you is lying is the greatest actor we have ever seen in this country.
The CHAIRMAN.
Mr. Vail.
Mr. VAIL. Mr. Stripling,
the name Bialek is a rather unusual one and one that rings a bell in my
memory. About a year ago four students of the DePaul University in Chicago
came into my office and said they were down here for the purpose of lobbying
in behalf of the GI subsistence bill and certain things had occurred that
they thought merited congressional attention.
They said when they
arrived in Washington, they were met at the train by a man named Robert
Bialek. Mr. Bialek undertook to find them housing and he took them to the
home of a man named Lichtenstein. Mr. Lichtenstein proved to be a very
cordial host. One of the things they noticed when they entered the hall
in going up the stairs was a large framed picture of Joe Stalin. and when
they reached the rooms to which they were assigned, they found a table
in the center of each room loaded with communistic literature. Subsequently
they were escorted to parties where they were subjected to communistic
propaganda.
So they reported the
incident and we held a hearing and went into the matter quite thoroughly,
and it is a matter of the committee records. I think this particular phase
of this matter, in view of the fact that the automobile we are discussing
found its way into the hands of a man named Rosen who resided at this same
address of Robert Bialek, is sufficient of a coincidence to justify some
exploration.
Have you any information,
M. Stripling, as to whether or not there was any relationship between Robert
Bialek and Benjamin Bialek?
Mr. STRIPLING. Robert
is the son of Benjamin Bialek.
Mr. VAIL. That is all.
The CHAIRMAN. That is
all…
Skips pp 1141-1149
Mr. NIXON It has been
established. in other words that you two knew each other.
Mr. Chambers said he knew you as a Communist and that it was in that connection
that his acquaintanceship with you occurred, and he has indicated the circumstances
of the acquaintanceship as he recalled them.
You, on the other hand, have indicated that your
acquaintanceship with Mr. Chambers was with a man named Crosley, a man
with whom you had only a casual acquaintance, that he was not a friend
in that sense, that he was not what we would term even a guest in your
house at the time he stayed there, but it was a business relationship at
most, and that in the end Mr. Chambers had
been a man who had failed to pay his debts and with whom you built up relations
because of his failure to pay his debts.
Now, just to get the
record straight today as to those points on which you are sure on your
recollection of this conversation with Mr. Chambers, I would like to go
through four or five points to be sure the record is straight.
We have your testimony
of Monday and Tuesday which is pretty clear on these points, but you have
indicated today in the case of the car that the testimony of Monday and
Tuesday should not be accepted at face value, that at least the interpretation
placed on that testimony would have to be changed in view of the facts
that have been brought
to your attention.
Mr. HISS. It should
be accepted on the basis on which I gave it, as my best recollection under
the circumstances, without access to records.
Mr. NIXON. You don't
mean to say now that you are still insisting that you transferred title
of this car to Chambers in May of 1935? .
Mr. HISS. Mr. Nixon,
I am insisting that at all times I have testified to this committee to
the best of my then recollection. That is what I am insisting.
Mr. NIXON. I see. Now,
in regard to the lease on the. apartment, as you testified previously,
It was at the going rate--that is, whatever the apartment was to you.
I might say that the investigation of the committee
has brought forth the fact that the apartment at that time was leased to
you at $60 a month.
Mr. HISS. My recollection
was it was a moderate rental. I don't remember.
Mr. NIXON. You testified
in New York that it was somewhat less than $75. Now, as we have indicated
from the records, Mr. Chambers could have been in the apartment from May
1 to June 26. That was the point at which you had jurisdiction of the apartment.
From that, then, it would appear that Mr. Chambers
owed you approximately $120 in rent at the conclusion of his tenancy in
the apartment.
Now, I do understand that you are testifying
today that you did lease the apartment to Chambers. There is no question
about that.
Mr. HISS. That is correct.
Mr. NIXON. And it was
a financial transaction.
Mr. HISS. That is correct.
Mr. NIXON. And it was
agreed he was to pay you for the apartment?
Mr. HISS. That is correct.
I have also testified, Mr. Nixon, that the apartment did not seem to me
then and does not seem to me now to have been a very significant financial
value on the market, on the market at the time. I had some more time to
go after I moved out there.
It was not a readily
lease able asset or readily disposable asset at the time.
Mr. NIXON. My point
is that Chambers owed you $120 approximately when he left the apartment.
Mr. HISS. My recollection
is that the arrangement was at cost. I wouldn't want to say, though, that
it hadn't been somewhat less than cost, but I just don't recall.
Mr. NIXON. I see. Now,
is it your recollection that previous to the time when Mr. Chambers went
into the apartment, Mrs. Chambers, Mr. Chambers, and their infant daughter
visited you and your wife in your house on P Street?
Mr. HISS. That is my
recollection.
Mr. NIXON. Are you sure
on that point or are you not sure?
Mr. HISS. I am not sure
of the exact time. That is my best recollection. It is fixed in my recollection
in connection with the subleasing of the apartment.
Mr. NIXON. Could the
visit have taken place after the lease on the apartment expired?
Mr. HISS. It could.
Mr. NIXON. You mean
it is possible you might have had Chambers and his wife and child in your
house for several nights after he welshed on the rent?
Mr. HISS. I cannot recall
any reason why that would have happened. My recollection, as I have testified
to already, is that it was in connection with his not having adequate furniture
to move into the apartment. I am not able to testify at this late date
with absolute certainty about where I was on the night of May something,
1934 or 1935.
I have told you to the best of my recollection.
Mr. NIXON. Could it
have occurred 6 months after the lease on the apartment expired?
Mr. HISS. I don't see
how it could.
Mr. NIXON. Can you testify
on that point?
Mr. HISS. I will testify
to the best of my recollection it could not.
I will testify to the best of my recollection
it could not.
Mr. NIXON. Then as far
as your answer to that question is concerned, you think
Mr. Chambers was in your house as a guest with his wife for 2, 3, or 4
days, as you testified, before he went into the apartment?
Mr. HISS. That is right,
spring or early summer of 1935, if that is the date.
Mr. NIXON. But you have
indicated it might have been afterward?
Mr. HISS. Might, only
in the sense of a possibility. I have no recollection.
Mr. NIXON. But you don't
want to indicate positively that it was before?
Mr. HISS. It is my best
recollection that it was before and was in connection with the circumstances
I have testified to.
Mr. NIXON. Now, is it
your testimony Mr. Chambers told you his furniture van was coming down
and that is why he was waiting?
Mr. HISS. That is my
best recollection and that is why they couldn't move into the apartment;
something that he needed.
Mr. NIXON. Where was
it coming from, do you recall?
Mr. HISS. My best recollection,
as I think I have already testified is that I had the impression that Mr.
Chambers, Crosley, came from New York; that I had seen him three or four
times; that he came to Washington in order to get material and information
for the articles he was writing. He may have been living in Washington
for all I know positively. I had the impression that he was coming from
New York that he returned to New York after his business.
Mr. NIXON. Your recollection
is the conversation was Mr. Chambers was bringing down his furniture in
the van for the 8-week period he was subletting the apartment?
Mr. HISS. My recollection
is he told me he wanted to complete the research he had been doing on the
munitions case, that he wanted to stay in Washington for quite a period,
which further confirms my recollection that he hadn't been living in Washington
to my knowledge before.
Mr. NIXON. He was bringing
furniture for that 8-week period?
Mr. HISS. He was bringing
his wife and child and I think he was bringing some furniture, not complete
because I left some furniture behind.
Mr. NIXON. Now, we have
already touched upon the car and I think it has been summarized, my statement
is in the record and your statement is in the record on that.
Do you have anything to add on the car?
Mr. HISS. Not at this
time, Mr. Nixon. I hope I will have something to add in the future.
Mr. NIXON. In any event,
as far as your testimony given in New York is concerned, the answers which,
as I indicated, were quite categorical on the nature of the transaction
and the time of the transaction, you now wish to qualify to the best of
your recollection; is that correct?
Mr. HISS. Mr. Nixon,
I would like to reply to that that the record should speak for itself.
My testimony then and my testimony today--.
Mr. NIXON:' The answers
weren't qualified then, Mr. Hiss. Do you want to qualify them now? You
have right to.
Mr. HISS. Mr. Nixon,
I thought that at all times I had qualified my answers by saying I was
testifying to the best of my recollection. Without having had access to
records.
Mr. NIXON. You are not
yet prepared to say what kind of a transaction this was?
Mr. HISS. I have tried
to indicate to the committee-and the record will show, Mr. Nixon-my best
recollection of the nature of the transaction.
Mr. NIXON. But you are
sure you gave Chambers a car for a period of time?
Mr. HISS. I am confident
according to my best recollection I gave him the use of the car for at
least a period of time, as I gave him the use of my apartment.
Mr. NIXON. How many
times did you see Chambers before he went into the apartment?
Mr. HISS. I would estimate
four or five. I am not confident at all that I can tell the exact number.
Mr. NIXON. Your testimony
in New York was 10 or 11.
Mr. HISS. That is my
recollection. If that is my testimony, that is my recollection of how many
times I saw the man altogether.
Mr. NIXON. Is your testimony
now you have seen Chambers 10 or 11 times altogether?
Mr. HISS. That would
be my impression.
Mr. NIXON. I see. and
that you only saw him four or five times before he moved into the apartment.
Mr. HISS. It could have
been more than four or five times. It could have been five or six, six
or seven.
Mr. NIXON. Did you take
him to lunch on any of those occasions?
Mr. HISS. I think I
remember occasions when we went out to lunch in the Senate Office Building
while we were talking about the munitions investigation.
Mr. NIXON. Were you
always alone with him at those times?
Mr. HISS. I do not recall
whether anyone else on the staff was with me. I am doing my best to get
in contact with former members of the staff who may have known him at the
same time I did.
Mr. NIXON. You know
of no persons at the present time who were with you at the time you had
those luncheon engagements with him?
Mr. HISS. I have not
found anybody.
Mr. NIXON. Nobody visited
him at the time Mr. and Mrs. Chamber were at your house?
Mr. HISS. I have attempted
also to check with my friends, any friends who saw him go into the house
when he was there.
Mr. NIXON. Now, in regard
to the rental agreement, I should like--to refer you to the testimony of--and,
Mr. Counsel, if you will get your testimony out--concerning the matter
of payment. On page 82 of the testimony on Monday, the 16th, in the middle
of the page-- Mr. Counsel, when you have it, you
will let me know. Page 82:
Mr. NIXON. Did he pay
any rent all the time he was in your house?
Mr. HISS, My recollection
is he paid $15 or $:20, and he gave me a rug which I have still got.
Now, the following day, 24 hours later, on page
15 of the testimony on Tuesday
Mr. DAVIS. Just a minute,
Mr. Nixon. What page is that?
Mr. NIXON. Page 15,
a little above the middle of the page.
Mr. DAVIS. Thank you.
Mr. NIXON (reading):
Mr. NIXON. Did he ever pay any rent at all?
Mr. HISS. My recollection is that he paid no
cash, that he once paid in kind.
Now, which is the true statement?
Mr. HISS. Mr. Nixon,
I think I have testified that my recollection is that in addition to the
apartment transaction I loaned Crosley, perhaps, over a period of time
as much as $20 or $25. Whether my recollection is also that he paid some
money, some nominal amount back to me, never the full amount-whether I
regarded whatever he may have returned as paying the $15 or $20, I remember
lending him, or for rent. I would not recall, and I am not sure that he
ever paid anything.
Mr. NIXON. Then your
testimony today is--
Mr. HISS. If I testified
that he paid something, that was my best recollection.
Mr. NIXON. Well, one
day you testified he paid nothing; the next you testified--I mean, the
first day you testified that he paid $15 or $20 and the next day you said
nothing. Now, I want to know which is which.
Mr. HISS.
Mr. Nixon, the main recollection is the fact that he--
Mr. NIXON. Paid anything?
Mr. HISS. And did not
pay in full; and my recollection, as best as I recall it now, is that I
got nothing from the transactions I had had with him. I would not want
to take an absolute, positive oath that he never paid back a single cent.
My recollection is I got nothing except something in kind.
Mr. NIXON. Then, since
Monday when you said, "My recollection is that he paid $15 or $20," you
wish to tell us now that he paid nothing; is that right?
Mr. HISS.
Mr. Nixon, if I testified on Monday, I did so to the best of my recollection
then. The record will have to show what it shows. I do not have a definite
present recollection of receiving anything from Crosley.
Mr. NIXON. How many
loans did you make to him?
Mr. HISS. Again, my
recollection is that it was over a couple of transactions, two or three.
I think I recall letting him have $10 or so at the time that he was moving
into the apartment in connection with expenses then.
Mr. NIXON. Was that
the first loan you made to him?
Mr. HISS. I do not recall
that. I may have let him have $5 or so on occasion. I am sorry I do not
recall that.
Mr. NIXON. When was
the last loan you made to him?
Mr. HISS. I do not recall
the last date of the last loan.
Mr. NIXON. Did you make
any loans to him after he moved out of the apartment?
Mr. HISS. That, I do
not recall. What I do recall is the succession favors requested and obtained,
and the cumulative effect, and the recession that this had better be put
an end to.
Mr. NIXON. Well, did
he make some loans after you moved out of apartment?
Mr. HISS. I am unable
to testify with positiveness as to whether he or not.
Mr. NIXON. You might
have?
Mr. HISS. I am trying
to go back to my old checks and records. If I were to find a check as of,
say, September, I certainly would accept it.
Mr. NIXON. At the end
of the first month did you dun him for the rent?
Mr. HISS. I do not recall,
frankly, the nature of the dunning process. I do recall making it plain
to him that he owed me money, and was paying it, and I do recall his indicating
that he was going to in good time. When he marketed these articles, when
he could do that,
and so on, he would pay me.
Mr. NIXON. You testified,
Mr. Hiss, that on one occasion you gave Mr. Chambers a ride to New York
from Washington.
Mr. HISS. I think I
recall an occasion when I was going to New York, and when Mr. Crosley went
along with me, either because I mentioned that I was going, and he asked
for the ride, or some other reason. I have taken other people. I have picked
hip hitch-hikers, I have frequently taken people on ride when I was driving
from one place to another.
The CHAIRMAN. Will the
gentleman yield to me?
Mr. NIXON. Yes.
The CHAIRMAN. Did anyone
else go on that trip to NEW York?
Mr. HISS. I am unable
to recall. I had asked my wife whether she went. I do not think she is
clear in her own mind as to whether she did or did not.
Mr. NIXON. What car
did you use?
Mr. HISS. It would depend
on the date; it would depend on the car I had.
Mr. NIXON. Well, if
you used the Ford, it would have taken a long time.
Mr. HISS. If I used
the Ford it would have taken as long as a model A Ford would take to get
there.
Mr. NIXON. It would
be about 9 or 10 hours.
Mr. HISS. I do not recall
how long it took a model A Ford to go from Washington to New York.
Mr. NIXON. In any event,
your testimony is that you spent anywhere from 7 to 10 hours, depending
on the automobile, with Mr. Chambers, in a car.
Mr. HISS. If we were
in fact driving to New York together--if we, in fact, drove to New York
together, that is correct.
Mr. NIXON. Let me get
this clear. Are you testifying that you did go to New York with him or
you did not go to New York with him?
Mr. HISS. Mr. Nixon.
I am testifying that I think I recall driving him to New York. I am not
testifying that I remember clearly that I positively did. I have told the
committee over and over again that these were matters of no consequence
to me at the time they occurred.
That I have no fixed. vivid recollection of them.
Mr. NIXON. You are not
sure that you took him to New York?
Mr. HISS. I would not
be prepared to swear positively that I did. The committee asked me if I
ever had, and I said I might have.
Mr. NIXON. How many
times did you see him after the rental agreement was over?
Mr. HISS. I could not
testify with certainty that I did see him at all. I could not testify with
certainty that I did, or if I did, just how many times I did. I would be
surprised if I saw him in all more than 10 or 11 times.
Mr. NIXON. As I read
your testimony, Mr. Hiss, you said that you might have stayed overnight
with him.
Mr. HISS. With him?
Mr. NIXON. I am sorry-that
he might have stayed overnight with you after the rental agreement expired.
Mr. HISS. You asked
me if it could have been possible, and my recollection of my reply is that
it could have been possible.
Mr. NIXON. What did
you call Crosley?
Mr. HISS. I think I
just called him Crosley.
Mr. NIXON. You had known
this man by that time about 9 months, and you just called him Crosley?
Mr. HISS. I would not
be surprised if I called him George. News paper men have a way of themselves
being quite informal, and of expecting informal treatment. I have known
a number of news-papermen not too intimately, who called me by my first
name and, whom I called by their first name rather quickly in one acquaintance.
Mr. NIXON. Then, as
I understand from this testimony, the only thing you are willing to testify
for sure to is that you did let him have your apartment, and that he did
see you at the Nye committee; is that right?
Mr. HISS. Well, "is
that the only thing," that is a rather hard question to answer just that
way, The record will show just exactly what I have testified to, and what
I have not, Mr. Nixon.
Mr. NIXON. The record
will be very clear on that point.
Mr. HISS. An attempted
summation in a few words is difficult to do with exactness.
Mr. NIXON. What else
are you sure of? You are sure of the lease, you are sure of the Nye committee.
What else are you sure of?
Mr. HISS. I am sure
that I let him have the use of the car. I am reasonably sure.
Mr. NIXON. You do not
know when, how or why?
Mr. HISS. I think it
must have been in connection with the lease transaction.
Mr. NIXON. Even though
you did not have two cars at that time?
