Alger Hiss and the Battle for History (Icons of America) - Hardcover

Jacoby, Susan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0300121334 ISBN 13: 9780300121339

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2009

Synopsis

Books on Whittaker Chambers and Alger Hiss abound, as countless scholars have labored to uncover the facts behind Chambers’s shocking accusation before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in the summer of 1948—that Alger Hiss, a former rising star in the State Department, had been a Communist and engaged in espionage.

In this highly original work, Susan Jacoby turns her attention to the Hiss case, including his trial and imprisonment for perjury, as a mirror of shifting American political views and passions. Unfettered by political ax-grinding, the author examines conflicting responses, from scholars and the media on both the left and the right, and the ways in which they have changed from 1948 to our present post–Cold War era. With a brisk, engaging style, Jacoby positions the case in the politics of the post–World War II era and then explores the ways in which generations of liberals and conservatives have put Chambers and Hiss to their own ideological uses. An iconic event of the McCarthy era, the case of Alger Hiss fascinates political intellectuals not only because of its historical significance but because of its timeless relevance to equally fierce debates today about the difficult balance between national security and respect for civil liberties.

About this title

From the Author:

A conversation with Susan Jacoby

 

Q:  Why did you title your book Alger Hiss and the Battle for History?

A:  What Alger Hiss actually did sixty years ago and I do believe he was guilty of both the stated charge of perjury and the unstated charge of espionage is less important than the fact that his case has come to stand for very different views about American history. For the political right, the Hiss case remains a symbol of the alleged weakness and naïveté of the left about foreign and domestic threats. To the left, the willingness of the right to discard constitutional safeguards in times of threat both perceived and real is symbolized by the rush to judgment about Hiss even when the evidence against him was much less convincing than it is now.

 

Q:  Is it possible to believe that Hiss was guilty and oppose the methods of what has come to be known as the McCarthy era?

A:  Of course. The fact that Hiss turned out to be guilty does not justify the violations of constitutional rights by the House Committee on Un-American Activities or by Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s subcommittee. There are many political liberals who once believed that Hiss was framed but have now concluded that he was guilty. But they also deplore the violations of civil liberties of the McCarthy era in the same way that they deplore violations of the Constitution in the war on terror today. The right, however, says, Wrong about Hiss, wrong about everything.”

 

Q:  What role have the media played in this dispute?

A:  A good deal of my book is devoted to analyzing the ways in which the media have helped keep the Hiss case alive for sixty years. I look at both left- and right-wing publications, but much of my attention is focused on middle-of-the-road magazines and newspapers. The mainstream press, at any given time, reflects received opinion, and I’m particularly interested in the way received opinion about Hiss changed over time.

 

Q:  Why should anyone care about the Hiss case today?

A:  We should care because many of the issues surrounding the Hiss case, and the entire postwar hunt for Communists, are extremely relevant to the current battle over the appropriate balance between national security and civil liberties.

 

 

About the Author:

Susan Jacoby is an independent scholar and best-selling author. The most recent of her seven previous books is The Age of American Unreason. She lives in New York City.

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0300121334
• ISBN 13: 9780300121339
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272