Choosing the Jury
Thursday, November 17, 1949
From the first accusations by Chambers before HUAC in August 1948, the story of Hiss's alleged espionage was headline news. During Hiss's first trial in New York City, ten officials of the American Communist party were on trial in the same courthouse for criminal conspiracy to overthrow the government. Picket lines thronged the courthouse every day. Hiss's trial had ended with a hung jury.
Now, four months later, anti-Soviet and anti-Communist feeling was even more charged. Communist rebels in China were close to gaining control of the government. In September the Soviet Union tested its first atomic bomb; many Americans were fearful now because the
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