Mr. HISS. During, before,
or after. The question of what cars I had available to me will certainly
have a bearing upon my final determination of my own recollection. If I
find that some friend lent me a car during the summer, that will have a
bearing. If I find that I acquired another car earlier than the one that
Mr. Stripling has referred to, that will have a bearing.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Hiss,
how many times in the last 15 years have you borrowed a car from a friend
for the summer?
Mr. HISS. I would want
to search my recollection and the recollection of friends.
The CHAIRMAN. Well,
the Chairman would like to intercede right there.
Mr. NIXON. I have no
more questions, Mr. Chairman.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Vail.
Mr. VAIL. In the interest
of accuracy of the record, in connection with my remarks a few minutes
ago, I refreshed my memory by referring to the record, and I find that
two of those boys stayed at the home of Lichtenstein, of them at the, home
of a man named Hyde, and the picture to which I refer was a picture of
Karl Marx instead of Joe Stalin. Thank you very much.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Mundt.
Mr. MUNDT. Mr. Hiss,
you said that if you could find a check issued to George Crosley in September,
in the nature of a loan, that that would help you very much, and it would
certainly help this committee very much.
Mr. HISS. Yes, Mr. Mundt.
Mr. MUNDT. You made
a series of loans to this Mr. Crosley.
Mr. HISS. I do not recall,
and one of the reasons I am trying to my old checks and stubs is to find
out.
Mr. MUNDT. You think
you might have given him one by check?
Mr. HISS. I might have.
Mr. MUNDT. Now, Mr.
Hiss, these hearings are drawing to a close, and I want to review with
you briefly, as briefly as I can, the reactions of just one member of this
committee to the testimony in which you are involved, and after I conclude
my statement, which I shall make without interruption, you then make the
statements that you have to make without interruption. But I wish you would
take notes on what I am going to say so that you can correct me in your
statement where you think I am in error, or where you set my trend of thinking
right, where you think it is deviating from a logical course.
We started out in these
hearings simply to get at the truth concerning espionage activities in
Government. One of our early witnesses, Mr. Whittaker Chambers, mentions
your name and the name of your brother, Donald Hiss, in connection with
other individuals, most of whom have refused under oath to deny the charges
or to deny the
fact that they are members of the Communist Party.
You suggested when you
first came before the committee that in an effort to get at the facts that
we take certain steps, one of which was to go to the records, wherever
the records are available. We have done that, and we have spread those
records wherever available into this testimony.
You suggested that you
be confronted with your accuser. We have done that, both in executive session
and in open session.
You suggested that we
check all the verifiable details, which we have done.
Your testimony that
first day was that, to the best of your recollection, you did not know
Whittaker Chambers, and that the picture which was presented to you by
counsel, Mr. Stripling, did not bring back the memory of anybody whom you
had seen by that picture.
The next step in this
proceeding was, and I might say here that you made a very fine impression
on me, as acting chairman, that first day. I was inclined to be in your
corner from the standpoint of accepting the validity of what you said.
You were given every consideration by the committee and not cross-examined
very dearly or carefully by the committee on that first day, and that despite
the fact, that as a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, I
had frequently heard the name of Alger Hiss bandied around as having possible
Communist connections in years past. I never had seen you; I never had
met you; I do not believe your name had ever passed my lips or had been
written by me in any correspondence up to that time. But it was, as you
have later testified, rather common scuttle-but, should we say, around
Washington that one Alger Hiss had been labeled by some as a fellow traveler
or Communist. The most recent
indication of that is a statement in the morning
paper, by George E. :Sokolsky. I will read you just two paragraphs from
his column,
These Days. It says:
Way back in 1941 I came across the existence of
the Ware group
that is the Harold Ware whom you testified that
you knew the Ware
group in Washington, who were engaged in placing
Communists in
the most critical positions in the Federal Government.
I was then told who
the original 10 were, and among them was mentioned
Alger Hiss.
In spite of that, after hearing your testimony,
I was convinced that either Whittaker Chambers must have been falsifying
before this committee or else there was a mistaken identity.
So, I asked a subcommittee
to go to New York for the purpose of interviewing Mr. Chambers to see whether
by some chance, he had confused Alger Hiss with someone else, whether or
not he could substantiate his statement that he knew Alger Hiss, and, if
so, how well, and what details he could supply, which are verifiable. He
supplied a great many details, all of which are in the executive testimony,
which been released to the press today.
Then you were again
interviewed in Washington, and at that time you verified these same details,
which were given us by Mr. Chambers, intimate details about your family,
about your hobby, about your pets, about the decorations in the room, and
after verifying a number of these details, you said, "I might have known
a man who had access to that information," and you said that man, if you
knew him at all, was one George Crosley.
The next day the committee
went to New York City and brought you and Mr. Chambers together, at which
time you identified him positively; you identified him as the George Crosley,
but you said then that you sublet him your apartment. You said then that
you gave or sold him an automobile. You said then that you had him living
with you several days in your own home. You said then that you had also
seen him at sometime -later than the time when he occupied your apartment,
and you said then that you had made a series of small loans.
We have tried since
then to verify further the testimony of both yourself and Mr. Chambers.
We have been unable to find anybody who knows or who has seen George Crosley.
You have been unable to produce anybody for us who knows or has seen George
Crosley.
Therefore, in summary,
it would seem to me that you have left me, as one member of the committee,
in this position-and I came back from South Dakota by air to get at the
facts of this case, because, as I say, when you first appeared before the
committee. you left me with the feeling that you were telling the truth
and that you were not concealing or evading information which we needed
to have in this Committee.
Now, I find that while
you said earlier that you did not know Mr. Whittaker Chambers or any man
answering that description or looking like him, it is now established testimony
that you did know him and that you do know him.
There is some doubt
about the name, but there is no question about your having known the individual,
and I find that while you said in the testimony that you were sure anybody
who could have lived in your house over a period of time would be somebody
whose picture you would be able to identify, but I find that you were unable
to identify from the picture, although you now testify that this man did
live in your home over a period of days.
You said that you gave
Chambers your car, that you sold or traded it to him, and now the written
records show that you signed a transfer of your car to the Cherner Motor
Co. or else to one William T. Rosen.
You testified that you
had given money to Crosley in the nature of a loan. He testified that he
had received money from you in the nature of payment of Communist dues.
The points in agreement, as they looked to me, are these:
You knew this man; you
knew him very well. You knew him so well that you even trusted him with
your apartment; you let him use your furniture; you let him use or gave
him your automobile. You think that you probably
took him to New York. You bought him lunches in the Senate Restaurant.
You had him staying in your home when it was inconvenient for him to stay
in the apartment, and made him a series of small loans. There seems no
question about that.
In other words,
there seems no question about your associations with a man who told this
committee that he associated with you.
The points in disagreement,
as I see them are these:
Were you or were you
not a Communist. This committee never had any illusions that we would be
able to prove definitely whether or not you are a Communist because, in
dealing with people charged with being Communists over a period of years,
we have found that those who are guilty, refused to admit it and dodged
the question, or deliberately lied.
We know that we cannot
get the records of the Communist Party. We cannot get their membership
cards, but that was a point we could not hope to establish by verifiable
evidence, and it is now a point in dispute.
The second point in
dispute is that were you a member of the so-called Ware group who are alleged
to have worked together to promote their associates into key positions
of Government. You say you were not. Mr. Chambers says that you were. Mr.
Chambers said that you were and that you were associated in this activity
with John Abt, Lee Pressman, Nathan Witt, Henry Collins, Harold Ware, and
Charles Kramer. You admit that you knew John Abt, Lee Pressman, Nathan
Witt, Henry Collins, Harold Ware, and Charles Kramer. but you did not know
whether or not they were Communists and that whether or not they were,
that you were not associated with them in an effort to promote your associates
into key Government positions.
There is one other point
in dispute, and that is while you both admit this association at the time
when it was supposed to have taken place, Mr. Chambers said that you knew
him as Carl, and you say that you knew him as Crosley. To me, that is not
a very important distinction. The important thing is how close your associations
were with this man, who .is admittedly a Communist at that time.
He is a Communist functionary.
Whether he was living in your home as George Crosley or Carl or Whittaker
Chambers is comparatively immaterial. The important thing to me, Mr. Hiss,
is that he was living in your home, that you were associating with him,
that you were taking him out in the car, that you were letting him use
your car, that you were letting him use your apartment and making him loans
and having associations with him of that nature.
In an endeavor
to determine the credibility of two witnesses whose testimony conflicts
on so many of these points, which are still in dispute. we endeavored to
establish that by checking. first, Mr. Chambers' testimony to see whether
or not it would stand up, to see whether or not you were an ornithologist.
to see whether or not you had a car which had a hand windshield wiper,
to see whether or not he had this rather intimate association with you.
which the testimony of both of you now conclusively proves did exist.
We also endeavored to
check the fact as to whether he lived in your home or spent time in your
home, as he said he did. Now. both of you testify to the fact that that
actually took place.
We endeavored
to verify other aspects of his testimony, about transfers that your son
made in school, about certain intimate details of the furniture and material
in your home, and on every point on which we have been able to verify,
on which we have had verifiable evidence before us, the testimony of Mr.
Chambers has stood up. It stands
unchallenged. Most of it you admit, although
you place understandably a different interpretation upon it from what he
has.
You, on the other
hand, have also supplied some verifiable data. You have talked about an
automobile; you have talked about these pictures of identification; you
have described the conditions under which he occupied your home; but in
the matter of the car your testimony is clearly refuted by the tangible
evidence of the sales slips from the Cherner Motor Co., by the registration
material.
On some of the
other items your testimony is clouded by a strangely deficient memory.
You can recall vividly certain very specific details, but you cannot recall
at all whether this automobile that meant so much to you was ever given
to Crosley and returned to you, whether you sold it to him, or what the
actual disposition of this car was;
and that car plays a very important part, as
does the subletting of the apartment in the whole testimony, because in
testing the credibility of your testimony and that of Mr. Chambers we have
to rely on those pieces of evidence which are verifiable, and those happen
to be verifiable ones.
We proceed on the conclusion
that if either one of you is telling the truth on the verifiable data,
that you are telling the truth on all of it. And if either one of you is
concealing the truth from the committee on verifiable data, it points out
that you are concealing from us the truth on obviously the points that
we cannot prove.
I wanted you to have
that reaction, Mr. HISS, from one member of the committee who, as I say,
came in cold, with no predisposition as to your conduct or reputation whatsoever;
who, after you first testified, was very frankly inclined to accept it
at its face value.
I said something to
that effect in the written testimony. I gave a statement to the press.
Now, I have set before you the mental processes
of one member of the committee, which I wanted you to have before you make
your statement, and I will be glad to have you refute them in detail, or
challenge them or correct them in any way you see fit.
The CHAIRMAN. Now, Mr. HISS, you have heard Mr. Mundt. You may have all
the time you will require to answer Mr. Mundt. You may read your statement
at this time, and just take as much time as you want.
(At this point, Mr. Hiss attempts to consult
with Mr. Davis.)
Mr. MUNDT. No; I want Mr. Hiss to talk now, and you may talk later. I want
Mr. Hiss to talk now.
Mr. HISS. Commenting on Mr. Mundt's so-called summation, I would like to
point out that the man who calls himself Chambers has by his own testimony,
been peddling to various Government agencies for 10 years or so stories
about me.
During that time he
has had an opportunity to check on all sorts of details about my personality.
You referred to my interest
in ornithology. I am only an amateur ornithologist, but that fact, that
is one of my hobbies, appears in Who's Who.
I have had no chance
to see Chambers' testimony, which you have characterized as standing up
in verifiable details.
I am very anxious to
see that testimony to see how verifiable they are.
From the questions asked
me on the 16th, I got the impression that he had testified also from some
newspaper reports, that I had transferred my stepson from one school to
another in order to save money, which I could donate to the Communist Party.
The facts are, the personal
facts are, that my stepson's educational expenses were paid by his own
father. I could not possibly have saved any money by sending him to any
cheaper school. At no time did I transfer him from one school to another
for any purpose, except to benefit his education.
As a matter of fact,
he was in Washington, he went, after only 1 year at the Friends School,
to another more expensive school, and, when I concluded that he should
go to a boarding school, his own father was not then in a position to meet
the full expenses and I paid part of the expenses.
I am anxious to examine
other points. I may be erroneously informed as to what he has testified
about on this particular point.
I notice that the committee
did not ask me questions about my step-son's education today, only about
certain other points.
You referred to the
fact that I, since Monday, when the name of Crosley first came to me in
connection with these hearings, as possibly being involved, have not produced
witnesses who are able to say that they, too, knew him as Crosley. I shall
do my very best to produce such witnesses.
The time has been very
short. If this man actually was a Communist at the time, as he testifies--and,
so far as I know, you have only his unsupported testimony for that particular
allegation-it is not surprising that that is true, that he was secretive.
It is not surprising that it is difficult to get information about him.
I have found it very difficult, with my resources,
to get information about him, even during the past 10 years, when he has
been, I understand, a member of the staff of Time magazine.
I would want to read
Mr. Mundt's summation carefully against the record. I do not, for a minute,
want to make this impromptu response to what Mr. Mundt has said my final
answer to Mr. Mundt.
I would appreciate,
if I could now read into the record, as I understood the chairman permitted
me to, the letter which I sent to the chairman yesterday, and which is
not now a part of the record.
The CHAIRMAN. Just a
minute. Everybody is trying to talk to me here at the same time. What is
it now that you want, Mr. Hiss?
Mr. HISS. I understood
that you were going to give me the permission I asked for at the beginning
of this session to read into the record the letter which I sent you yesterday,
and some additional points.
The CHAIRMAN. That is
perfectly all right. Go ahead.
Mr. DAVIS. Mr. Chairman,
may I?
Mr. MUNDT. I object,
Mr. Chairman. I want Mr. Hiss to finish his statement without any interruption
by counsel. You may speak afterward.
The CHAIRMAN. Just a
minute. Now, counsel has asked to bring up a point, and what is it you
want to ask?
Mr. DAVIS. I want to
make a reference to the record in connection with the statement that may
have been made. I do not wish to do more than--I will do no more than read
what is in the record or make the reference. I would rather read it so
that the significance will be brought out.
The CHAIRMAN. It is
agreeable with Mr. Hiss that you read that-first, and then you make your
statement later?
Mr. HISS. I do not know the points he is going to make, but I will be glad
to have him go ahead...
Mr. MUNDT. With that
understanding, I will promise him no interruption.
The CHAIRMAN. Just go
ahead, Mr. Hiss, and read your letter, and you wait, Mr. Counsel, until
he gets through.
Mr. HISS. We are doing
this at your choice. I do not know what you prefer.
The CHAIRMAN. You wanted
to get started, and everybody was getting in your way. Go ahead.
Mr. HISS. The letter
which I sent to the chairman yesterday afternoon is as follows:
Tomorrow--
that is now today--
will mark my fourth appearance before your committee.
I urge, in advance of that hearing, that your committee delay no longer
in penetrating to the bedrock of the facts relevant to the charge which
you have publicized-that I am or have been a Communist.
This charge goes beyond the personal. Attempts
will be made to use it, and the resulting publicity, to discredit recent
great achievements of this country of which I was privileged to participate.
Certain members of your committee have already
demonstrated that this use of your hearings and the ensuing publicity is
not a mere possibility, it is a reality. Your acting chairman,
Mr. Mundt, himself, was trigger quick to cast such discredit.
Although he now
says that he was very favorably impressed with my testimony.
Before I had a chance to testify, even
before the press had a chance to reach me for comment--
after Chambers' testimony--
before you had--
so far as I am aware--
one single fact to support the charge made by
a self-confessed liar,
spy, and traitor, your acting chairman pronounced
judgment that I am guilty as charged, by stating that the country should
beware of the peace work with which I have been connected.
. I urge that these committee members--
your committee members--
abandon such verdict-first-and-testimony-later
tactics, along with dramatic confrontations in secret sessions, and get
down to business.
First, my record should be explored. It is inconceivable
that there could have been on my part, during 15 or more years in public
office, serving all three branches of the Government, judicial, legislative,
and executive, any departure from the highest rectitude without its being
known. It is inconceivable that the men with whom I was intimately associated
during those 15 years should not know my true character far better than
this accuser. It is inconceivable that if I had not been
of the highest character, this would not have
manifested itself at some time or other; in at least one of the innumerable
actions I took as a high official, actions publicly recorded in the greatest
detail.
During the period cited by this accuser, I was
chief counsel to the Senate Committee Investigating the Munitions Industry,
at a great many public hearings, fully reported in volumes to be found
in libraries in every major American city. During my term of service under
the Solicitor General of the United States, I participated in the preparation
of Briefs on a great many of the largest issues affecting the United States.
Those briefs are on public file in the United States Supreme Court, in
the Department of Justice, and in law libraries in various American cities.
As an official of the Department of State, I
was appointed secretary general, the top administrative officer, of the
peace-building international assembly that-created the United Nations.
My actions in that post are a matter of detailed public record. The same
is true of my actions at other peace-building and peace-strengthening international
meetings in which I participated--at Dumbarton Oaks and elsewhere in this
country, at Malta, at Yalta, at London, and in other foreign cities. All
my actions in the executive branch of the Government, including my work
in the Agricultural Adjustment Administration on farm problems, are fully
recorded in the public records.
In all this work I was frequently, and
for extensive periods, under the eye of the American press and of the statesmen
under whom or in association with whom I worked. They saw my every gesture,
my every movement, my every facial expression. They heard the tones in
which I spoke, the words I uttered, the words spoken by others in my presence.
They knew my every act relating to official business, both in public and
in executive conference.
