Isaac Don Levine

The influential anti-communist editor of Plain Talk magazine, Levine took Whittaker Chambers to see Assistant Secretary of State Adolf A. Berle in 1939 to inform him about Communist activities in Washington. Chambers mentioned the names of Alger and Donald Hiss at the meeting, and this set in motion a chain of events that would lead to the Hiss case.

Many years later, Levine told author Meyer Zeligs that Chambers had come to him in 1938, saying he needed money and was looking to sell what Levine said was a vague magazine article about Communist activities in the United States. Levine subsequently worked with Chambers to help develop his story.