In November of 1996, Alger Hiss died. For almost half a century, he had worked to clear his name, once as synonymous with Cold War conspiracy as was the Rosenbergs. Russian officials announced in 1992 that "not a single document" had been located that implicated Hiss as a Soviet spy. With today's CIA scandals involving Aldrich Ames and Harold Nicholson, the case of Alger Hiss remains an object of controversy.

Through contemporaneous newsreels and present day interviews with surviving participants, the film re-examines the case in historical contxt -- the Great Depression, Roosevelt's New Deal, the Spanish Civil War, the Yalta Conference, Truman's Loyalty Program, and the Cold War. The focus then is shifted to the case itself: The hearings before the House Un-American Activities Committee, the dramatic testimony of Whittaker Chambers alleging Hiss's spy activities, the trials and the conviction, and the appeal. Evidence obtained under the Freedom of Information Act is presented to jurors who voted to convict Hiss, with startling conclusions. And then the film ends, with the McCarthy era and Hiss's latest move to set aside his conviction.

Also included is an interview taped on October 15, 1992 with Colonel-General Dimitri Antonovich Volkogonov, Counselor of the President of Russia and the Chief of the Intelligence Archives of the former Soviet Union.

Running time: 165 min , Year released: 1992
Close captioned?: N, Color?: Y
Avail. formats: 16mm,VHS
ISBN: 1-55974-239-9
Language: English, Subtitled?: N
For classroom?: Y, Study Guide?: N
Grade level: 7th and up

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