Here is a list of the living personages of recognized
stature under whom or in association with whom I worked in the Government
(there may be omissions which I should like to supply in a supplemental
list) :
1. Men now in the United States Senate:
Senator Tom Conally, one of the United States
delegates to the San Francisco Conference which created the United Nations,
and to the first meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations
in London where I was present.
Senator Arthur Vandenberg, a member of the Senate
Committee Investigating the Munitions Industry--under whom I served--and
a member of the San Francisco Conference and London General Assembly delegations.
Men now in the House of Representatives:
Representative Sol Bloom, a member of both the
San Francisco and the LondonDelegations,
Representative Charles Eaton, also a member of
both the San Francisco and the London delegations, although his health
kept him from making the trip to London.
Next--
Former Secretaries of State: Cordell Hull, Edward
Stettinius, James Byrnes.
Former Under Secretaries of State--under whom
I served-- Joseph Grew, also a member of the Dumbarton Oaks delegation,
Dean Acheson, and William Clayton,
United States Judges:
Stanley Reed, Associate Justice now of the United
States Supreme Court, who as Solicitor General was my immediate superior
during my service in the Department of Justice.
Homer Bone, former Senator from Washington, who
was also a member of the Munitions Committee.
Bennett Clark, a former Senator who was a member
of the Munitions Committee.
Jerome Frank who as general counsel of the Agricultural
Adjustment Administration was my immediate chief in the Department of Agriculture.
Men formerly in Congress:
Former United States Senator Gerald Nye, chairman
of the Munitions Committee, who appointed me as the chief attorney of that
committee.
Former United States Senator James Pope, who
was a member of the Munitions Committee.
Former United States Senator John Townsend, a
member of the London delegation.
Others at international conferences where I assisted
their labors to build the peace: Isaiah Bowman, member of Dumbarton Oaks
delegation, president of JohnsHopkins University.
John Foster Dulles, a chief adviser of the San
Francisco delegation, and a-member-of each delegation to the meetings of
the General Assembly. .
Lt. Gen. Stanley Embick, a member of the Dumbarton
Oaks delegation.
Charles Fahy, former legal adviser of the Department
of State and member
of the United States delegation to the General
Assembly.
Gen. Muir Fairchild of the Air Corps, a member
of the Dumbarton Oaks delegation.
Henry Fletcher, former Assistant Secretary
of State, and member of the Dumbarton Oaks delegation.
Green Hackworth, former legal adviser of the
Department of State and a member of the Dumbarton Oaks delegation, now
a judge of the International Court of Justice at The Hague.
Admiral Arthur Hepburn, member of the United
States Delegation at Dumbarton Oaks.
Stanley Hornbeck, a member of the Dumbarton Oaks
delegation. later our Ambassador to The Hague, and earlier, as chief far-eastern
expert of the Department of State, my immediate superior from the fall
of 1939 until the early winter of 1944.
Breckenridge Long, former Assistant Secretary
of State, and a member of theDumbarton Oaks delegation.
Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, a member of the San Francisco
delegation and also of each United States delegation to the meetings of
the General Assembly.
I am not sure that my memory is correct as to
Mrs. Roosevelt's participation in San Francisco.
The CHAIRMAN. I should
imagine so.
Mr. HISS (continuing)
:
Harold Stassen, a member of the United States
delegation to the San Francisco Conference.
Rear Adm. Harold Train, member of the Dumbarton
Oaks delegation.
Frank Walker, former Postmaster General and member
of the delegation to the London meeting of the General Assembly.
Edwin Wilson, my predecessor as director of the
office for United Nations Affairs and my last immediate superior in the
Department of State who was also a member of the Dumbarton Oaks delegation,
now our Ambassador at Ankara.
Other superiors to whom I reported:
Chester Davis, Administrator of the Agricultural
Adjustment Administration when I was there, and now president of the Federal
Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Francis Sayre, my first direct supervisor in
the Department of State, former Assistant Secretary of State and United
States High Commissioner to the Philippines, now United States representative
to the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations and member of the United
States delegation to the General Assembly.
These are the men whom I was honored to help
in carrying out the finest and deepest American traditions. That is my
record. I, too, have had a not insignificant role in that magnificent achievements
of our Nation in recent times.
These men I have listed are the men with whom
and under whom I worked intimately during my 15 years in Government service-the
men best able to testify concerning the loyalty with which I performed
the duties assigned me.
All are persons of unimpeachable character, in
a position to know my work from day to day and hour to hour through many
years. Ask them if they ever found in me anything except the highest adherence
to duty and honor.
Then the committee can judge, and the
public can judge, whether to believe a self-discredited accuser whose names
and aliases are as numerous and as casual as his accusations.
The other side of this question is the
reliability of the allegations before thiscommittee, the undocumented statements
of the man who now calls himself Whittaker Chambers.
Is he a man of consistent reliability. truthfulness.
and honor? Clearly not.
He admits it, and the committee knows it. Indeed,
is he a man of sanity?
Getting the facts about Whittaker Chambers,
if that is his name, will not be easy. My own counsel have made inquiries
in the past few days and have learned that his career is not, like those
of normal men, an open book. His operations have been furtive and concealed.
Why? What does he have to hide?
I am glad to help get the facts.
At this point I should like to repeat
suggestions made by me at preceding hearings with respect to the most effective
method of getting facts so far as I can supply them. The suggestions I
made, beginning with the very first time I appeared before your committee,
were not then accepted, and the result has only been confusion and delay.
Let me illustrate by recalling, to your minds what I said when counsel
called me to identify the accuser, not by producing him under your subpena
power but by producing only a newspaper photograph taken many years after
the time when, by his own statements, I had last seen him. I said to you
on the occasion on my first appearance:
"I would much rather see the individual-I would
not want to take oath that I have never seen that man. I would like to
see him, and I would be better able to tell whether I had ever seen him.
Is he here today-I hoped he would be."
Let me add one further example of how
the procedures followed have caused confusion and delay. In your secret
sessions you asked me housekeeping and minor details of years ago that
few if any busy men would possibly retain in their memories with accuracy.
I told you, and one of your own members acknowledged, that you or I should
consult the records. I warned you that I had not checked them and that
I doubted if I could be helpful under those circumstances.
I am having a cheek made of the records,
and will furnish the results to you.
One personal word. My action in being kind to
Crosley years ago was one of humaneness, with results which surely some
members of the committee ,have experienced. You do a favor for a man, he
comes for another, he gets a third favor from you. When you finally realize
he is an inveterate repeater, you get rid of him. If your loss is only
a loss of time and money, you are lucky. You may find yourself calumniated
in a degree depending on whether the man is unbalanced or worse.
Now, I would like this
committee to ask these questions on my behalf of the man who calls himself
Whittaker Chambers, and I would like these to be part of the statement
which the committee has authorized me to make.
Mr. STRIPLING. Just
a moment.
Mr. HISS. Where does
he reside now?
The CHAIRMAN. Just a
minute.
Mr. STRIPLING. I notice
that counsel is passing out these questions to the press.
Mr. DAVIS. I will let
you have these.
Mr. HISS. "'Where do
you reside? I would like that question asked of Whittaker Chambers.
The CHAIRMAN. All right,
proceed. The meeting will come to order. Everyone will please take his
seat.
Mr. HISS. Before
reading these questions, I would also like to repeat in public what I said
on the occasion of the executive session in New York, where I
The CHAIRMAN. Just a
minute. Will you please take your seats?
Mr. HISS. I would like
to repeat in public, and in public session, what I said in New York at
the executive session, where Chambers was present, and I said it in his
presence. I challenge him to make the statements about me with respect
to communism in public that he has made under privilege to this committee.
The questions that I
would like this committee on my behalf to ask him--many questions have
been asked of me, and I do not know what questions have been asked of him-I
would like you to ask him where he now resides and I would like to know
the answer. I have not been able to find out even where he lives at the
present time. Shall I go on with the questions?
Mr. MUNDT. Oh, yes;
go ahead.
The CHAIRMAN. Proceed.
Mr. HISS. I would ask
that you ask him to list the various places where he has lived since 1930,
indicating the length of time he has lived at each place, and the name
he has used at each place. As far as I am concerned, that is all a matter
of the record of the committee as to where I have lived, and the name I
have used.
Next, what name was
he given when he was born? What names has he used at any time since his
birth for any purpose?
Ask him to give his
complete employment record during his membership in the Communist Party,
since his resignation from the Communist Party, stating the name of each
employer, stating his occupation, and his compensation, also the name by
which he was employed , in each instance.
I would like him to
give a complete bibliography of all his writings. He says that he was a
writer. Give the writings under any and every name he has used.
I would like him to
be asked whether he has ever been charged or convicted of any crime.
I would like him to
give the full particulars, if so, as to where, when, and for what.
I would like him to
be asked whether he has ever been treated for a mental illness.
Mr. HEBERT. Mr. Chairman,
may I interrupt there to tell Mr. Hiss that at least one question has been
asked Mr. Chambers, No.7. I asked him in New York whether he had ever been
treated for any mental illness, whether he was ever in a mental institution
or not, and he replied in the negative, and added also he was not an alcoholic.
So, you can strike that. That was asked already.
Mr. HISS. Was that the
extent of the committee's inquiry into that subject?
Mr. HEBERT. The committee's
inquiry into that was because a typical Communist smear is when a man gets
up to testify, and particularly a former Communist, is to say he is insane
or all alcoholic or something else is wrong with him.
Immediately after Mr.
Chambers testified before this committee, the committee heard reverberations
already of the fact that he was a mental case; in fact, it said it came
from Time magazine by his own associates, so I have always believed the
only way to find out
anything to start off with is to ask the individual
involved, and I asked
Mr. Chambers a direct
question, " Mr. Chambers, were you ever in a mental institution or treated
for any mental disease?" I wanted to know, and I wanted to ask him, and
then check back from there.
The CHAIRMAN. I might
say-
Mr. HEBERT. I asked
him, and he denied it, and said, "No," and also added to that that he was
not an alcoholic, which was another charge that was made against him.
I may say to you now, Mr. Hiss, that I do not
accept Mr. Chambers' word on his own statement. I intend to check that,
too.
Mr. HISS. So do 1. .
The CHAIRMAN. I might
say, Mr. Hiss, and also to the members of the committee, that Mr. Chambers
will take the stand directly after you finish on the stand today.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Hiss,
excuse me, do you have any evidence that you would like to present at this
time that Mr. Chambers has been in a mental institution? You made the charge
that he has been.
Mr. HISS. I have made
no such charge.
Mr. NIXON. The charge
has appeared in the newspapers.
Mr. HISS. Not from me.
I have made no such charge.
Mr. NIXON. Then, you
do not mean that by your statement?
Mr. HISS. I mean that
I am making no charges. I am seeking information.
Mr. NIXON. The charge
appeared yesterday from your letter as you recall-the suggestion of Mr.
Chambers being a mental case. Now, do you have any evidence to present
to the committee that he is?
Mr. HISS. I have made
no such charge. I just read the record here-the letter into the record.
I asked the question, "Is he a man of sanity? "
Mr. NIXON. Will you
answer the question as to whether you have any evidence of his having been
in a mental institution?
Mr. HISS. I have had
various reports made to me to the effect that he has been.
Mr. NIXON. What reports
have you had?
Mr. HISS. I have had
reports made by individuals.
Mr. NIXON. What individuals?
Mr. HISS. They are so
far only hearsay. The reports that came to me were from individuals, individual
members of the press, so far, that they had heard rumors to that effect.
Mr. NIXON. What members
of the press?
Mr. DAVIS. Mr. Mundt,
can he finish his statement? I understood we were not to be interrupted.
Let them take notes and then ask the questions after he finishes.
The CHAIRMAN. All right,
go ahead and finish the questions.
Mr. HISS. I would like
the committee to ask him if he has ever been treated for mental illness.
where, and when, and by whom. I would like him to be asked where, when,
and to whom he has been married. How many children he has; where does his
wife now reside.
I would like him to
be asked to describe the circumstances under which he came in contact with
this committee and to make public all written memoranda which he may have
handed to any representative of the committee.
I would like to know
whether he is willing, as I said at the outset of these questions, to make
before this committee, in a manner free from the protections of this committee,
the statements so that I may test his veracity in a suit for slander or
libel.
The CHAIRMAN. Now, does
any member of the committee have any questions to ask Mr. Hiss over the
statement he made or in relation to these questions he wants the committee
to ask?
Mr. HERBERT. I would
like to, Mr. Chairman.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Hebert.
Mr. HEBERT. With this
impromptu rebuttal of Mr. Mundt's statement, there were just three facts
or three statements which he made which I think merit attention. One was
the reference to his stepson's father paying for the boy's education.
It is interesting to
note that Mr. Chambers told us that himself in the conference in New York.
He told us that your stepson s education was paid for by the boy's father.
Mr. HISS. I do not know
what Mr. Chambers said.
Mr. HEBERT. I know;
I know you don't. You will find out a lot that he said before these hearings
are over, indicating that the man did know you at a time when you denied
ever having known the man. We were trying to find out whether he knew you.
That was a very intimate thing, that only a man who knew you could testify.
Mr. HISS. Unless
he was checking very carefully on me in the last 10 years.
Mr. HEBERT. That
is correct; unless he was checking on you in the last 10 years. That is
the one thing I have not resolved in my own mind. What motive could the
man have to go into such detail as to know all about your private life
and to come before this committee and tell us these things? That is the
unsolved riddle, as far as I am concerned at this time.
This man was confronted
by us within 48 hours after you appeared, and, as I told you in executive
session last Monday, the committee literally ran out of questions. He had
no occasion to know, and he had no indication at all as to what fields
we would explore and he unhesitatingly answered every question within minutest
of details which, as Mr. Mundt has indicated, comes back and checks even
down to the automobile sale.
Mr. HISS. Who would
remember--how would any man remember all those details about any other
man after 14 years?
Mr. HEBERT. Unless he
knew him extremely well.
Mr. HISS. Unless he
was studying up on it.
Mr. HEBERT. Unless he
knew him extremely well. You made mention here before that you are an ornithologist.
Mr. HISS. Amateur.
Mr. HEBERT. Amateur.
And that information could be obtained in Who's Who. Now, to anybody reading
that or hearing that, why, that is a very plausible statement.
Mr. HISS. It is a factual
statement.
Mr. HEBERT. I am not
saying it is not a factual statement, but the implication that you leave,
as I tried to indicate before, Mr.. Hiss--and we understand each other;
you know we do--the implication that you leave is, why, anybody could look
in Who's Who and see that you are an ornithologist.
Mr. HISS. That is certainly
the case.
Mr. HEBERT. But nobody
could read in Who's Who's that you found a rare bird, which I will ask
Mr. McDowell to describe.
Mr. STRIPLING. A prothonotary
warbler.
Mr. HERBERT. A warbler,
and the other day, in executive session, we asked you about that particular
bird, and you said, "Yes." Now, that is not from Who's Who.'
Mr. HISS. I have told
many, many people that I have seen a prothonotary warbler, and I am very,
very proud. If Mr. McDowell has seen it, he has told very, very many people
about it.
Mr. HEBERT. Now, the
question has been asked: "Do you recall certain individuals with whom you
were friendly?" I will recall them from memory and ask you each question.
Do you recall Henry Collins well?
Mr. HISS. I have answered
that I have known Henry Collins since we were boys together at a boys camp
in Maine.
Mr. HEBERT. Do you know
that Henry Collins is a Communist?
Mr. HISS. I do not know
that Henry Collins is a Communist. I do not know that he is not a Communist.
Mr. HEBERT. You do not
know whether he is or is not a Communist
Mr. HISS. No; that is
not the kind of thing I would know.
Mr. HEBERT. Do you know
John Abt?
Mr. HISS. I do know
John Abt, and I have testified as to the circumstances under which I know
and have known John Abt.
Mr. HEBERT. Do you know
John Abt as a Communist or not as a
Communist?
Mr. HISS. I have never
known John Abt as a Communist. I do not know whether he is or not..
Mr. HEBERT. Do you know
Lee Pressman?
Mr. HISS. I know Lee
Pressman, and I have testified as to how and when I knew Lee Pressman.
Mr. HEBERT. Do you know
whether or not he is a Communist?
Mr. HISS. I do not know
whether or not Lee Pressman is a Communist.
Mr. HEBERT. Did you
know Harold Ware?
Mr. HISS. I knew Harold
Ware only to the extent that I have testified to in my public testimony.
Mr. HEBERT. Well, I
will say this, that it is an established fact that Harold Ware was a Communist
when he was living.
Mr. HISS. I knew Harold
Ware to the extent I testified to in 1933 or 1945. It was not my practice
then to ask people whom I met casually whether they were Communists.
Mr. HEBERT: But you
do not know whether any of these people were Communists or not.
Mr. HISS. I do not.
Mr. HEBERT. And particular
reference with regard to Henry Collins who refused to testify here that
it might incriminate himself.
Mr. HISS. I have no
reason for knowing what counsel advised Mr. Collins to do with respect
to his rights.
Mr. HEBERT. Now, the
reason I ask those questions, Mr. Hiss, is to bring you up to date on your
letter which you just read and recited a long list of persons who would
know you and know what you were about, and know who you are and what you
are.
Mr. HISS. That is right.
Mr. HEBERT. And it was
an imposing array of fine American people. How would they know whether
you are a Communist or not when you don't know about intimate people that
you know, whether they are communists or not?
Mr. HISS. Mr. Hebert,
I did not cite their names on that issue. I cited their names on my record,
because I think my record is relevant to this inquiry.
Mr. HEBERT. You cited
that list of names to leave the impression that these people could testify
that you are not a Communist?
