Whittaker Chambers

Alger Hiss

Whittaker Chambers
also known as Jay David Whittaker Chambers,
Vivian Chambers, John Kelly;
INTERNAL SECURITY - C
September 5, 1948

185 page report of investigation of charges made by Communist courier-turned-FBI informant Whittaker Chambers.

This report follows conflicting testimony the previous month by Chambers and Alger Hiss before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, which triggered a perjury investigation culminating in the conviction of Hiss.

According to this report, Hiss was one of 21 people named by Chambers in his original FBI interview in 1942 who were already subjects of investigation by the Bureau at that time. In fact, the FBI had by then already alerted the State Department about Hiss; the department had dismissed the charges on the basis of Hiss' own denial.

Chambers had named Hiss (along with Solomon Adler, Virginius Frank Coe, Lauchlin Currie, et al.) to Assistant Secretary of State Adolf Berle some nine years before this report, in 1939. In 1943, the Bureau obtained Berle's notes, and found that nine of those named for the first time therein were already subjects of FBI investigation. In a 1945 interview, ten of those named by Chambers had already been under investigation.

This report concludes, "The Bureau in retrospect was probably derelict in not opening a control case in 1942 regarding the entire picture, such as was done with the allegations of Elizabeth Bentley in 1945.

See also:

Hiss-Chambers file

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chambers' Allegations Concerning Alger Hiss
Alger Hiss Interviewed June 2, 1947
No Indication in Bureau Files that Hiss Knew Chambers
Others Who May Be Able to State Hiss Knew Chambers
Chambers Employed by Federal Government
Bureau Files Searched for References to Jay V. David Chambers
Action Taken by FBI Concerning Chambers' Allegations
Specific Allegations Made by Chambers:

John Jacob Abt
Schlomer [Solomon] Adler
Amtorg
“Arthur”
Azimov
Marion Bachrach
Mrs. Barnes
Joseph Fels Barnes
Max Bedacht
Alexander Bittelman
Ralph Bowman [Rudy Baker]
Earl Russel Browder
Mrs. Earl Browder
Margaret Browder
Boris Bykov
Samuel Carp
Robert Coe
Virginius Frank Coe
Henry Hill Collins, Jr.
Lauchlin Bernard Currie
Charles Dirba
Laurence Duggan
Gerhart Eisler
Scott Ferris
Frederick Vanderbilt Field
Mrs. Frederick Vanderbilt Field
Mrs. Lila Vanderbilt Field
Noel Haviland Field
Charles Sidney Flato
Isaac Folkoff
William Z. Foster
Benjamin Friedman
Sender Garlin
Harrison George
Dr. Morris Greenberg
Carl Herman Haessler
Lement Upham Harris
Alger Hiss
Donald Hiss
Priscilla Hiss
Grace Hutchins
John Wilson Johnstone
Leon Josephson
___________ Kramer
Charles Kramer
Charles Krieger
Harry Kweit
___________ Lovell
Man from Canada
Dr. Isidore Miller
Paul Wilhelm Massing
Hedi Tune Massing
George Mink
Mones
Mark Moren
Elinor Nelson
Nathan Perlow (Victor Perlo)
Richard Howell Post
Web Powell
Juliet Stuart Poyntz
Lee Pressman
Francis Victor Reno
Philip Reno
Anna Rochester
Dr. Philip Rosenbliett
Amy Schechter
Gertrude Schilbach
Willy Schlamm
Agnes Smedley
Jessica Smith
Vern Smith
State Department Employee Sent to Turkey
Alexander Stevens
Tass News Agency
Alexander Leo Trachtenberg
Julian Wadleigh (Wadley)
Harold M. Ware
Helen Ware Cappel
Welwel Warszower
Nathan Witt