Posted on 11/14/2004 9:59:38 AM PST by OESY
...[T]here is no greater Cold War icon than Alger Hiss, the once high-ranking State Department official who went to prison for denying that he'd passed government secrets to the Soviet Union.
Nearly 60 years after he was exposed before Congress by Whittaker Chambers, a communist underground operative who later became a senior editor at Time magazine, belief in Hiss' complete innocence remains an article of faith for the political left.
For anti-communists, Hiss remains the prime example of how the Kremlin infiltrated the highest ranks of the U.S. government....
Over the years, Davis remained unpersuaded by new evidence of Hiss' guilt, while White reached an altogether different conclusion.
White's history breaks no new ground for those who have followed the case in detail. It's real importance is the book's coverage of... how Hiss spent the remaining 52 years of his life waging "a campaign for vindication" — and how, remarkably, that campaign largely succeeded.
Only since his death, in fact, has the tide begun to turn against Hiss, as newly disclosed U.S. and Soviet records have added to what was already an overwhelming case for his guilt...
And, indeed, Hiss' campaign picked up steam when he made common cause with '60s-era radicals and following Nixon's self-destruction.
The other key to Hiss' campaign was his refusal to admit anything, always insisting that he'd been the victim of a monstrous political frame-up.
The most controversial part of Hiss' campaign was the public "exoneration" announced in 1992 by Gen. Dmitri Volkogonov....
But Volkogonov had never checked the files of Soviet military intelligence, for whom Hiss worked....
The weight of the evidence is clear: Hiss was a Soviet agent and, when caught, lied about it. But most people aren't inclined to examine the evidence in detail....
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
"But there is no media bias..."
=== Angleton did indeed prevent the recruiting of double agents, but that was because during his reign not a single Soviet Agent was recruited. Every time a prospective recruit was identified Angleton would insist it was a dangle and stop the recruitment cycle
I never realized this. Thanks.
I think that he is a hero to the left not because he was innocent, but precisely because he was guilty. To many on the left, spying for the Soviet Union is a heroic act.
Apparently, Buckley had been approached years ago to write a book. But Buckley brushed Angleton off as a quack.
Years later, after reflection, Buckley wrote the book. I found it fascinating.
I thought Ann Coulter did a wonderful job exposing that commie and his ilk in our government in her book awhile back.
"Years later, after reflection, Buckley wrote the book. I found it fascinating."
Just remember Buckley sided with the Left's campaign both inside and outside of the CIA to discredit Angleton. I haven't read his book. Did he have a change of heart?
"The individual given the responsibility for managing the transfer to Israel was James Jesus Angleton. He was a perfect choice. Angleton was the legendary head of counterintelligence at the CIA. Even more important, at the same time Angleton ran the Israeli desk at the CIA. This desk had been placed under Angleton because of significant intelligence concerns respecting Israel and its intelligence connections to the Soviet Union."
Imagine that, an American Indian (Angleton) comes to the aid of the Israelis. How poetic...and it makes perfect sense when you think about it, no? You do know that the Israelis trusted Angleton more than any other American intel. officer don't you??? When I first found that out, Angleton's stock went way up in my book.
=== Imagine that, an American Indian (Angleton) comes to the aid of the Israelis. How poetic...
Poetic? You mean Ironic?
(When are we gonna give the Indian their land back? =)
A large theme of the book is how Angleton believed Kim Philby (a high level British agent) to be innocent and the guy turned out to be a KGB agent. But Angleton's general angst about the CIA being undermined were proven right when Casey took over.
I had read that Buckley had earlier dissed him. I don't know...I would love to get other Freepers' takes on it.
Nope, I'll stick with poetic.
<img src="http://www.mythsandfacts.org/media/user/images/MiddleEast_660-size.gif"
Ooops...link didn't work. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this makes for one long poem.
http://www.mythsandfacts.com/media/user/images/MiddleEast_660-size.gif
The left has spent 60 years lamenting the treatment of Hiss. When will they realize that he got off lucky? He should have been executed or at least imprisoned for a very long time.
Anyone know how to post a picture? I read how to do it, but it wont work for me. Take a look at post #31 and tell me what I am doing wrong! Thanks in advance for anyone kind enough to help me out.
I saw him make his pitch in person in 1974. He stood not more than 6 feet from where I was seated. He was a transparent liar, and spent 50+ years after his conviction lying about his treason in order to disparage the US government.
"I can't believe that there is still any controversy about this. "
Consider the fact that there are also dozens of Communist Parties active in countries around the world.
And that a number of intellectuals still beleive in socialism.
100 million people killed by Communists wasnt enough evidence apparently.
If they lie to themselves about that, believing a lie about hiss is not a hard sell.
"I have a theory about Alger Hiss.
I think that he is a hero to the left not because he was innocent, but precisely because he was guilty. To many on the left, spying for the Soviet Union is a heroic act."
Yep. And also true of the Rosenburgs. All those red diaper babies that went to CUNY and Columbia think they were heros.
What a horrendous waste of resources to have trained officers being used to seed phony information and map out dead drops. You may be giving them false information but you are also giving them a fundamental view of your method of operation. It would require the CIA to give away their MO since deviations in the future would signal a genuine operation. The Russians were notoriously miserly with their agents. Ames got a pittance considering the value of what he gave them. So phony operations would do little to drain their resources. Dangle operations are only a small part of any good intelligence service's efforts. The most important task they perform is collecting Foreign Intelligance, not Counter Intelligence. Angleton can be credited with preventing moles in the CIA, but to accomplish that he dismissed potential agents which later turned out to be genuine. He saw a Moscow provocation in every single volunteer and it is clear now the CIA threw away many good opportunities.
"Angleton can be credited with preventing moles in the CIA, but to accomplish that he dismissed potential agents which later turned out to be genuine."
You mean rehabilitated by Leftist traitors like Colby et al as "genuine."
Such as?
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