Mr. HISS. I said, and
I say now, that those people can testify as to whether they noticed in
my demeanor over sometimes prolonged periods any indication of any departure
from the highest rectitude.
Mr. HEBERT. Well, none
of these people could testify as to whether or not you are a Communist,
could they?
Mr. HISS. Have any of
them testified?
Mr. HEBERT. I did not
ask that.
Mr. HISS. Whether I
departed from rectitude in their opinion?
Mr. HEBERT. I asked
you a question: Can any of them testify whether or not you are or are not
a Communist?
Mr. HISS. That is for
them to say.
Mr. HEBERT. Can they
testify? You have injected their names in the hearing. I did not.
Mr. HISS. I did not
cite them for that purpose, to you, Mr. Hebert. If you wish to ask them
that question, that is your privilege. If you do not wish to ask them,
I shall attempt to obtain affidavits from them for the committee's information.
Mr. HEBERT. Well, their
testimony would not be worth any more than your testimony would be against
Ware, Collins, Abt, Pressman.
Mr. HISS. That is your
opinion. I have told you why I think their testimony as to my character
would be relevant.
Mr. HEBERT. But they
could not testify whether or not you are a Communist.
Mr. HISS. That is up
to them, Mr. Hebert.
Mr. HEBERT. That is
all. Mr. Chairman.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Vail.
Mr. VAIL. No questions.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. McDowell.
Mr. McDOWELL. I have
no questions and no objections to these questions that he wants us to ask
Mr. Chambers with the single exception of No. 10, which I consider to be
none of the committee's business, nor pertinent to this inquiry.
The CHAIRMAN.
Mr. Nixon.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Hiss, when did you last see Crosley?
Mr. HISS. Are you talking
about that individual there?
Mr. NIXON. I am talking
to you, and I am asking when did you last see Crosley.
Mr. HISS. The man I
knew as Crosley, I see, over there now. What do you mean?
Mr. NIXON. Now, Mr.
Hiss, I realize that you are trying to be facetious. It is a serious question.
I am attempting to find out the terminal date on your acquaintanceship
with Mr. Crosley. Now, when did you last see him during the thirties?
Mr. HISS. Mr. Nixon,
I have testified repeatedly that to the best of my recollection I think
I must have last seen him sometime in 1935.
Mr. NIXON. In the fall
of 1935?
Mr. HISS. Whether
it would be the fall or the summer, I am not absolutely confident of my
recollection.
Mr. NIXON. Did you see
him in 1936?
Mr. HISS. Not to the
best of my recollection, Mr. Nixon.
Mr. NIXON. Can you say
positively that you did not see Crosley in 1936 ?
Mr. HISS. It could be
very difficult for me to say positively that I had not seen anybody in
1936, Mr. Nixon. I do not believe I saw Crosley in 1936.
Mr. NIXON. But you are
leaving open the possibility that you might have seen Crosley in 1936,
do I understand you correctly?
Mr. HISS. I think you
understand me correctly.
Mr. NIXON. Now, how
about 1937? Did you see Crosley in 1937?
Mr. HISS. Not to the
best of my recollection, and I would be confident that I did not. I would
be absolutely confident that I did not see him at anytime under the circumstances
he has testified to.
Mr. NIXON. Your question
is: Are you positive you did not see Crosley in 1937?
Mr. HISS. I am reasonably
positive that I did not see or lay eyes on Crosley in 1937.
Mr. NIXON. Will you
testify to the effect that you did not see him in 1937?
Mr. HISS. I'll testify
that to the best of my knowledge and recollection I did not.
Mr. NIXON. Then, you
are leaving the implication that it is possible that you could have seen
him in 1937?
Mr. HISS. Mr. Nixon.
it seems to me I must leave that implication. I cannot be sure that I did
not see anybody.
Mr. NIXON. Did you see
Crosley in 1938?
Mr. HISS. I would like
to reply exactly the same way to that. I feel confident I did not.
Mr. NIXON. But it is
possible that you might have?
Mr. HISS. It is certainly
conceivable and possible.
Mr. NIXON. Now, the
committee is going into a matter very carefully with various witnesses
which bears on the next question that I want to ask you, and I want you
to pay particular attention to this question. Have you ever seen George
Crosley, Whittaker Chambers, or Carl, or Crosley under any other name in
the apartment of Henry Collins?
Mr. HISS. To the best
of my recollection, I am confident I have not. There is no reason why I
should have. I have no recollection whatsoever of ever seeing Crosley except
under the circumstances I have testified to.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Hiss,
you mean to tell me you are leaving open the possibility that you could
have seen Crosley in the apartment of Henry Collins?
Mr. HISS. I would not
wish to leave that open as anything other than a physical possibility in
the sense of what are infinite possibilities. I am confident that I have
never seen Crosley in the apartment of Henry Collins.
Mr. NIXON. Wil1 you
testify that you did not see Crosley in the apartment of Henry Collins?
Mr. HISS. I will testify
that to the best of my knowledge and recollection I have never seen Crosley
in the apartment of Henry Collins.
Mr. NIXON. Well, of
course, you are leaving open the possibility that you might have seen him
in the event that that should come out in the proof before the committee.
Mr. Hiss. You can put
it that way if you choose, Mr. Nixon.
Mr. NIXON. Well, do
you wish it to be left that way?
Mr. HISS. I wish it
to be left as I have just stated it, that to the best of my knowledge and
recollection I am very confident that I never seen Crosley in the apartment
of Henry Collins.
Mr. NIXON. But you won't
say categorically that you did not see him in the apartment of Henry Collins?
Mr. HISS. I do not see
how one can say categorically that one has not seen anybody. If he was
attending social functions, if there were a large number of people at some
occasion, and he was present, I could not testify with absolute positive
finality.
Mr. NIXON. I am not
questioning you concerning social functions. I am questioning you as to
whether you have seen this man in the apartment of Henry Collins in the
presence of others.
Mr. HISS. You mean when
a relatively few people were gathered to together for an occasion when
they were all as a small group among themselves in the apartment of Henry
Collins? I testify positively that that did not occur.
Mr. NIXON. When you
speak of a relatively small group, what do you mean?
Mr. HISS. What do you
mean? I would say up to 7 or 8, 9, 10, 11 people.
Mr. NIXON. Then, you
are testifying positively now that you have never seen Crosley in the apartment
of Collins when as many as 11 people were there?
Mr. HISS. I am.
Mr. NIXON. You are testifying
positively to that fact?
Mr. HISS. Yes, Mr. Nixon.
Mr. NIXON. Now, have
you ever seen Crosley in any of the-in the house that you lived in on Thirtieth
Street?
Mr. HISS. I have no
recollection whatever of ever having seen Crosley in that house.
Mr. NIXON. Can you testify
that you have never seen him in that house?
Mr. HISS. I would testify
that to the best of my recollection I am confident I never saw him in that
house.
Mr. NIXON. But you won't
testify categorically that you did not see him in that house?
Mr. HISS. Only for the
.reasons that I have already given, that it is impossible to testify with
absolute finality on such a point, Mr. Nixon.
Mr. NIXON. Now, Mr.
Hiss, you took this Thirtieth Street house, as you will recall, yourself,
in July of 1936?
Mr. HISS. Well, if that
is what the records show that is when I took it. I do not have it in mind
at the moment.
Mr. NIXON. That is a
year after this lease, over a year after this lease with Crosley expired.
Now, do you want to leave this committee with the impression that there
is a possibility, even a remote possibility, that you were still seeing
Crosley over a year after he had welshed on the rent?
Mr. HISS. I would put
it the other way. I cannot testify positively to the possibility that Crosley
did not come to see me.
Mr. NIXON. Then, it
is possible that he did see you in that apartment?
Mr. HISS. That I would
not be able to testify to with absolute finality.
Mr. NIXON. You will
recall your testimony, which was final on Monday before this committee,
that Crosley definitely had seen you in only two apartments or dwellings
that you know.
Mr. HISS. That is the
best of my recollection.
Mr. NIXON. Did you say
"to the best of my recollection" on Monday?
Mr. HISS. Whatever the
record says is what I said.
Mr. NIXON. You want
to stand by that record?
Mr. HISS. I do not question
the record as to what I said. I am testifying now in specific answer to
your specific question, that to the best of my recollection I never saw
Crosley except at the Twenty-eighth Street apartment, my office in the
Senate Office Building, my house on P Street, and when I went to lunch
with him, and perhaps
if I drove him to New York.
Mr. NIXON. I understood
you to say that you have found it difficult to check Mr. Whittaker Chambers
during the last 10 years, his record during the last 10 years. What did
you mean by that?
Mr. HISS. The check
that I was making was not made during the last 10 years. The check I have
been making is within the last few days.
Mr. NIXON. I assumed
that.
Mr. HISS. I found it
difficult to find where he lived, who knew him, what his habits were.
Mr. NIXON. I would also
find it difficult to find out what your habits were.
Mr. HISS. I would not
think so. I have lived a normal, open, public life in Washington, and the
last year or so in New York.
Mr. NIXON. The total
amount that George Crosley owed you, as you have testified, and the leases
which of course, as you yourself have said, are the best evidence, could
not have been over $150.
Mr. HISS. I should not
think that it would have been more than that.
Mr. NIXON. Two months.
We have established that, and I think there can be no argument on that,
and your loans, you said you did not think exceeded $30, as I recall your
testimony.
Mr. HISS. That is my
best recollection.
Mr. NIXON. Now, what
is the implication that is left from the testimony that because of that
$150 loan, which Crosley owed you, that he has willfully circulated this
charge that you are a Communist?
Mr. HISS. I did not
testify to your committee that I had any understanding of the motive which
could have led him to make such a serious charge. I am not prepared to
say that I understand or have any inkling as to what could have led him
to make such a charge, Mr. Nixon.
I would not want to
say that the words we had over these relatively minor financial transactions
could possibly motivate any normal person to make such a charge.
Mr. NIXON. Well, now,
of course, as you have indicated, the charge that you or anybody else is
a Communist now is a serious charge. Also the inference which, of course,
the statements regarding which you made before the committee, and your
answers to questions which you have given to the committee that somebody
has been treated for a
mental illness today is also a serious charge.
I would appreciate, in helping the committee, to find out what the motive
could have been, to find out whether possibly there is a mental condition
here, if you would tell the committee now, what your sources are that you
have for believing that Mr. Crosley ahs been treated for a mental illness.
Mr. HISS. Mr. Nixon,
the first reference to that which came to my attention was on the afternoon
of the morning which occurred after I first testified before the committee.
One of two friends, who came to the hearing with me, a lawyer who was at
law school wit me, and who came with me to the hearings, simply as a friend,
was told by a representative of the press that there had been reports being
received by the press ever since Chambers had testified that he had spent
a considerable part of the last 4 or 5 years in mental institutions.
That seemed to me to be a significant assertion, and I have attempted to
run it down. I have not found any evidence yet. I shall continue
to search for evidence.
Skips the rest of page 1174
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Counsel,
you have something there that you wanted to bring up some time ago. What
is that?
Mr. DAVIS. Thank you,
Mr. Chairman. Will you bear with me? It won't take but just a minute. It
seems as if it is ancient history now, but after Mr. Mundt made his statements,
I felt I wanted to refer the committee to a statement made by Mr. Mundt
during the hearing, the first public hearing, at which Mr. Hiss' name came
up, and I would like to just read the two paragraphs:
Mr. MUNDT. Mr. Chambers,
I am very much interested in trying to check the
career of Alger Hiss. I know nothing about Donald
Hiss, but, as a member of
the Foreign Affairs Committee, the personnel
committee, I have had some occasion
to check the activities of Alger Hiss while he
was in the State Department. There
is reason to believe that he organized within
the Department one of the Com-
munist cells, which endeavored to influence our
Chinese policy, and bring about
the condemnation of Chiang Kai-shek, which put
Marzani in an important
position there and, I think, it is important
to know what happened to these people
after they leave the Government. Do you know
where Alger Hiss is employed
now?
Mr. MUNDT. Mr. Chairman,
I would like to make a statement.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Mundt.
Mr. MUNDT. I am glad
you read that, Mr. Counsel, because I was just going to make that statement
now, and I won't have to do it, in connection with a statement in the letter
of Mr. Hiss in which he implied or gave the impression that my disagreement
with American foreign policy was because he had been connected with it
and I would not want it to go out that my only disagreement with some of
these policies is because of your connection with them.
As far as I am concerned,
Mr. Hiss, our policy toward China, the political agreement at Yalta, which
you said you helped write, and the Morgenthau plan, you mentioned three
of them, are hopelessly bad, and I shall continue to consider them hopelessly
bad even though you prove yourself to be the president of the American
Daughters of the Revolution.
The fact that you were
connected with them may or may not. When these hearings have terminated,
increase my skepticism about their wisdom.
It is true, as I said
in my summation, that as a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee
I have had brought to my attention several times the mention of the name
Alger Hiss in connection with our Chinese policy.
It. is also true that
after listening to him testify the following day I said publicly, and I
said in the record, that he had been a very persuasive and convincing witness,
and had very well convinced me of his reliability.
In fact, I advised Mrs.
Mundt at dinner that night, and she said I had been taken in by his suavity.
Perhaps a woman's intuition is better than a man's, I do not know, but
at all events, I am willing to again state that Mr. Hiss was a willing
and persuasive witness as far as I am concerned.
I would like to say
just one other thing with regard to that part of the letter, Mr. Chairman,
which says it is inconceivable that he, Mr. Hiss, could have worked in
the Government for these many years and still have been a member of the
Communist Party or disloyal. That is not inconceivable to me without in
any way attempting at this time to indict the credibility of Mr. Hiss.
But I wish to point out that John Peurifoy, Assistant Secretary of State
in charge of security, has notified congress that 134 members of the State
Department had weasled their way into the State Department alone, and had
been removed from the Department for disloyalty reasons.
So it is not at all
inconceivable that the number could just as well have been 135 as 134.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Stripling.
Mr. STRIPLING. No questions.
The CHAIRMAN. Are there
any other questions? Mr. Hiss, you have had a trying day, and you may sit
back there among the comfortable seats. We are going to recess for 7 minutes.
(A short recess was taken.)
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Stripling, the next witness.
Mr. STRIPLING. Whittaker
Chambers.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Chambers, you have been sworn,
but I might as well swear you again.
Do you solemnly swear
the testimony you are about to give will be the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I do.
Mr. STRIPLING. Sit right
down there and talk in the microphone.
Mr. CHAMBERS. This one?
Mr. STRIPLING. Yes.
TESTIMONY OF WHITTAKER CHAMBERS-Resumed
Mr. STRIPLING. Mr. Chambers,
would you state your full name for the record?
Mr. CHAMBERS. My full
name is J. David Whittaker Chambers.
Mr. STRIPLING. When
and where were you born, Mr. Chambers?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I was
born in Philadelphia in 1901, April 1.
Mr. STRIPLING. What
is your present occupation?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I am senior
editor of Time magazine.
Mr. STRIPLING. Were
you at one time a member of the Communist Party?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I was.
Mr. STRIPLING. How long
were you a member of the Communist Party?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I was
a member of the Communist Party from 1924 until about 1937 or 1938, early
'38.
Mr. STRIPLING. Would
you detail to the committee the various positions which you held in the
Communist Party.
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes. I
was at one time a writer on the Daily Worker, later foreign news editor
of the Daily Worker, later, in fact, managing editor of the Daily Worker,
editor of the New Masses, and a functionary in the underground.
Mr. STRIPLING. Mr. Chambers,
when you were with the New Masses, were you known as Whittaker Chambers?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I was.
Mr. STRIPLING. I show
you a copy of the New Masses of May 1932, No. 11, volume 7, and on the
masthead it says: "Editorial board." The first name is that of Whittaker
Chambers. The next name is Robert Evans, the next name is Hugo Gellert,
the next name Michael Gold, and the next name is that of the managing editor.
I show you a photostatic copy of the New Masses, and ask you if you are
familiar with the men who are listed here as members of the editorial board
[showing document to witness].
Mr. CHAMBERS. I recognize
all except Robert Evans, which is very likely a pseudonym. I recognize
all the names except Robert Evans, which I suspect is a pseudonym for Joseph
Freeman.
Mr. STRIPLING. You were
associated with all of these people on the editorial board of the New Masses?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I was.
Mr. STRIPLING. And could
you identify the New Masses? Was it the official organ of the Communist
Party?
Mr. CHAMBERS. No; it
was not the official organ of the Communist Party. It was the intellectual
organ of the Communist Party.
Mr. STRIPLING. The intellectual
organ of the Communist Party. That was in 1932?
Mr. CHAMBERS. The distinction
I would make is that it did not assert its Communist affiliations at that
time, but of these men, one, two, three, four, five, were either open or
concealed Communists.
Mr. STRIPLING. And you
were a member of the Communist Party at that time?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I was.
Mr. STRIPLING. Did you
contribute other articles to the New Masses?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I contributed
a number of short stories just prior to this period.
Mr. STRIPLING. I have
here, Mr. Chairman, a photostatic copy of the New Masses of December 1931,
an article by Whittaker Chambers, Death of the Communist, a story.
Also an article in New
Masses for March 1931, by Whittaker Chambers, Can You Make Out Their Voices?
I have also the New
Masses of October 1931, an article by Whittaker Chambers, Our Comrade Munn,
a Story.
Did you ever serve as
the editor in fact of the Daily Worker?
Mr. CHAMBERS. The editor
in fact; yes.
Mr. STRIPLING. Who was
listed as the editor?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Robert
Minor, I believe.
Mr. STRIPLING. And during
what period was that?
Mr. CHAMBERS. It was
probably between 1927 and 1929.
