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IN 1948, THE RED HUNT STRUCK AT THE VERY CENTER OF GOVERNMENT
WHEN EX-COMMUNIST WHITTAKER CHAMBERS
ACCUSED A FORMER STATE DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE
NAMED ALGER HISS OF SPYING FOR THE SOVIET UNION.
- I FIRST KNEW HIM AS CROSLEY.
WHAT HIS NAME IS TODAY,
I AM NOT PREPARED TO TESTIFY TO
OR WHAT OTHER NAMES HE MAY HAVE HAD.
- MR. HISS REPRESENTS THE CONCEALED ENEMY
AGAINST WHICH WE ARE ALL FIGHTING
AND I AM FIGHTING.
narrator: THE HOUSE COMMITTEE WAS PREPARED
TO DISMISS THE CASE FOR LACK OF CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE,
BUT ONE OF ITS MEMBERS PRESSED THE ISSUE,
AN AMBITIOUS YOUNG CONGRESSMAN FROM CALIFORNIA,
RICHARD NIXON.
- THESE DOCUMENTS WERE FED OUT OF THE STATE DEPARTMENT
OVER TEN YEARS AGO BY COMMUNISTS
WHO WERE EMPLOYEES OF THAT DEPARTMENT
AND WHO WERE INTERESTED IN SEEING
THAT THESE DOCUMENTS WERE SENT TO THE SOVIET UNION
WHERE THE INTERESTS OF THE SOVIET UNION
HAPPENED TO BE IN CONFLICT WITH THOSE OF THE UNITED STATES.
narrator: ALGER HISS WAS CONVICTED NOT OF TREASON
BUT OF PERJURY AND SENTENCED TO FIVE YEARS IN PRISON.
HIS SUPPORTERS SAID
HE WAS A VICTIM OF THE COMMUNIST HYSTERIA.
OTHERS SAW HIM AS PART OF A COMMUNIST CONSPIRACY
TO DESTROY THE UNITED STATES
AND PRESSED THE SEARCH FOR MORE TRAITORS.
WITHIN MONTHS, JULIUS AND ETHEL ROSENBERG
WERE ARRESTED IN CONNECTION WITH A PLOT
TO PASS U.S. BOMB SECRETS TO THE SOVIETS.
THE ROSENBERGS DENIED THE CHARGES
AND CLAIMED THEY WERE BEING PERSECUTED AS JEWS
AND FOR THEIR LEFT-WING VIEWS.
THE EVIDENCE SUGGESTED THEY PLAYED
A SMALL BUT MATERIAL ROLE IN THE SPY RING.
THE ROSENBERGS WERE CONVICTED
AND SENTENCED TO DIE IN THE ELECTRIC CHAIR.
PROTESTS ERUPTED AMID CLAIMS OF ANTI-SEMITISM.
THE NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING WRITER JEAN-PAUL SARTRE
CONDEMNED THE SENTENCE AS, "ILLEGAL LYNCHING
WHICH SMEARS WITH BLOOD A WHOLE NATION."
HE WARNED...
- [as Sartre] "YOUR COUNTRY IS SICK WITH FEAR.
YOU ARE AFRAID OF THE SHADOW OF YOUR OWN BOMB."
narrator: DESPITE THE OUTCRY,
THE ROSENBERGS WERE EXECUTED IN 1953.