In the late 1940s and early ‘50s America was caught up in a “red scare.” The nation was gripped by fears of Communism, communist spies, communist infiltration.
One of those accused was a State Department official, who had actually helped form the United Nations. His name was Alger Hiss.
The accusation was that Hiss had spied for the Soviet Union in the 1930s. By the time the accusations came to light, the statute of limitations on espionage had expired. But Hiss was then charged with perjury, for lying about his alleged communist ties.
One of the chief Congressional investigators in the case was a young Congressman named Richard M. Nixon. The Hiss case propelled Nixon to national notoriety.
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And 75 years ago this week, January 1950, Alger Hiss was convicted of perjury and sentenced to prison, still maintaining his innocence.
Hiss’s son Tony was not even yet a teenager when his father went to prison, but by the time Alger Hiss was freed, their relationship had taken a dramatic, and positive turn.
In 1999 Tony Hiss wrote a memoir of his relationship with his father, called The View From Alger’s Window.
So here now, from 1999 Tony Hiss.
Alger Hiss died in 1996 at the age of 92.
