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Other
Witnesses Deny Chambers' Allegations
A
crucial aspect of Whittaker Chambers' account of events
was his claim that Alger Hiss was associated with an underground
Communist group in Washington, D.C. He also included Lee
Pressman, Henry Collins, Nathan Witt, and others as members
of the group.
On
August 28, 1950, Pressman, by then an admitted ex-Party
member, testified before the House Un-American Activities
Committee about the group. Pressman said he had been a member
but that Hiss had not been one. Pressman also disputed an
allegation by Chambers that he, Pressman, aided an effort
by Stalin to purchase munitions in Mexico.
Click
here to read the relevant excerpts
from Pressman's testimony regarding his own ideology
and Chambers' allegations.
For
more on Chambers' claims regarding Alger Hiss and the
underground Communist group, click
here to read Adolf Berle's account of his conversation
with Chambers.
"[Hiss-]
I need hardly tell you how angered and outraged I was over
the irresponsible allegations made against you. Your testimony
fully harmonizes with the memory I had of you during our
all-too-brief acquaintance in Washington." (continued
in next column)
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This
quote comes from a letter written to Hiss by Noel Field. Writer
Victor Navasky explores its implications in an article for
The Nation. Click here
to read what Navasky has to say.
Klingsberg
on Noel Field
According
to Hiss's detractors, long-secret testimony by Noel Field,
a former State Department offical, implicates Hiss in Communist
activity. The testimony was obtained from Field under torture
after he had been imprisoned by the Communist government in
Hungary in the 1950s.
Ethan
Klingsberg, an associate of the Soros Foundation, while in
Hungary in the 1990s, was able to examine transcripts of Field's
"confession" regarding Hiss. Click
here to read what he learned.
Whittaker
Chambers claimed Max Bedacht recruited him into the underground.
Bedacht admitted his party membership but denied Chambers'
charge before the grand jury in 1948. Bedacht also said he
had nothing to do with any underground activities and had
only met Chambers briefly in the
office of the New Masses. Click
here to read an excerpted portion of Bedacht's
memoirs.
Jozsef
Peter was alleged by Whittaker Chambers to be the head
of the Communist Party underground in the United States during
the 1930s. Here is a portion of Peter's
1983 autobiography in which he discusses Chambers'
allegations and the impact these accusations had on his life.
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New
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