This may have been the modus operandi of Hiss. Hiram Haydn, an editor at
Random House, describes an odd interview with Alger Hiss. Haydn describes how
mask succeeded mask and role succeed role throughout the interview. At first,
Hiss was quiet and dignified, then aggressive and authoritarian, and then "he
seemed abruptly defensive. There was fear and suspicion in his expression and he
answered me in guarded monosyllables."
Still, the double burden of
government work and espionage activity in the 1930s that became, after 1949, a
triple burden with the addition of the victimized New Dealer role, had to have
caused some form of pressure. But all of those who came into contact with Hiss
remarked on Hiss' supreme confidence. Nathan Weyl, a fellow Soviet spy, remarked
that Hiss was "always sure of himself." His government colleague, Jerome Frank,
wrote that Hiss was "eminently well-balanced." This self-confidence, combined
with his reported "deep commitment" to communism, may have given him the strength
to juggle roles.
A compartmentalizer who knows no guilt — that may be
a working description of the Hiss personality. By day, he works in New Deal
Washington; by night, he is leaking documents to communist agents. At Yalta, he
arrives with the American delegation; later, he is decorated by the Soviets for
secret services rendered. Mask upon mask, layer upon layer.
Added to this
portrait though is a playful, mocking Hiss, a catch-me-if-you-can personality.
Again, Haydn proves instructive:
"He became gaminlike, elusive, answering
my questions with the manner of a shrewd, precocious boy who was playing games
and admiring his skill at them."
There appears time and again a Hiss who
drops clues to his opponents during the verbal sparring. The House Committee on
Un-American Activities was privy to this game, if not fully aware of it, when
Hiss implied in his testimony that the 1930s were a much better era for relations
between communists and liberals, the party line at the time of his
questioning.
The clue-dropper appears in his autobiographical reminiscence
of Stalin at Yalta, the same Yalta where he was decorated by the Soviets. In
"Stalin, the Enigmatic Host at Yalta," Hiss follows the trajectory of his bizarre
session with Haydn. He begins with a mask of anti-communism (Stalin is a ruthless
dictator who butchered his people) followed by a bold gesture, a peek behind the
mask (Stalin is considerate and intelligent — the Stalin portrayed in the
Hollywood film "Mission to Moscow)"; more importantly, he is a populist who waits
patiently in line behind his staff to go to the bathroom while the aristocratic
Churchill retires to his privy in his suite. Finally, a retreat back to safety,
the trip wire alerting him: Stalin is brutal.
But this portrait still does
not supply us with why Hiss did it. Was it the ultimate game for him? The
ultimate gamble? Or was he a deeply committed partisan as Whittaker Chambers has
argued? Until documented admissions from Hiss' papers become available, the jury,
unlike the one in 1949, is still out.
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