Mr. STRIPLING. I have
here Mr. .Chambers, the original of a copy of the New Masses of July 1931,
which contain a picture of Whittaker Chambers, with the caption--
Whittaker Chambers was born in Philadelphia, 1901:
boyhood in eastern United
States; youth. as, periodically, a vagrant laborer
in the deep South, Plains,
Northwest; brief college experience, ending with
atheist publication. Formerly
member of Industrial Union 310, IWW.
Would you mind stating what that is, Mr. Mandel?
Mr. MANDEL. IWW -Industrial
Workers of the World.
Mr. STRIPLING. Industrial
Workers of the World.
Joined revolutionary movement in 1935; contributed
to numerous publications;
former staff member of Daily Worker; contributing
editor of the New Masses.
Is that a picture of
you, Mr. Chambers [showing photograph to witness]
Mr. CHAMBERS. It is.
Mr. STRIPLING. Do you
know when this picture was taken or about when?
Mr. CHAMBERS. It was
taken just about this date, which is July 1931.
Mr. STRIPLING. You testified,
Mr. Chambers, that you were a member of the underground, of the Communist
Party.
Mr. CHAMBERS. I did.
Mr. STRIPLING. During
what period were you a member of the underground of the Communist Party?
Mr. CHAMBERS. From 1932,
roughly, through 1937.
Mr. STRIPLING. During
that period, did you meet the person who was on the witness stand today,
Alger Hiss?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I did
meet Mr. Alger Hiss.
Mr. STRIPLING. Would
you now give to the committee a chronological resume of your meeting with
Mr. Hiss, and how long you knew Mr. Hiss and the circumstances under which
you met him?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I believe
that I was first introduced to Mr. Hiss by Harold Ware and J. Peters, who
was the head of the underground of the American Communist Party.
The meeting took place
in Washington, and I believe in a restaurant. I then continued to know
Mr. Hiss until I broke with the Communist Party in early 1938, and I saw
him once again toward the end of 1938.
Mr. STRIPLING. Did you
ever meet Mr. Hiss at the offices of the Nye Investigating Committee in
the Senate Office Building?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I never
did.
Mr. STRIPLING. You never
did?
Mr. CHAMBERS. No.
Mr. STRIPLING. Did you
ever meet Mr. Hiss at his apartment on Twenty-eighth Street?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I did.
Mr. STRIPLING. How many
times did you meet Mr. Hiss, would you say at the address on Twenty-eighth
Street?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I could
not state accurately, but I should say a number of times.
Mr. STRIPLING. About
how many times: over 50?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Not at
Twenty-eighth Street. I would think-well, let's say 20 times.
Mr. STRIPLING. Twenty
times at Twenty-eighth Street. Were you ever known or did you represent
yourself to Mr. Hiss, when you first met, as being an individual by the
name of George Crosley?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I did
not.
Mr. STRIPLING. You did
not. Did Mr. Hiss ever sublease an apartment to you on Twenty-eighth Street?
Mr. CHAMBERS. He did
not.
Mr. STRIPLING. He did
not. Did he ever permit you to live in an apartment on Twenty-eighth Street?
Mr. CHAMBERS. He did.
Mr. STRIPLING. He did.
Did Mr. Hiss, at any time, sell you a Ford automobile model A, 1929 model?
Mr. CHAMBERS. He did
not.
Mr. STRIPLING. He did
not. Do you have a question, Mr. Nixon?
Mr. NIXON. Not at this
time.
Mr. STRIPLING. Did you
and your family, your wife and child, ever visit or were you ever guests
in the home of Mr. Alger Hiss?
Mr. CHAMBERS. We were.
Mr. STRIPLING. When?
Mr. CHAMBERS. My recollection
is-we are now talking about the house on P Street. I take it.
Mr. STRIPLING. Were
you ever guests, you and your wife, in his apartment on Twenty-eighth Street?
Mr. CHAMBERS. We were
guests in the apartment for the period after Mr. Hiss moved to his house
on P Street. My recollection of that period is 3 or 4 weeks, I should think;
at the utmost, five weeks.
Mr. NIXON. Just a moment,
Mr. Stripling. You have not made the question clear.
Mr. STRIPLING. Yes;
I will clarify it. I will repeat the question, Mr. Chambers. Were you ever-you
and your family, were you ever guests at Mr. Hiss' apartment while he and
his wife were living in the apartment on Twenty-eighth Street?
Mr. CHAMBERS. No; I
do not believe that we were. My recollection is that we came in after the
Hisses moved into their new house. I could be mistaken about that, but
I do not believe I am.
Mr. STRIPLING. You do
not recall ever visiting him on Twenty-eighth Street?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I personally
visited him.
Mr. STRIPLING. You personally
visited, but not with your family?
Mr. CHAMBERS. But I
do not believe my family did until after the Hisses moved out.
Mr. STRIPLING. Did you
ever have an oral agreement with Mr. Hiss regarding a sublease of an apartment
on Twenty-eighth Street?
Mr. CHAMBERS. There
was no talk of a sublease, no question of a sublease.
Mr. STRIPLING. Why did
you move into the apartment on Twenty-eighth Street?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I wanted
to have my family with me in Washington.
Mr. STRIPLING. Did Mr.
Hiss volunteer to loan you the apartment?
Mr. CHAMBERS. It is
my recollection that he made the suggestion.
Mr. STRIPLING. Do you
recall when this was?
. Mr. CHAMBERS. I should
have thought it was during the early summer of 1935.
Mr. STRIPLING. Early
summer of 1935?
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Chambers,
may I interpose there?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes.
Mr. NIXON. Going back
a moment to when you first met Mr. Hiss, do you recall approximately when
that was; what year?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I had
originally thought that it was early in 1935.
The testimony of Mr. Hiss seems to put it in
1934 which is quite possible.
Mr. NIXON. What is your
recollection on it?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Well,
I can only-
Mr. NIXON. Apart from
his testimony.
Mr. CHAMBERS. I can
only assume that it was probably in 1934.
Mr. NIXON. Well, now,
what was the occasion of that? You had come to Washington in what capacity?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I had
come to Washington as a functionary of the Communist Party. Shall I describe
the set-up of the Communist Party here in Washington?
Mr. NIXON. Yes.
Mr. .CHAMBERS. Mr. Harold
Ware, who is the son of Ella Reeve Bloor, a well-known Communist, had gone
down to Washington, to the best of my knowledge, about 1933. He was chiefly
interested in farm activities of some kind, but he discovered, after he
got there, that he could recruit a large number of people in the Government
for the
Communist Party. It is possible that some of
the people were Communists already, and he simply came in touch with them;
others, I am sure, he recruited himself.
He set up, perhaps with
the help of J. Peters, an apparatus consisting of a number of organizations,
a number of cells, each cell being led by a man who formed part of a committee,
and an underground committee which met regularly at the home of Henry Collins
in St. Matthews Court.
The CHAIRMAN. What was the last name?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Henry
Collins.
The CHAIRMAN. After
that?
Mr. CHAMBERS. At St.
Matthews Court.
The members of that
group, when I. first came to know them, were Henry Collins, Alger Hiss,
Donald Hiss, Charles Kramer or Krevit-sky, Victor Perlo, John Abt, Nathan
Witt--It seems to me I have forgotten one--Lee Pressman, of course.
Mr. NIXON. Well, now,
when you came to Washington in the latter part of 1934, you came as a Communist
functionary; is that your testimony?
Mr. CHAMBERS. That is
true.
Mr. NIXON. You say then
that you were introduced to Mr. Hiss at that time?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I was
introduced to all these people sooner or later. I think I was introduced
to most of them separately, individually, before I met them among this
group.
Mr. NIXON. Where did
you meet them all in a group?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I met
them at Henry Collins' in St. Matthews Court.
Mr. NIXON. Have you
seen all these individuals at Henry Collins' apartment?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I have.
Mr. NIXON. At St. Matthews
Court?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes.
Mr. NIXON. Are you sure
of that?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Quite,
sir.
Mr. STRIPLING. I failed
to let the record show that Mr. Chambers is here in response to a subpena
which was served on him by Louis J. Russell on August 17. to appear here
today at 10 o'clock. You are here in response that subpena; are you not?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I am.
Mr. NIXON. Now. you
were introduced to Mr. Hiss, as you recall, by Harold Ware, and J. Peters.
Mr. CHAMBERS. I believe
so.
Mr. NIXON. Who is J.
Peters?
Mr. CHAMBERS. J. Peters
was the head of the underground section of the American Communist Party.
The CHAIRMAN. All right,
Mr. Nixon; you may proceed.
Mr. NIXON. Was J. Peters
your immediate superior?
Mr. CHAMBERS. He was.
Mr. NIXON. Now, on how
many occasions, approximately, do you recall having been in the apartment
of Henry Collins when Mr. Hiss was there?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I would
say.
Mr. NIXON. Was it more
than once?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes; more
than once, but perhaps not more than--five times, because we separated
Mr. Alger Hiss from that group rather early.
Mr. NIXON. What do you
mean by "separating from that group"?
Mr. CHAMBERS. The intention
was to set up a parallel group of men whose opportunities for penetrating
into the Government and arriving at positions of power and influence seemed
best.
Mr. NIXON. Was it then
that you saw Mr. Alger Hiss individually; do I understand ?
Mr. CHAMBERS. No: I
think I had been introduced to him before I actually went to Henry Collins'
house.
Mr. NIXON. When did
you first go to Alger Hiss' house, his apartment; do you recall?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Very shortly
after I met him.
Mr. NIXON. Do you ever
recall having stayed overnight in his apartment by yourself, not when your
family was there?
Mr. CHAMBERS. No. I
do not, and I do not believe I did, but it is barely possible.
Mr. NIXON. I see. Now,
you have indicated, at least the assumption has been in your testimony,
that Mr. His was introduced to you as a Communist. How do you know that
he was a Communist?
Mr. CHAMBERS. The assumption
was in the whole set-up J. Peters was the organizer of the underground
section of the Communist Party. :He was dealing with party comrades, and
these were dues-paying -members of the Communist Party.
Mr. NIXON. J. Peters
introduced Alger Hiss to you as a member of the Communist Party?
Mr. CHAMBERS. That was
understood.
Mr. NIXON. I see. Do
you have any other information on which to base your statement that Mr.
Hiss was a member of the Communist Party, other than J. Peters told you
he was?
Mr. CHAMBERS.
Mr. Hiss obeyed party discipline in every respect.
Mr. NIXON. Did you yourself
have occasion at any time to take dues from Mr. Hiss for the Communist
Party?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I did.
Mr. NIXON. You did?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes.
Mr. NIXON. On one occasion
or more occasions than one?
Mr. CHAMBERS. At least
on one occasion, and I would think on at least three occasions.
Mr. NIXON. Could it
have been more or less than that?
Mr. CHAMBERS. It could have
been more than that.
Mr. NIXON. It could
have been more than that. Who collected dues for Mr. Hiss generally?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Henry
Collins.
Mr. NIXON. Henry Collins?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Henry
Collins was the treasurer of that group.
Mr. NIXON. Did J. Peters
ever collect dues from Mr. Hiss?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes, he
did.
Mr. NIXON. To your knowledge?
Mr. CHAMBERS. To my
knowledge.
Mr. NIXON. Now, did
you and your family spend some time with Mr. Hiss in his house on P Street?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes; I
think we spent a few days there, sometime after we had moved out of the
apartment on Twenty-eighth Street--
Mr. NIXON. Now, going
back to the apartment for a moment, did you bring any furniture with you?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I did
not.
Mr. NIXON. You did not
bring any furniture. Where did you come from?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I came
from my mother's house on Long Island.
Mr. NIXON. In New York?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Outside
New York.
Mr. NIXON. And how long
was the stay, to the best of your recollection?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I think,
not longer than 6 weeks. I would think that was on the outside.
Mr. NIXON. Could it
have been less?
Mr. CHAMBERS. It could
have been less.
Mr. NIXON. Could it
have been more?
Mr. CHAMBERS. It could
have been possibly more.
Mr. NIXON. You are sure
you did not bring any furniture?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Absolutely,
sure.
Mr. NIXON. You are sure
there was no agreement for rental?
Mr. CHAMBERS. There
was no agreement for rental.
Mr. NIXON. Why would
Mr. Hiss let you go in there for nothing?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Because
Mr. Hiss and I were Communists, and that was a comradely way of treating
one another. There is nothing unusual in such a procedure among Communists.
Mr. NIXON. You say it
is not unusual?
Mr. CHAMBERS. It is
not at all unusual.
Mr. NIXON. Now, going
to this automobile, at the time that you went into this apartment, did
Mr. Hiss sell you an automobile?
Mr. CHAMBERS. No; he
did not.
Mr. NIXON. Did he loan
you an automobile for the period that you were in the apartment?
Mr. CHAMBERS. No; he
did not.
Mr. NIXON. Did he at
any time sell you an automobile?
Mr. CHAMBERS. He never
sold me an automobile.
Mr. NIXON. Did he loan
you an automobile for a period of 8 to 10 weeks at any time?
Mr. CHAMBERS. No; he
did not.
Mr. NIXON. Are you certain
of that?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Absolutely.
Mr. NIXON. Do you know
what kind of an automobile Mr. Hiss had at that time?
Mr. CHAMBERS. The first
car, the car that Mr. Hiss had when I first knew him, was a Ford.
Mr. NIXON. What did
he get after that?
Mr. CHAMBERS. A Plymouth.
Mr. NIXON. Have you
ever ridden in that Plymouth?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I have.
Mr. NIXON. Where did
you ride to?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I think
we made one trip together in that Plymouth.
Mr. NIXON. Well, you
think. Do you know whether you made that trip? Do you recall that trip?
Mr. CHAMBERS. We made
a trip to New York in the Plymouth.
Mr. NIXON. You can state
that you did make a trip to New York?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I can
state that.
Mr. NIXON. You recall
that trip specifically? Who was along?
You were along, Mr. Hiss, and who else?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I believe
Mrs. Hiss was there also.
Mr. NIXON. Mrs. Hiss
was along?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I believe
so.
Mr. NIXON. Do you know
approximately when that trip occurred?
Mr. CHAMBERS. That would
be difficult to say, but I should think sometime in 1936 or 1937.
Mr. NIXON. As far as
the car is concerned, the Ford car, did Mr. Hiss have that car after he
acquired this Plymouth?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes; he
had it for some time afterward, I believe, for some time; I would think
some months.
Mr. NIXON. For some
months. Well, how do you know that?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Well,
to the best of my knowledge and recollection.
Mr. NIXON. I mean, have
you seen it there, have you seen his car?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Certainly.
Mr. NIXON. You saw his
car. Then, in other words, you are testifying as a matter of fact that
you did see that car after he had the Plymouth?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes; that
is right. I am merely trying to be circumspect.
Mr. NIXON. Do you know
what became of that car?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes; I
do.
Mr. NIXON. Tell the
committee what became of that car.
Mr. CHAMBERS. Mr. Hiss
was a devoted. and at that time a rather romantic Communist. According
to the organization of the underground, there should be no communication
between the open Communist Party and the underground Communist Party, except
through people delegated by either of those sections.
Mr. Hiss, however, insisted.
that his old car should be given to the open Communist Party to be used
by some poor Communist organizer in the West or elsewhere.
I was very much opposed to this. J. Peters was
also very much opposed to it, but Mr. Hiss prevailed on us because the
question of morale was always involved in these groups, and Peters told
me that in Washington or somewhere in the District, the Communist Party
had an individual who owned or worked in a service
station, and old-car lot.
The -plan was for Mr.
Hiss to take the Ford and leave it at the car lot which he did.
Mr. NIXON. Now, how
do you know that?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I know
that both because Mr. Hiss told me, and because I heard it through Mr.
Peters, who told me that.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Hiss
and Mr. Peters both told you that is what happened to the car. Do you recall
when that occurred?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I should
think in 1936.
Mr. NIXON. And your
recollection is that the visit that you and your family paid to Mr. Hiss
was after you lived in the apartment?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I think
so.
Mr. NIXON. Now, did
you see Mr. Hiss any time after 1935?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes; I
saw Mr. Hiss constantly through 1931, until I broke with the Communist
Party.
Mr. NIXON. Well, how
many times?
Mr. CHAMBERS. By constantly,
I mean at least once a week.
Mr. NIXON. You saw him
once a week?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes.
Mr. NIXON. After 1935?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Certainly.
Mr. NIXON. You saw Mr.
Hiss-during 1936 you saw him, and through the whole year?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I saw
him through 1936, 1937, up until the time I broke with the Communist Party.
Mr. NIXON. Where did
you see him on these occasions?
Mr. CHAMBERS. After
our first meeting together, I saw him nearly always at his home.
Mr. NIXON. Nearly always
in his home?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Nearly
always in his home.
Mr. NIXON-. Did you
ever stay overnight in his home?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I stayed
overnight frequently in his home.
Mr. NIXON. When you
say "frequently," do you mean twice or more than that?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I mean
that I made his home a kind of headquarters.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Hiss'
home was a kind of a headquarters?
Mr. CHAMBERS. That is
true.
Mr. NIXON. And you stayed
in his home overnight on several occasions in 1936, did you?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Certainly,
and also in 1937.
Mr. NIXON. And also
in 1937. On these occasions when you stayed in his home, what did you discuss?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Well,
we discussed a variety of subjects, including Mr. Hiss' prospects in Government,
the actual conditions of his work, the world revolution, Russian foreign
policy, the Spanish Civil War, and ornithology.
Mr. NIXON. Are you an
ornithologist?
Mr. CHAMBERS. No; I
am a very amateur bird watcher.
