Witness: Cold War Classics

Chapter 13, “the Hiss Case II” covers the final hundred days of Chambers’s showdown with Hiss. Chambers is invited to appear on Meet the Press, but initially declines because he worries about opening himself up to a libel suit. He changes his mind after reflecting on how the Party is already doing everything in its power to destroy him. Despite receiving a hostile treatment on the show, he succeeds in publicizing his claim that Alger Hiss was (and may still be) a Communist.

Reporters swarm to Chambers’s farm, puzzled by his rustic lifestyle. They tend to assume that Chambers is acting from base motives.

A period of relative inactivity follows, during which Chambers ponders the consequences of informing on a friend and fears retribution against himself or his family. Hiss then delivers the expected libel suit, demanding sums far in excess of Chambers’s personal assets.

Testifying before a different grand jury, Chambers denies direct knowledge of Soviet espionage so as not to repeat his conflict with Hiss dozens of times over. Although he regrets this lie, he hopes that it stands as a testament to the power of mercy.

Chambers worries that he does not have enough evidence to prove his accusations.