In September 1939, Whittaker Chambers, a defected communist spy, met with Adolf A. Berle, Assistant Secretary of State and disclosed a list of 18 government officials who were involved in the communist underground. One of the people listed was Alger Hiss, a State Department employee. Berle showed this list of people to the President but the accusations were not taken seriously and were dismissed. Berle also notified the FBI in 1940 and they interviewed Chambers in 1942 and 1945.

Chambers was called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) on August 3, 1948 and again named Hiss as a member of the Communist Party. Two days later Alger Hiss testified in front of the HUAC denying that he was a communist. Further investigation and evidence that came to be known as the Pumpkin Papers led to a charge on December 15, 1948 of two counts of perjury in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY).

The National Archives at New York City has custody of the SDNY case file as part of Record Group 21: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685 - 2009. The Indictment was filed on December 15, 1948. The perjury charges included lying under oath about handing over State Department documents to Whittaker Chambers, and a second count that he falsely testified that he had not seen Chambers after January 1, 1937.

The trial started on May 31, 1949 and lasted until July 8, 1949 when the jury deliberated and reported that they were unable to come to an agreement. A second trial began on November 19, 1949 and lasted until January 21, 1950 when the jury decided on a verdict of guilty on both counts.  

The case has been written about extensively and one thing that is often mentioned are some documents supposedly typed by Alger Hiss’ wife Priscilla on a Woodstock Model 5 typewriter which is discussed in depth in the Stenographer’s Minutes.

There is also a memo to the District Judge by the defendant requesting Grand Jury testimony given by Congressman Richard Nixon, a member of the HUAC, stating that he believed Hiss had testified falsely before the Committee.

Adlai Stevenson, who was at the time Governor of Illinois, testified on behalf of Alger Hiss as to his reputation for integrity, loyalty and veracity when they worked together at the State Department.

This post was written by Carey Stumm, Archivist at the National Archives at New York. Thanks to Carey’s hard work and dedication, this highly requested and historically significant case file, which includes 149 documents made up of 9,309 pages, has been digitized and is now available in its entirety in the National Archives Catalog.  

Are you interested in helping make these records more discoverable? Help us transcribe the Alger Hiss Criminal Case file!