Mr. NIXON. Well, are
you an amateur ornithologist?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I would
not say that. I am simply a bird watcher, and not on a par with Mr. Hiss,
but I am interested in birds.
(Laughter.)
The CHAIRMAN. We are,
too.
Mr. NIXON. Did you.
ever take a meal with Mr. Hiss during that period?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I did,
indeed.
Mr. NIXON. I mean on
the occasions when you stayed overnight. Is that when you took the meal?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I would
certainly take a meal with him at that time.
Mr. NIXON. What arrangement
was made for paying Mr. Hiss at the time of staying overnight?
Mr. CHAMBERS. There
was no question of payment involved at any time.
Mr. NIXON. You mean
you never paid him for the occasions you did stay with him?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Quite
so.
Mr. NIXON. What is the
reason for that?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Mr. Hiss
considered it a privilege to have a superior in the Communist organization
at his home.
Mr. NIXON. Now, you
definitely say that you did see Mr. Hiss then in the P Street house, you
had been there?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes: I
have.
Mr. NIXON. What house
have you been in since the P Street house?
Mr. CHAMBERS. The house
on the street which crosses P Street, which I have never identified by
its correct name.
Mr. NIXON. Well. where
is it in relation to the P Street house?
Mr. CHAMBERS. It. I
think, was about two or three blocks away, but it is up and down street
in Georgetown.
Mr. NIXON. And you have
been in that house as well?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I have
indeed.
Mr. NIXON. On several
occasions?
Mr. CHAMBERS. On several
occasions.
Mr. NIXON. Would von
describe your recollection of that house?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes. As
nearly as I can recall it. It was a considerably smaller house than the
P Street house, It was on the right-hand side of the street as you go up.
The entrance was a flight of brick steps, and I think there were steps
going up on both sides a little iron railing at the stage. The dining room
was downstairs in the rear of the house. As I recall he had a particular--
Mr. NIXON. Have you
ever stayed in that house overnight, can you recall?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes: I
am sure I have.
Mr. NIXON. And your
testimony is that you have seen Mr. Hiss during 1936 and 1937, as often
as once a week?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes: I
think that would not be an exaggeration. Let us say once a fortnight, to
be on the conservative side.
Mr. NIXON. You are sure
that it was once a fortnight?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Absolutely.
Mr. NIXON. You will
testify to that absolutely?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Absolutely.
Mr. NIXON. Not to the
best of your recollection, but absolutely?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Absolutely,
with this one qualification, that once in awhile Mr. Hiss went on a vacation.
Mr. NIXON. Except for
the periods when he was not there.
Mr. CHAMBERS. That is
right.
Mr. NIXON. You did see
him there?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I absolutely
state that as a fact.
Mr. NIXON. Now, I have
covered some of the questions that Mr. Hiss has asked that I ask you, and
I am going to go into some of the rest of these questions. I think that
for the record you should state for the committee where your present residence
is.
Mr. CHAMBERS. The committee
understands the difficulty about that, I believe. I do not want to expose
my family or myself to possible attempts on my life. I do not want to inject
any sensationalism at this point.
The CHAIRMAN. The Chair would like to make this
statement. As I understand it, your present address is known to our station.
Mr. CHAMBERS. I believe
it is.
Mr. NIXON. Yes.
Mr. STRIPLING. Yes;
we have his present business address, as well as his home address, and
have had it for some time.
The CHAIRMAN. Well,
I would suggest then, Mr. Nixon, that that question not be pressed at this
time, because the committee staff has the address.
Mr. STRIPLING. Let me
ask this. Mr. Chambers, do you have any objection to telling Mr. Hiss your
present address?
Mr. CHAMBERS. To me
that seems tantamount to telling the Communist Party. However, I will tell
my address and get rid of this question right away.
Mr. McDOWELL. Wait a
minute. I am not sure that this is a wise thing to do.
Mr. MUNDT. I do not
think so, Mr. Chairman. We know of previous attempts that Communists have
made on the lives of people whom they detest, and I see no reason for subjecting
him to increased hazards. We know what his address is. It is not a question
of pertinency in here, and I see no reason to be exposing him to continuous
attempts upon his life, which have been made in the past. It does not serve
any purpose.
The CHAIRMAN. The chairman
will rule that the question be not asked at this time, and the answer not
be given.
Mr. STRIPLING. Mr. Chambers,
you have no objection to giving your business address?
Mr. CHAMBERS. None at
all.
Mr. STRIPLING. Give
your business address.
Mr. CHAMBERS. My business
address is Time Magazine, 9 Rockefeller Plaza, New York City.
Mr. STRIPLING. You can
be reached there several days during the week, can you not?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I could
until recently, and shall in the future.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Chambers,
the next question we have covered to an extent. Do you recall where you
were living in 1930?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes; I
was probably living on a farm in Hunterdon County, N. J.
Mr. NIXON. Yes; and
about how long did you live there?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I think
we were there almost a year, perhaps more than a, year.
Mr. NIXON. Do you recall
where you moved from there?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I think
I moved next to Staten Island.
Mr. NIXON. Staten Island?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes.
Mr. NIXON. Do you recall
how long you lived there?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Around
a short time, I think, only a few months.
Mr. NIXON. Do you recall
your next residence, your next residence after that?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Perhaps
I was living at my mother's house in Long Island, I am not sure. I would
have to make a careful list of those things in order to answer that question.
Mr. NIXON. But did you
live at your mother's house for a considerable length of time?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes; I
think for a year at least.
Mr. NIXON. Then did
you live in Washington? You have indicated that you lived at the apartment
of Mr. Hiss.
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes.
Mr. NIXON. Where did
you go from the apartment here?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I went
back to Long; Island, I believe.
The CHAIRMAN. Will the
gentleman yield to me?
Mr. NIXON. Yes.
The CHAIRMAN. When did
you live in Hunterdon County?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I would
think in 1932. I was still living there.
The CHAIRMAN. What towns
were you living near?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I live
near a place called Glen Gardner.
Mr. NIXON. Where did
you move from there? I do not mean from Hunterdon County, I mean your mother's
home?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I think
we moved to Baltimore from there.
Mr. NIXON. Do you recall
how long you lived in Baltimore?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes; I
would think a couple of years.
Mr. NIXON. A couple
of years. Then, from Baltimore, do you recall where you moved next?
Mr. CHAMBERS. From Baltimore,
I fled from the Communist Party and went into hiding.
Mr. NIXON. You fled
from the Communist Party?
Mr. CHAMBERS. And I
went into hiding.
Mr. NIXON. You went
into hiding. In other words, you were living in Baltimore at the time you
left the party?
Mr. CHAMBERS. That is
true.
Mr. NIXON. That is true.
And then, what was your next residence after that?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I decided
that the Communist Party would expect me to try to get as far away as possible,
so I moved a very short distance from Baltimore.
Mr. NIXON. You did.
And that is in the vicinity of Baltimore?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes; on
Old Court Road.
Mr. NIXON. And you lived
there for how many years?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Oh, I
did not live there for years; it was a matter of months, I think, not more
than 6 months.
Mr. NIXON. And then,
from there where did you go?
Mr. CHAMBERS. From there
I decided at that point that I must try to come up above ground and establish
an identity, having been underground, and I was a faceless man, and I could
always be.
Mr. NIXON. It was then
that you moved there, when?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Then I
bought a house on St. Paul Street.
Mr. NIXON. In Baltimore?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes, sir.
Mr. NIXON. From there
where did you go?
Mr. CHAMBERS. From there
we went to my present address.
Mr. NIXON. Now, we have
already covered your employment record in the Communist Party. Since you
left the Communist Party, what have you done?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I have
translated a book, and written for and edited Time Magazine.
Mr. NIXON. Now, you
translated the book at what time?
Mr. CHAMBERS. At the
time I was in hiding from the Communist Party.
Mr. NIXON. Do you recall
the type of translation or what sort of book it was that you translated?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes; it
was a novel on the Spanish Civil War.
Mr. NIXON. It was what?
Mr. CHAMBERS. It was
a novel on the Spanish Civil War, published by Longmans Green.
Mr. NIXON. Did you do
any other translation than that one, do you recall?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I do not
recall.
Mr. NIXON. And your
next occupation was what?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Writer
for Time Magazine.
Mr. NIXON. When did
you go with Time Magazine?
Mr. CHAMBERS. In 1939,
the early part of the year.
Mr. MUNDT. I take it
that this translation and this employment with Time was all under your
name, Whittaker Chambers; is that right?
Mr. CHAMBERS. It was.
Mr. NIXON. This is after
you were above ground?
Mr. CHAMBERS. The name
is in the Hyleaf of the book.
Mr. NIXON, The next
question is a bibliography of your writings. I will ask you to submit that
for the committee. I am not going to ask you to submit it now, because
of the time it would take to get it.
Mr. CHAMBERS. I do not
believe there is a bibliography of my writings. I have translated a number
of books.
Mr. NIXON. You have
never written a book?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I have
never written a book.
Mr. NIXON. You have
just written for periodicals?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I have
written for Time Magazine.
Mr. NIXON. You have
written for Time Magazine and the Daily Worker?
Mr. CHAMBERS. For Life.
Mr. NIXON. And the New
Masses. We have introduced in evidence several of the pieces which you
have written.
Mr. CHAMBERS. That is
right.
Mr. NIXON. Now, Mr.
Chambers, you heard the charge made here that you had been treated for
a mental illness. Do you have any comment on that?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes; I
have never been treated for a mental illness period.
Mr. NIXON. You have
never been treated in a mental institution?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Never.
Mr. NIXON. Never. Have
you been treated for a mental illness or been in an institution during
the past 4 years, which was the charge made?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Of course
not; and anyone at Time Magazine can tell you that.
Mr. NIXON. In that connection,
Mr. Chairman, I might say the committee took in executive testimony-in
executive session-the testimony of Mr. Nelson Frank, who has known Mr.
Chambers since he went with Time magazine and who knew him when Mr. Chambers
was on the staff of the Daily Worker, and Mr. Frank testified categorically
that he had known him during that time and that
Mr. Chambers had never been in a mental institution, had never been treated
for a mental illness during the time that he had known him.
Mr. STRIPLING. Did you
identify Mr. Frank? Mr. Nixon, did you identify Mr. Frank?
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Nelson
Frank is with the New York World-Telegram at the present time.
Mr. CHAMBERS. you are
married?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I am.
This is my first and only wife.
Mr. NIXON. This is your
first and only wife?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes.
Mr. NIXON. Have you
any children?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I have
two, a boy and a girl.
Mr. NIXON. A boy and
a girl. Would you give us their ages?
Mr. CHAMBERS. The boy
has just turned 12, and the girl is-will be 15 in the fall.
Mr. NIXON. And your
wife resides with you?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Of course.
Mr. MUNDT. I think,
Mr. Nixon, you overlooked one question, and I would like to ask you about
the question with regard to crime. Have you ever been charged or convicted
of a crime?
Mr. CHAMBERS. No.
Mr. MUNDT. There are
no particulars which can be supplied then for a crime you did not commit.
Mr. CHAMBERS. I am afraid
not.
Mr. NIXON. Now, the
next question is to describe the circumstances under which you came in
contact with the committee and make public all written memorandum which
you have handed to any representative of the committee.
Mr. STRIPLING. Just
a moment. Mr. Chairman, I should like to state that Mr. Chambers never
got in touch with the committee. The committee did, however, send two agents
to New York to see him sometime ago. When we began this investigation,
we sent two agents. He gave these two agents an interview. When this investigation
of espionage in the Government began, a subpena was issued and served upon
Mr. Chambers, without any prior knowledge on his part.
Mr. NIXON. Now, Mr.
Chambers, you have testified that you know of your own knowledge that Mr.
Hiss is a Communist and a member of the Communist Party. You have also
testified that you base that statement on the fact that you were introduced
to him as a Communist and that you, yourself, on at least three occasions
have collected party dues from Mr. Hiss; is that correct?
Mr. CHAMBERS. That is
true.
Mr. NIXON. From Mr.
Hiss?
Mr. CHAMBERS. And Mr.
Hiss fully understood I was a Communist. Our relationship was the party
relationship.
Mr. NIXON. And you,
I understand, categorically deny this business relationship which Mr. Hiss
has testified to, concerning this apartment.
Mr. CHAMBERS. There
was never any business relationship of any kind between Mr. Hiss and me.
Mr. NIXON. Now, will
you describe for the committee, Mr. Chambers, the last time you saw Mr.
Hiss?
Mr. CHAMBERS. About
1938, toward the end of 1938, I tried to break away from the Communist
Party a number of people. It seemed to me that the time was coming when
I would have to do something about this problem. It also seemed to me proper
that they should have an opportunity to break away themselves. I had once
been a Communist, and I broke away, and the possibility was always there.
I went to Mr. Hiss. He was then living on Dent Place, and I had supper
with him there, and with his wife, and in the course of that meeting I
tried to raise my doubts, and detach him from the Communist Party. I failed.
Mr. NIXON. Well, now,
will you describe for the committee how you happened to go to his apartment?
I mean, how you happened to go to his house. Did you go to the door, do
you recall, or what was the occasion?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I went
to the door, I suppose. about 7 o'clock at night, perhaps. I was afraid
of an ambush, but when I got there, only a maid was at home.
Mr. NIXON. What is that?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Only a
maid was at home.
Mr. NIXON. What did
you do?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I waited
nearby, and very shortly Mrs. Hiss drove up, and we went into the house
together, and--
Mr. NIXON. Well, how
did you get Mrs. Hiss? Do you remember that?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Not particularly;
I do not recall.
Mr. NIXON. You met her
at that time?
Mr. CHAMBERS. What is
that?
Mr. NIXON. You say you
met Mrs. Hiss as she drove up.
Mr. CHAMBERS. She drove
up, and stepped out of the car.
Mr. NIXON. I see.
Mr. CHAMBERS. And we
went in together.
Mr. NIXON. And you discussed
breaking away from the party at that time with Mr. HISS?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes; I
did.
Mr. NIXON. And what
was his reaction?
Mr. CHAMBERS. As I testified
before when I left him Mr. Hiss cried, but he would not break away from
the Communist Party.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Chambers,
you said that you felt that there was some risk in going to Mr. Hiss at
that time.
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes; I
did.
Mr. NIXON. Why did you
go to him? Did you go to all the others that were in this group?
Mr. CHAMBERS. No; I
went to two or three others.
Mr. NIXON. Why did you
go to see Mr. Hiss?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I was
very fond of Mr. Hiss.
Mr. NIXON. You were
very fond of Mr. Hiss?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Indeed
I was; perhaps my closest friend.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Hiss
was your closest friend?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Mr. Hiss
was certainly the closest friend I ever had in the Communist Party.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Chambers,
can you search your memory. now to see what motive you can have for accusing
Mr. Hiss of being a Communist at the present time?
Mr. CHAMBERS. What motive
I can have?
Mr. NIXON. Yes, I mean,
do you-is there any grudge that you have against Mr. Hiss over anything
that he has done to you?
Mr. CHAMBERS. The story
has spread that in testifying against Mr. Hiss I am working out some old
grudge, or motives of revenge or hatred. I do not hate Mr. Hiss. we were
close friends, but we are caught in a tragedy of history. Mr. Hiss represents
the concealed enemy against which we are all fighting, and I am fighting.
I have testified against him with remorse and pity, but in a moment of
history in which this Nation now stands, so help me God, I could not do
otherwise.
Mr. MUNDT. As a matter
of fact, Mr. Chambers, I think the record should show at this point that
you did not come to this committee voluntarily for the purpose of testifying
against Mr. Hiss or anybody else, but you are subpenaed without advance
notice by the committee. Is that correct?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I had
been to what I considered to be the proper governmental authorities at
a much earlier date, and I had been in connection with them on more than
one occasion and more than one agency. I could scarcely wish to jeopardize
the position which I had gained among the good men by such an appearance
as this. Nevertheless, I had long supposed it would come and I decided
that when it came I would take the opportunity to act as I should.
Mr. MUNDT. In fact,
I think that the present speaker was probably the first person to advise
the committee about the existence of Whittaker Chambers, and I got that
information from a source which, due to a very ridiculous and unsound Executive
order, I cannot reveal, but I hesitated even to suggest that you be subpenaed,
but did so because I
felt that the country and the committee was entitled
to all the information available, and, as I said, when you testified--I
know it is not an easy job for a man in your position to testify as you
have. and I certainly hope that no ill comes to you for any true statements
that you have made before this committee and this committee is going to
continue to press forward to find out whether you have made any false ones
or whether Mr. Hiss is the gentleman who is falsifying.
Mr. STRIPLING.
Mr. Chambers. did you ever have a conference with Mr. Adolf Berle. who
was the Under Secretary of State during this underground apparatus?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I did.
Mr. STRIPLING. -When
was that?
Mr. CHAMBERS. That was.
I originally testified 2 days after the Hitler-Stalin pact was signed.
I now learn that it was 5 days afterward.
Mr. STRIPLING. Five
days after the Stalin-Hitler pact. That was in 1939?
Mr. CHAMBERS. 1939.
Mr. STRIPLING. And give
the committer the circumstances of this meeting with Mr. Berle.
Mr. CHAMBERS. I had
insisted that my testimony be made before President Roosevelt; I had insisted
that my testimony be made to President Roosevelt. Mr. Isaac Don Levine.
whom I had gone to see, went to the President's secretary, Mr. Marvin McIntyre.
Mr. McIntyre advised Mr. Levine that Mr. A. A. Berle, the Assistant Secretary
of State, was the President's man in matters of intelligence. Therefore,
Mr. Levine arranged a meeting between Mr. Berle and me, which took place
at the home of the Secretary of War, Mr. Stimson.
