Alger Hiss November 11, β November 15, was an American government official accused in of having spied for the Soviet Union in the s. The statute of limitations had expired for espionage , but he was convicted of perjury in connection with this charge in In later life, he worked as a lecturer and author.
Hiss categorically denied the charge and subsequently sued Chambers for libel. During the pretrial discovery process of the libel case, Chambers produced new evidence allegedly indicating that he and Hiss had been involved in espionage. A federal grand jury indicted Hiss on two counts of perjury. After a mistrial due to a hung jury , Hiss was tried a second time, and in January he was found guilty and received two concurrent five-year sentences, of which he eventually served three and a half years.
Arguments about the case and the validity of the verdict took center stage in broader debates about the Cold War , McCarthyism , and the extent of Soviet espionage in the United States. In the s, two former senior Soviet military officers responsible for the Soviet Union's military intelligence archives stated, following a search of those archives, that the "Russian intelligence service has no documents proving that Alger Hiss cooperated with our service somewhere or anywhere", and that Hiss "never had any relationship with Soviet intelligence.
Both parents came from substantial Baltimore families who could trace their roots to the middle of the 18th century. Hiss's paternal great-great-grandfather had emigrated from Germany in , and changed his surname from "Hesse" to "Hiss. Minnie Hughes attended teacher's college and was active in Baltimore society. Shortly after his marriage at age 24, Charles Hiss entered the business world and joined the dry goods importing firm Daniel Miller and Co.
When Charles' brother John died suddenly at the age of 33, Charles assumed financial and emotional responsibility for his brother's widow and six children in addition to his own expanding family. Hughes at first distinguished himself and was promoted to treasurer of the firm, but then he became involved in a complicated business deal and was unable to meet the financial obligation that was part of a joint agreement.
