The Alger Hiss Trial PDF
Preview The Alger Hiss Trial
Also by Doreen rAppAport lIVInG DAnGeroUsly American Women Who risked their lives for Adventure be tHe JUDGe | be tHe JUry the sacco-Vanzetti trial be tHe JUDGe | be tHe JUry the lizzie borden trial be tHe JUDGe | be tHe JUry tinker vs. Des Moines tHe boston Coffee pArty UnIteD no More! stories of the Civil War VICtory or DeAtH! stories of the American revolution IllUstrAteD WItH pHotoGrApHs, prInts, AnD DIAGrAMs Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for the use of photographs in this book: AP/Wide World Photos: 9, 10, 14, 15, 20, 22, 32, 38, 48, 81, 141, 158. The Harvard Law School Library: 61, 131. New York Daily Mirror: 23, 51. New York Journal American: 29, 211. The New York Public Library: 53, 56, 67, 89, 110, 119, 121, 124, 136, 145, 148, 150. Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case: 75, 93, 94, 100, 108. The Washington Post: 63, 97, 135, 159, 164, 165. Cover art © 2012 by John Jude Palencar. The Alger Hiss Trial Copyright © 1993, 2012 by Doreen Rappaport All rights reserved. Published by StarWalk Kids Media. Originally published in 1993 by Harper Collins, New York. Except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and articles, no part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher. Contact: StarWalk Kids Media, 15 Cutter Mill Road, Suite 242, Great Neck, NY 11021. www.StarWalkKids.com StarWalk KidsMedia The Library of Congress has catalogued the printed edition as follows: Rappaport, Doreen. The Alger Hiss trial / Doreen Rappaport; illustrated with photographs, prints, and diagrams. (Be the judge / be the jury) Includes bibliographical references and index. Summary: A reconstruction of the Alger Hiss trial, using testimony from edited transcripts of the trial, during which the reader can assume the role of juror. ISBN 978-1-623341-90-9 1. Hiss, Alger—Trials, litigation, etc.—Juvenile literature. 2. Trials (Perjury)—New York (N.Y.)— Juvenile literature. [1. Hiss, Alger—Trials, litigation, etc. 2. Trials (Perjury).] I. Title. II. Series: Rappaport, Doreen. Be the judge/be the jury. For Katherine Brown Tegen, who understands before the words are written. Contents Before the Trial 7 Choosing the Jury 25 The Prosecution’s Opening Statement 31 The Defense’s Opening Statement 37 Prosecution Witnesses 47 Defense Witnesses 107 Rebuttal Witnesses 171 The Defense’s Closing Statement 177 The Prosecution’s Closing Statement 191 The Judge’s Charge 203 The Verdict 209 Guilty or Innocent? 225 Author’s Note 229 Acknowledgments 231 Bibliography 233 Stenographer’s Notes 237 Everything in this book really happened. This book contains the actual testimony of the witnesses at the Alger Hiss trial. State Department offices where alleged stealing of documents took place 8 T h The Accusations e A l g e r h In August 1948 Whittaker Chambers, an ex- is s T Communist, accused Alger Hiss, a highly r iA l re spected government official, of having been a Communist spy. Hiss swore that he had never been a spy. He said he knew Chambers briefly under another name but had not seen him since July 1936. In December a federal grand jury in dicted Hiss for perjury—for lying about being a spy and lying about his relationship with Chambers. The trial resulted in a “hung jury”—the jury couldn’t reach a verdict. On November 17, 1949, a second trial began. For as long as it takes you to read this book, you will BE THE JURY at the second trial. You will sit in the jury box and listen to witnesses testify and be cross-examined. You will evalu- ate the evidence and decide whether or not Hiss was telling the truth. 9 L A Read carefully. Think carefully about every- I r t e thing you read. Do not make your decision h t e lightly, for Alger Hiss’s future is in your hands. r o f e b Who Was Alger Hiss? As a young man, Hiss at tended Johns Hopkins University on scholarship and graduated with hon ors. He went on scholar ship to Harvard Law School and was an out standing student there, too. He served as a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. From 1930 to 1933 he practiced law in Boston and New York. From 1934 to 1947 he held important jobs in the fed- eral government. When Cham bers accused Hiss of having been a spy, Hiss was the president of the Carnegie Endowment for Peace. At the time of the trial forty-four-year-old
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