Mr. STRIPLING. Do you
recall the section of town or the address of the home of the Secretary
of War, Mr. Stimson?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes; I
believe it was on Woodley Road.
Mr. STRIPLING. Go right
ahead.
Mr. CHAMBERS. Well,
I have nothing to add.
Mr. STRIPLING. You went
there. Did you have dinner with Mr. Berle?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Oh, yes.
You want me to tell you that?
Mr. STRIPLING. Yes;
I want you to give the committee the full details regarding your turning
in this information to a responsible official of the Federal Government.
Mr. CHAMBERS. Mr. and
Mrs. Berle and Mr. Levine and I had dinner together, and I then laid before
Mr. Berle in Mr. Levine's presence the information which I have given this
committee.
Mr. STRIPLING. Did you
mention the name of Alger Hiss?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I mentioned
the name of Alger Hiss and Donald Hiss.
Mr. STRIPLING. Mr. Nixon,
did you take the testimony of Mr. Levine in New York City on August 17?
Mr. NIXON. I took the
testimony of Mr. Levine in New York City on August 17, and I questioned
him concerning this meeting about which Mr. Chambers has just testified
with Mr. Berle, and Mr. Levine testified, in effect-the testimony will
be made public and, of course, will speak for itself; but as I recall the
testimony, Mr. Levine testified that
he did accompany Mr. Chambers when they had the
discussion with Mr. Berle and when I asked him specifically as to the names
that were mentioned, Mr. Levine said that there was no question whatever
but what Mr. Chambers had mentioned the name of Mr. Alger Hiss and the
name of Mr. Donald Hiss. I might also say that Mr. Levine submitted for
the record a memorandum which he had made immediately after that meeting
on the stationery of the Hay-Adams House where he was staying, on which
these names, among others, were jotted down.
The CHAMBERS. What was the date of the meeting
at the Hay-Adams House?
Mr. STRIPLING. It was
not at the Hay-Adams House.
The CHAMBERS. What was the date of the meeting
with Berle?
Mr. STRIPLING. He testified
that it was 5 days after the signing of the Hitler-Stalin pact in 1939.
What date was that, Mr. Mandel?
Mr. MANDEL. August 26.
Mr. STRIPLING. It was
August 26, 1939, on which the pact was signed August 26, 1939.
Mr. Chambers, going back for a moment to the
occupancy by you and your wife and child of the apartment on Twenty-eighth
Street, Mr. Hiss has testified that you spent several days in his home
on P Street, awaiting the furniture which was to come down by a van.
At that time, did you and your wife have any
furniture?
Mr. CHAMBERS. We had
so little furniture that it could scarcely be
called furniture.
Mr. STRIPLING. Had you
previously lived at the home of your mother?
Mr. CHAMBERS. That is
right.
Mr. STRIPLING. Did you
have any furniture brought down by van or otherwise?
Mr. CHAMBERS. We did
not.
Mr. MUNDT. Mr. Chambers,
did you last see Mr.-was it J. V. Peters?
Mr. CHAMBERS. J. V.
Peters, I believe.
Mr. MUNDT. What?
Mr. CHAMBERS. J. Peters.
Mr. MUNDT. When did
you last see Mr. Peters?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Shortly
before I broke. It was in the early 1938 period.
Mr. MUNDT. Do you think
you would be able to recognize Mr. J. Peters?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I would
have no difficulty in recognizing Mr. J. Peters.
Mr. MUNDT. I think you
probably have been notified by the Commissioner of Immigration, Mr. Watson
B. Miller-or will be-that you are going to be called for the deportation
hearings on Mr. J. Peters for the purposes of identification.
Mr. CHAMBERS. I expect
I will.
Mr. MUNDT. And you think
you can identify him if he is there?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I have
no doubt about it.
Mr. MUNDT. You have
no doubt about it.
Mr. STRIPLING. Mr. Chairman.
I have here a picture which was taken off a passport of the person we think
to be J. Peters, who traveled for the Soviet Union on and under the name
of Isidore Boorstein. I show you this picture, Mr. Chambers, and ask you
in you can identity it as being J. Peters [showing photograph to Mr. Chambers].
Mr. CHAMBERS. That is
J. Peters.
Mr. MUNDT. You say it
is J. Peters?
Mr. CHAMBERS. It is.
Mr. MUNDT. You are sure
or that?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I am sure
or it.
Mr. MUNDT. You can recognize
it from the photograph?
Mr. CHAMBERS. No doubt
about it.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Chambers,
did Mr. Hiss knew that your name was Whittaker Chambers during the period
that you knew him?
Mr. CHAMBERS. No; he
did not.
Mr. NIXON. By what name did he know you?
Mr. CHAMBERS. By the
name of Carl.
Mr. NIXON. What did
he call you?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Carl.
Mr. NIXON. Always?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Always.
Mr. NIXON. What name
did Mrs. Hiss call you by?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Carl.
Mr. NIXON. She always
called you Carl?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Always.
Mr. NIXON. And you were
not called by any other name while you were with them, other than the name
of Carl?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I was
not.
Mr. NIXON. Do you know
whether or not Mr. Hiss knew what your real name was before your acquaintance
with him ended?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Mr. or
Mrs. Hiss, at that last meeting in 1938, told me Peters had told them or
the party had told them who I was, so I assumed that they knew my name,
my name Whittaker Chambers.
Mr. NIXON. But they
did not tell you what the name was?
Mr. CHAMBERS. That is
right.
Mr. MUNDT. I think,
in looking over this list of questions, Mr. Chambers, that were proposed
by Mr. Hiss or his counsel, that you have answered all of them of any pertinency
except perhaps for one which was not asked, and that is the question No.
3, which reads:
What name were you given when you were born, and
what names have you used at any time since your birth for any purpose?
I would like to ask you those questions at this
time. What name were you given when you were born?
Mr. CHAMBERS. When I
was born I was given the name J. Vivian Chambers.
Mr. MUNDT. J. Whittaker
Chambers?
Mr. CHAMBERS. J. Vivian
Chambers.
Mr. MUNDT. I see. What
names have you used at any time since your birth, for that purpose?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Well,
I came of age, I got rid of the "Vivian" as quickly as possible.
Mr. MUNDT. I don't blame
you for that.
[Laughter.]
Mr. CHAMBERS. And I
took my mother's family name of Whittaker. I was baptized under that name.
Other names I have used?
Mr. MUNDT. Yes; what
other names have you used at any time since your birth for any purposes?
You have testified that you went by the name of Carl for a time.
Mr. CHAMBERS. I was
for a while named Dwyer.
Mr. MUNDT. Is that one
of your Communist underground names?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Dwyer
Mr. STRIPLING. Do you
remember that period you used that name?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes. I
used it while I was living at Staten Island.
Mr. STRIPLING. While
you were living on Staten Island.
Mr. MUNDT. Are there
any other names?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I once
used the name of Cantwell.
Mr. MUNDT. Was that
used also as one of your Communist undercover names?
Mr. CHAMBERS. No; these
were names that I lived under.
Mr. MUNDT. At the time
you were a Communist?
Mr. CHAMBERS. That is
right; while I was in the underground.
They were not my undercover names within the
organization. The name that I was known by to all the people in Washington,
and the only name I was known by was Carl.
Mr. MUNDT. Carl. In
other words, these other names were names you used to confuse people who
were not Communists.
Mr. CHAMBERS. Quite
so.
Mr. MUNDT. Did you ever
use any pseudonyms or fictitious names for any other purpose than simply
to disguise your identity as a Communist?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I do not
think so. I do not know whether I quite understand the meaning of the question.
Mr. MUNDT. Well, I gather
from Mr. Hiss that he was interested in whether you had written under any
assumed names.
Mr. CHAMBERS. Now, wait.
I do not believe I ever wrote under assumed names.
Mr. STRIPLING. Did you
ever write under the name of Crosley?
Mr. CHAMBERS. No.
Mr. MUNDT. May I put
the question as to whether at any time in your life when you were not operating
as a Communist did you use the name of-any other name than Chambers?
Mr. CHAMBERS. When I
was working for the street railway.
Mr. MUNDT. What name
did you use?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I have
forgotten. I used that name, and I did not want--
Mr. MUNDT. That is when
you were laying railroad in the street railway?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Of course.
it was not the first street railroad in Washington. It was a matter of
a repair job, one that took a good many years.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Chambers,
you were instructed when you appeared before the committee on each occasion,
as I recall, that the answers to material questions if given false would
subject you to perjury charges.
Mr. CHAMBERS. I understood
that.
Mr. NIXON. You understood
that?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes.
Mr. NIXON. Now, you
realize, in other words, that by reiterating the charges that you have
made previously today that these statements also, if proved false, will
subject you to perjury?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I can
do nothing about that. I have only to tell the truth.
Mr. NIXON. Do you wish--you
do not wish to qualify the answers that you have given because of that?
Mr. CHAMBERS. None that
I have given so far. I might want to make reservations in answering a question,
but I have no qualifications.
Mr. NIXON. You want
to stand by your testimony as you have given it?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Of course.
Mr. NIXON. That is all.
Mr. STRIPLING. Mr. Chambers,
have you requested any copy of any testimony that you have given before
the committee in executive session or otherwise?
Mr. CHAMBERS. No; I
have not.
Mr. STRIPLING. Did I
communicate with you and ask you if you wanted your executive session testimony
which you gave in New York?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I am not
sure whether you did or not. In any case, I did not want it.
Mr. STRIPLING. You did
not want it?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I did
not need it.
Mr. MUNDT. Have you
requested counsel to appear with you?
Mr. CHAMBERS. No; of
course not.
The CHAIRMAN. Do you
have any more questions, Mr. Stripling?
Mr. STRIPLING. Yes;
I have a few questions about the apartment of Henry Collins. But Mr. Hebert
wants to ask some questions.
Mr. HEBERT. Mr. Chambers,
let me make myself perfectly clear before I ask you any questions.
You look to me just like anybody else before
this committee, and if I can impeach your testimony, I will do it, because
I am only seeking the truth, and what I am trying to tell you is this,
that as far as I am concerned, there is no such thing as a committee witness.
By that, I mean there are no witnesses, so far as I am concerned, who are
going to be put on this stand to prove what some members of the committee
think or might think. I am only interested in finding out the facts and
the truth in the case.
I told Mr. Hiss that also in executive session
last Monday, and I will try just as hard to impeach you to find out whether
you are lying or not, as I will Mr. Hiss or anybody else.
I want to make myself perfectly clear before
I start asking you these questions.
Now, let us take it chronologically.
How old are you now?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I am now
47.
Mr. HEBERT. Where were
you born?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I was
born in Philadelphia.
Mr. HEBERT. What year?
Mr. CHAMBERS. 1901.
Mr. HEBERT. What were
your parents' names?
Mr. CHAMBERS. My father's
name was J. Chambers, and my mother's name was A. Chambers.
Mr. HEBERT. What business
was your father in?
Mr. CHAMBERS. My father
was a commercial artist.
Mr. HEBERT. Where did
you go to school?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I went
to school in Lynbrook. Long Island, and Rockville Centre, Long Island.
Mr. HEBERT. When did
you move to Long Island?
Mr. CHAMBERS. My family
moved when I was perhaps 2 or 3 years old, and they still live in the same
house.
Mr. HEBERT. Your father
and mother still live?
Mr. CHAMBERS. My mother.
My father is dead. My mother still lives in the same house.
Mr. HEBERT. Your mother
still lives in the same house. What school did you go to?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I went
to a school called South Side High School.
Mr. HEBERT. Public school.
Where did you go to high school?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Rockville
Centre.
Mr. HEBERT. What was
the name of the school?
Mr. CHAMBERS. South
Side High School.
Mr. HEBERT. Where did
you go to college?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I went
for a short time to Columbia University.
Mr. HEBERT. How long?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I think
for 2 years.
Mr.. HEBERT. What did
you study?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Liberal
arts.
Mr. HEBERT. How did
you become a writer?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Impulse,
I guess.
Mr. HEBERT. You never
had any formal training as a journalist?
Mr. CHAMBERS. No, I
did not.
Mr. HEBERT. In so-called
schools of journalism?
Mr. CHAMBERS. No, I
did not.
Mr. HEBERT. Then, you
just wrote by impulse?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I wrote
because I felt a need to write.
Mr. HEBERT. Because
you wanted to write?
Mr. CHAMBERS. That is
right.
Mr. HEBERT. Did you
ever have any journalistic employment outside of Time magazine?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Only on
the Daily Worker, New Masses.
Mr. HEBERT. The first
time you wrote a public article was for the Daily Worker?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I believe
so.
Mr. HEBERT. You wrote
it under the name of Whittaker Chambers?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I do not
believe they were signed.
Mr. HEBERT. They were
not signed. But, of course, it is a common practice among journalists and
reporters to use pseudonyms and nom de plumes; and other names.
Mr. CHAMBERS. I never
did use those names.
Mr. HEBERT. You never
did use that, but that is a common practice.
Mr. CHAMBERS. It is.
Mr. HEBERT. Then, from
the Daily Worker you went to Time magazine. Now, you are not in the Communist
Party then ?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I was
in the Communist Party all that period.
Mr. HEBERT. What were
the circumstances surrounding your employment by Time magazine?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I do not
quite understand the question.
Mr. HEBERT. Did you
just walk in there and tell the man, "Here I am for a job. I want to work
for you?" How did you get the job on Time?
Mr. CHAMBERS. No; I
had a friend at Time.
Mr. HEBERT. Who was
the friend?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Robert
Cantwell.
Mr. HEBERT. And you
went to him and told him you would like to work on Time?
Mr. CHAMBERS. That is
right.
Mr. HEBERT. What position
did you start in on at Time?
Mr. CHAMBERS. As a writer.
Mr. HEBERT. At what
salary?
Mr. CHAMBERS. It is
very hard for me to remember.
Mr. HEBERT. What year
was that?
Mr. CHAMBERS. 1939.
Mr. HEBERT. In 1939?
Mr. CHAMBERS. That is
right.
Mr. HEBERT. Mr. Robert
Cantwell had you employed by Time just as a writer?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Well,
he did not have me employed.
Mr. HEBERT. Well, you
went to him?
Mr. CHAMBERS. That is
right.
Mr. HEBERT. And then
you steadily rose to be a writer on Time, and to what is known now as the
senior editor?
Mr. CHAMBERS. That is
right.
Mr. HEBERT. That is
the highest editorial position that you can rise to on Time?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Next to
the highest.
Mr. HEBERT. What is
the highest?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Managing
editor.
Mr. HEBERT. How many
senior editors are there on Time?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I think
six.
Mr. HEBERT. What is
your salary now?
Mr. CHAMBERS. My salary
is about $25,000 a year.
Mr. HEBERT. And since
1939 to 1948 you rose from just the regular routine writer on Time--
Mr. CHAMBERS. That is
right.
Mr. HEBERT. To be a
senior editor on Time at a salary of $25,000 a year?
Mr. CHAMBERS. That is
true.
Mr. HEBERT. Can you
search your mind at this time and tell this committee what possible motives
you could have in jeopardizing your position on Time by making the statements
that you are making?
Of course, you realize that if they are false,
you are finished.
Mr. CHAMBERS. I could
not imagine such a motive. Besides, it is not just my position on Time.
Mr. HEBERT. What is
that, please?
Mr. CHAMBERS. What I
am jeopardizing is not just my position on Time. It is my position in the
community.
Mr. HEBERT. Because
you feel that you could get another position anyway?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Well,
I could very likely make a living.
Mr. HEBERT. I think
a man making $25,000 a year writing pieces could make a living some place.
Then, there is no motive that you can possibly suggest to this committee
that you would have then to defame the character of an individual who is
highly respected, such as Alger Hiss.
Mr. CHAMBERS. I would
have no such motive with respect to anyone.
Mr. HEBERT You said
you were born J. Vivian Chambers.
Mr. CHAMBER. That is
correct.
Mr. HEBER. Then, I understood
you to say that you were baptized Whittaker Chambers.
Mr. CHAMBERS. That is
right.
Mr. HEBERT. What is
the differentiation ? You were born J. Vivian Chambers.
Mr. CHAMBERS. I was
given the name legally at birth, or shortly afterward. And I was later
baptized.
Mr. HEBERT. In which
church?
Mr. CHAMBERS. In the
Episcopalian Church, of which I was a member.
Mr. HEBERT. Are you
a member of any church?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I am.
Mr. HEBERT. What church?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I am a
Quaker.
Mr. HEBERT. You are
now a Quaker?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes.
Mr. HEBERT. Mrs. Hiss
is a Quaker.
Mr. CHAMBERS. She is
a birthright Quaker.
Mr. HEBERT. You are
what?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I am a
Quaker by convincement.
Mr. NIXON. Mr. Hebert,
may I interpose there? Mr. Chambers means by "birthright Quaker" that is-his
testimony is that Mrs. Hiss was born a Quaker, her parents were Quakers,
whereas a Quaker by convincement means that he became one and his parents
are not Quakers.
Mr. HEBERT. In other
words, we would say a Quaker who would be a convert to the Quaker faith.
Mr. MUNDT. I think the
record should show that Mr. Nixon is a Quaker, so he speaks with authority.
Mr. HEBERT. Now, Mr.
Chambers, you heard Mr. Hiss on the stand here today, all day long. What
is your reaction to his denials?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Mr. Hiss
is lying.
Mr. HEBERT. Mr. Hiss
is lying? In other words, his story is a pure fabrication out of
the whole cloth?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I would
say that it is 80 percent at least fabrication.
Mr. HEBERT. He never
knew you by any other name except Carl?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I do not
believe so.
