Hiss Debate ContinuesActually this was resolved on several occasions (Hiss' perjury conviction,
the Venona transcripts), but the Left can't let go
of their fantasy that Hiss was persecuted by the evil Richard Nixon.
A Russian researcher, delving anew into once-secret Soviet files from the Cold War, says she has found no evidence that Alger Hiss spied or that Soviet intelligence had any particular interest in him.
In a speech to be delivered at a New York University symposium Thursday, Svetlana A. Chervonnaya says neither Hiss' name nor his alleged spy moniker, Ales, appears in any of dozens of documents from Soviet archives that she has reviewed since the early 1990s.
A copy of the speech was made available to The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Calling her efforts "proving the negative," Chervonnaya says "a thorough combing of all the said archives combined has not produced a shred of evidence that Alger Hiss had ever been a member of the (American) Communist Party and was engaged in any behind-the-scenes interactions with the Soviets."
This proves nothing except that she did not find his name or moniker in the documents she looked at. The idea that this proves Hiss did not spy for the Russians is ridiculous. As always look at the motivations of the people putting this out:
Chervonnaya was one of several scholars, writers and historians scheduled to speak Thursday at a daylong symposium, "Alger Hiss and History," inaugurating New York University's new Center for the United States and the Cold War.
Others on the program included Hiss' son, Tony Hiss, and stepson, Timothy Hobson, who were expected to recall their family life with the man whose name became a synonym for Cold War espionage. Both have always maintained Hiss was innocent.
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