Last Soldier Standing: Review of ‘Rewriting Hisstory: A Fifty-Year Journey to Uncover the Truth About Alger Hiss’ by Jeff Kisseloff 

As a grandchild of Whittaker Chambers who has studied the historiography of the famous events around my grandfather, I’m always eager for the next book on the Hiss-Chambers Case of 1948-1950. After all, in my family, family lore is a matter of public dispute. When my grandfather included Alger Hiss in 1948 congressional testimony about a Soviet spy ring in Washington, it set off one of the biggest controversies in mid-century American public life. The Hiss Case made President Richard Nixon: it propelled “Tricky Dick” from new representative to a Senate seat, the vice presidency, and eventually the presidency. It made Sen. Joseph McCarthy: “Tail Gunner Joe” used it in the speech that launched McCarthyism. The Hiss Case helped shape the partisan politics of today:

Continue reading