Mr. HEBERT. And you
became attached to him in a personal way through your activities in the
Communist Party with Mr. Hiss?
Mr. CHAMBERS. That is
true.
Mr. HEBERT. Now, referring
back to these questions, in order that we may have the record right, perhaps
it may be repetitious, Mr. Chairman, but let us get it straight, that Mr.
Hiss is asking these to be asked, and I will ask them to be sure there
has been no deviation from them.
No. 1. Where do you reside? That has already
been explained and we will not press that.
No. 2. List the various places where you have
lived since 1930, indicating the length of time you lived at each place,
and the name you have used at that place. Mr. Nixon has questioned you
in that connection with them and you endeavored to give that.
Would you search your memory and supply the committee
with the answer to that question?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I will
be happy to.
Mr. HEBERT. What name
were you given when you were born? What names have you used at any time
since your birth for any purpose? You have answered that.
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes.
Mr. HEBERT. No. 4, Give
your complete employment record during your membership in the Communist
Party, and since your resignation from the Communist Party, stating the
name of your employer, your occupation, and your compensation. Also state
the name by which you were employed in each instance. You have given that.
No. 5, Give a complete bibliography of your writings
under any and every name you have used. Yon have given that.
No. 6, Have you ever been charged or convicted
of a crime? Give full particulars as to where, when, and for what. I put
particular emphasis on this because this indicates a record that can be
checked, Mr. Hiss seems interested in records. Have you ever been charged
or convicted of a crime?
Mr. CHAMBERS. No.
Mr. HEBERT. No. 7, I
asked you in New York whether you were ever treated for a mental disease,
and you told me "No" at that time, and repeated it today.
Mr. CHAMBERS. I urged
the committee to check all possible records.
Mr. HEBERT. Well, if
you were, the committee could easily find it out.
Mr. CHAMBERS. Very easily.
Mr. HEBERT. No. 8, When,
where, and to whom were you married?
You have given that.
Mr. CHAMBERS. Well,
I think I did.
Mr. HEBERT. That is
that.
Mr. CHAMBERS. I think
I did.
Mr. HEBERT. Have you
any children? Do you now reside with your wife? You have answered that.
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes.
Mr. HEBERT. No. 9, Describe
the circumstances under which you came in contact with the committee, and
make public all written memoranda which you have handed to any representative
of the committee. You have also answered that.
Now, there is one additional charge which Mr.
Hiss makes in his written letter which he gave to the press last evening,
and which appeared in the paper today, and which we again heard read before
the committee, and that-- was the fact that you are a confessed liar, a
confessed traitor, whose word cannot be taken. By "confessed liar" I presume
he means your activity in the Communist Party. By "confessed traitor" I
think he refers to the fact that as a member of the Communist Party you
were a traitor to your country.
Mr. CHAMBERS. Perhaps
he means that as a renegade from the Communist Party I was a traitor to
the Communist Party.
Mr. HEBERT. You are
almost as quick on your feet as Mr. Hiss.
Now, Mr. Chambers, with that background, and
let us acknowledge, let us for the sake of the moment, say that Mr. Hiss
is correct in that you have been a traitor to your country, and I think
you admitted that in your opening hearing the first time we heard you,
you admitted frankly that you knew what you were doing, and then had a
change of mind, and decided to be loyal to your country, and do what you
could to make amends, and your knowledge and your education of history
and religion. Isn't it a fact that there are many saints in Heaven today
who were not always saints?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I believe
so.
Mr. HEBERT. We would
not take their sainthood away from them after they have become saints and
repented, not saying, you understand, that you are a saint, now mind you.
Mr. CHAMBERS. I am not
a saint, indeed.
Mr. HEBERT. But I want
to draw the analogy and I want to draw the logical conclusion, and the
inferences given. Do you know of any time that the committee or anybody
else could learn of Communists through a Communist himself who was loyal
to the party?
Mr. CHAMBERS. No; it
is impossible.
Mr. HEBERT. Isn't the
only method that we have of ferreting out these Communists is through people
like yourself who repent and come to us and tell us their story?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I think
so, sir.
Mr. HEBERT. There is
no other way. Do you know any police department in this country that is
an efficient police department that does not operate without the assistance
of informers?
Mr. CHAMBERS. No.
Mr. HEBERT. If it is
a good police department, they rely a good deal on informers, do they not?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes, sir.
Mr. HEBERT. So, therefore,
Mr. Chairman, I make this observation, that let's admit the witness was
what he admits frankly that he has been. But let us also recognize the
fact that he has had the change of heart, and in himself has the courage
to come before us to give us this information, and that, without prejudging
whether you or Mr. Hiss are telling the truth at this time, because I would
like to check more of what you said, too, to determine which one of you
is telling the truth. That is all, Mr. Chairman.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Vail.
Mr. VAIL. I have no
questions.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. McDowell.
Mr. McDOWELL. I have
a very general question. Mr. Chairman, this very difficult and very sinister
matter before us appears to me as being built up on very small things,
going all the way from the gift of Mr. Hiss of an old jalopy to Mr. Chambers,
with a loan of Mr. Mr. Chambers testified to, and reaching all the way
up to the man who wrote the Yalta agreement, which we feel here in America
is now responsible for our difficulties in Europe.
Somewhere along the line of the testimony it
was testified that Mr. Chambers was a bird lover and Mr. Hiss is identified--he
has identified himself as an amateur ornithologist.
I might say, Mr. Chairman, that so is the chairman
of the committee, a bird lover, at least. That in order to--
The CHAIRMAN Well, we have got a Quaker and a
bird lover.
Mr. McDOWELL.
In order to further the intimacy with which these men had with each other,
I would like to refer to the testimony of both of them.
Mr. Chambers has testified
in executive session that Mr. Hiss and Mrs. Hiss were bird lovers, as was
he, and it was their custom in the few spare moments they got here in Washington,
to observe the birds and to go bird watching.
I would like to point out, Mr. Chairman, that,
as you well know, to discover a rare bird or an unusual bird or identify
a bird that many other people have seen is a great discovery in the life
of an amateur ornithologist. You can usually recall almost everything around
it.
It is like winning the ball game or the yacht
regatta. You can recall the time of day, how high the sun was, and all
the other things.
But it was testified to by both Mr. Chambers
and Mr. Hiss that on one occasion, the three of them, walking together,
saw a small bird called a prothonotary warbler.
Mr. STRIPLING. No; that
is not the testimony, Mr. McDowell. If you like for me to look it up, I
will be glad to do so.
Mr. McDOWELL. If I recall
the testimony, it was testified to that she saw a prothonotary warbler
on their walk.
Mr. STRIPLING. The testimony,
Mr. McDowell--and I will be glad to refer to it--Mr. Chambers testified
before the executive session in New York that Mr. Hiss had told him that
he and Mrs. Hiss had taken a walk on the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal in
Washington down the Potomac.
Mr. McDOWELL. That is
all right. Now, I would like Mr. Chambers to just briefly describe what
he told the subcommittee that day. That will be the whole question.
Mr. CHAMBERS. I think
I told them that Mr. Hiss was fond of going bird walking out toward Glen
Echo, out on the Potomac, across the canal. One morning, Mr. Hiss told
me he saw a prothonotary warbler, which is a very beautiful bird, rather
an unusual one. I do not recall that I told anything else about it.
Mr. McDOWELL. That is
all.
Mr. STRIPLING: For the
record, will the witness spell prothonotary
Mr. CHAMBERS. P-r-o-t-h-o-n-o-t-a-r-y.
The CHAIRMAN. How many
member; can you estimate were in the Communist underground in Washington?
Mr. .CHAMBERS. It would
be difficult for me to say. I knew a relatively small handful. There were
behind them others, and I do not know how many. There were also parallel
apparatuses; that is, other apparatuses operating independently to the
one that I knew. There were, perhaps, several of them. I do not know, but
I have reason to think there were perhaps more than one.
The CHAIRMAN. And were
those members in the Communist under ground mostly in the Government service?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I think
that they were, most of them, in the Government service.
The CHAIRMAN. Would
you say they were in any special agency or were they in all the agencies?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I think
the preponderance were in the New Deal agencies.
The CHAIRMAN. Well,
that would cover quite a few. I mean by that, were there in, we will say.
the War Department or the Navy Department or--
Mr. CHAMBERS. No; I
cannot offhand tell you that. I do not know anyone who was in War and Navy.
The CHAIRMAN. What agencies
would you include?
Mr. CHAMBERS. That is
a very tough one because I cannot remember the names of the New Deal agencies.
There were some in the AAA at one time. Mr. Hiss was in the AAA at one
time. Lee Pressman was in AAA. Donald Hiss was in the Labor Department.
I believe, the Immigration Service. Nathan Witt was in the National Labor
Relations Board. I forget where Kramer was. Collins was in the Department
The CHAIRMAN. I do not
think I made myself clear,. What I wanted to find out was what agency of
the Government or agencies of the Government had most of these members
of the Communist underground? Were they mostly in any one agency or were
they scattered over a number of agencies?
Mr. CHAMBERS. No: I
think they were widely scattered.
The CHAIRMAN. What was
the contact between the Communist underground and the Communist Party in
the District of Columbia?
Mr. CHAMBERS. The groups
that I knew had their contacts through me, through Peters, and that contact
was kept as sketchy as possible.
The CHAIRMAN. And was the Communist Party under
the discipline of the Communist underground here?
Mr. CHAMBERS. The Communist
underground was under Communist discipline.
The CHAIRMAN. Well,
who was on top, the Communist Party functionaries or the Communist underground?
Mr. CHAMBERS. When,
they operated side by side, without very great contact for obvious reasons.
But, the head of the underground was J. Peters. Peters was, I believe,
a member of the central committee of the Communist Party. I may be mistaken
about that. Therefore, on, that level he had contacts with the top of the
Communist Party.
The CHAIRMAN. And on the question of espionage,
would J. Peters indicate to members of the Communist Party or members of
the Communist underground just what material, what information was required?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Well,
he did not, to my knowledge.
The CHAIRMAN. He did
not?
Mr. CHAMBERS. No.
The CHAIRMAN. Who would
do that in Washington?
Mr. CHAMBERS. That I
do not know.
The CHAIRMAN. Now, to
get back to New Jersey, when you lived up in Glen Gardner, that was in
what year, did you say?
Mr. CHAMBERS. 1932,
I think; probably, perhaps, 1931, too.
The CHAIRMAN. And I have forgotten what the record
shows, but were you a member of the Communist Party at that time?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I think
it was that period of about a year or two when I was out of the Communist
Party. I was in for--I went out in about 1929 and I came back in again.
The CHAIRMAN. Where did you live outside of Glen
Gardner
Mr. CHAMBERS. I lived
on a farm.
The CHAIRMAN. Where?
Mr. CHAMBERS. About
6 miles from Glen Gardner.
The CHAIRMAN. Can you
locate that farm?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Well,
all I can locate-I do not know whether I can locate it exactly now. In
fact, I have forgotten about it.
The CHAIRMAN. But you
do not remember what road it was on?
Mr. CHAMBERS, I do not.
Mr. CHAIRMAN. What influenced
you to join the Communist Part originally?
Mr. CHAMBERS. It is
a very difficult question. As a student, I went to Europe. It was then
shortly after the First World War. I found Germany in chaos, and partly
occupied; northern France, and parts of Belgium were smashed to pieces.
It seemed to me that a crisis had been reached in western civilization
which the society was not able to solve by the usual means.
I then began to look around for the unusual means.
I first studied for a considerable time British
Fabian socialism, and rejected it as unworkable in practice.
I was then very much influenced by a book called
Reflections of Violence, by George Sorrel, a syndicalist, and shortly thereafter
came out to the writings of Marx and Lenin. They seemed to me to explain
the nature of the crisis, and what to do about it.
The CHAIRMAN. Well,
I can understand how a young man might join the Communist Party, but will
you explain to us how a person who has made a real living in this country,
a person with a large income, some of the witnesses we have had before
this committee, over a period of time, what, in your mind, would influence
them to join the party here in this country?
Mr.. CHAMBERS. The making
of a good living does not necessarily bind a man to a critical period in
which he is passing through. Such people, in fact, may feel a special insecurity
and anxiety. They seek a moral solution in a world of moral confusion.
Marxism, Leninism offers an oversimplified explanation of the causes and
a program for action. The very vigor of the project particularly appeals
to the more or less sheltered middle-class intellectuals, who feel that
there the whole context of their lives has kept them away from the world
of reality.
I do not know whether I make this very clear,
but I am trying to get at it. They feel a very natural concern, one might
almost say a Christian concern, for underprivileged people. They feel a
great intellectual concern, at least, for recurring economic crises, the
problem
of war, which in our lifetime has assumed an
atrocious proportion, and which always weights on them. What shall I do?
At that crossroads the evil thing, communism, lies in waiting for a simple
answer.
The CHAIRMAN. Then you
mentioned the strict discipline within the party itself. That discipline
is probably even more strict in time of war than in time of peace, is it
not?
Mr. CHAMBERS. It might
be; it is always strict.
The CHAIRMAN. Yes; and a Communist would have
to blindly execute any order given to him.
Mr. CHAMBERS. Yes; they
would.
The CHAIRMAN. Then would
you not say that every Communist in the United States-and this has been
asked other witnesses from time to time-every Communist in the United States
would be a probable spy or saboteur?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Every
Communist in the United States is a potential spy or saboteur and a permanent
enemy of this system of government.
The CHAIRMAN. Would
a Communist-if a Communist remained, wanted to remain in good standing
with the party, could a Communist disobey one of those orders to bring
about some sabotage? Could a Communist do anything but do the thing that
was for the good of Russia in time of war?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Well,
the Communist Party makes human allowances also. It might not assassinate
a man because he failed to carry out an order the first time. Nevertheless,
the substance of what you are saying is correct.
The CHAIRMAN. But you
believe that if this country got into a war with Russia that every Communist
would be an ardent member of the Russian fifth column.
Mr. CHAMBERS. In a war
with Russia, I think a certain number of Communists would have a sudden
revulsion, and perhaps break away, but the mass of the party would be a
fifth column.
The CHAIRMAN. From your
own experience and knowledge of the party, how well do you think the investigative
of the Government, even including this committee, have got a line on the
number and kind of Communists in this country?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Well,
it is quite impossible for me to answer that. I really do no not know.
The CHAIRMAN. Well,
do you think we are keeping up with the business, or do you think communism
is gaining in this country?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I think
undoubtedly In the last few years considerable strides have been made to
control it, and what is perhaps quite as important a problem is understanding
it. It seems to me that this committee is getting toward the heart of the
matter at this point.
The CHAIRMAN. Getting
what?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Toward
the heart of the matter at this point. That should not blind anyone to
the knowledge that there are groups beyond groups, beyond groups, beyond
groups. Nevertheless, progress is being made.
The CHAIRMAN. Who would
you say is the leading Communist in the United States today?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I really
do not know.
The CHAIRMAN. That is
all I have.
Mr. MUNDT. You testified
that you visited Alger Hiss probably fortnightly over a period of 1 or
2 years in 1935 and 1936, I believe it was-maybe it was 1936 and 1937-and
talking to him about his progress in this war group toward strategic spots,
collecting Communist dues from him, and what not.
At that time when you were having these fortnightly
conferences with Mr. Hiss, were you living then in Washington or New York,
or where were you living?
Mr. CHAMBERS. I was
probably living at one time in New York, staying in Washington at the Hisses
or in Baltimore.
Mr. MUNDT. When you
lived in Baltimore or New York, did you live there known among your neighbors
by the name of Carl?
Mr. CHAMBERS. No.
Mr. MUNDT. What is that?
Under what name?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Whittaker
Chambers.
Mr. MUNDT. The only
place where you used the name Carl then was in your Washington Communist
contacts?
Mr. CHAMBERS. In those
Washington groups.
Mr. MUNDT. From your
knowledge of communism is it possible for a committee like this, or any
other agency of Government, or a court of law, to prove conclusively whether
a man is or is not a Communist without access to the files of the Communist
Party?
Mr. CHAMBERS. It is
extremely difficult, I think.
Mr. MUNDT. And from
your knowledge as a high functionary in the Communist Party, is it the
general practice of that party to conceal from the non-Communist world
the identity of its members, after, of course, they are members, so that
when witnesses come before this committee, as they so frequently do, and
deny under oath that they
are Communists, they can do that without difficulty
and with comparative impunity, even though they are, in fact, Communists?
Is that right?
Mr. CHAMBERS. That is
true.
Mr. MUNDT. From your
knowledge of the Communist operations in Washington in Government where
you were contact man for a period of years, would it be your belief that
Communist cells are still functioning in Government now or that they have
terminated them at the conclusion of the war?
Mr. CHAMBERS. It is
unquestionable that they are still functioning in Government, and will
continue to function until they are rooted out. It may be during a period
like this when a number of investigative agencies are looking into the
matter, they are resting on their oars for a while, but they remain in
being.
Mr. MUNDT. But it would
be your firm conviction that they are here, and will stay here until they
are ferreted out by hearings like this, or by the FBI, or by grand jury
proceedings, or some other legal methods?
Mr. CHAMBERS. Certainly.
Mr. MUNDT. That is all,
Mr. Chairman.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Nixon.
Mr. NIXON. I have nothing.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Stripling.
Mr. STRIPLING. I have
no further questions.
The CHAIRMAN. Are there
any more questions of Mr. Whittaker Chambers?
You are excused then, Mr. Chambers.
And you are excused, Mr. Hiss.
The committee stands adjourned, and the committee
will meet in executive session at 10:30 tomorrow, and there will be no
public hearing tomorrow.
(Whereupon, at 8 p. m., the committee adjourned.) |