Whittaker Chambers

Prince Charming Introduces Radiohead to Whittaker Chambers

David Chambers — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 19:15:37 +0000

Prince Charming of New South Wales, Australia, has dubbed 1948 testimony of Whittaker Chambers into the song “Videotape” by Radiohead from their 2007 album In Rainbows to create his own special music, “Videotape (Tragedy of History).

Also appearing are the voices of Winston Churchill,

Christopher Hitchens, RIP

David Chambers — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:40:22 +0000

[Christopher Hitchens 2010, by John Huba/Vanity Fair]

Yesterday’s death of Christopher Hitchens (1949–2011) marks the beginning of the end of Cold War-born intellectuals. The timing of his birth ensured that a mind like Hitchens’ would confront the issues of his day head-on. Thus, Hitchens wrote about Whittaker Chambers perhaps [...]

The Baltimore Papers

David Chambers — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:45:57 +0000

[260 Rochester Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, circa December 1948]

Not everyone in the family escaped after Whittaker Chambers defected from the Soviet underground in April 1938.

On November 17, 1948, Whittaker Chambers returned for pre-trial examination with Alger Hiss. With him, he brought the “Baltimore Papers.” These papers formed the bulk [...]

Whittaker Chambers (1901-1961): Ghosts and Phantoms

David Chambers — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 20:32:44 +0000

[Marx-Engels-Forum, Berlinerdom (February 8, 2007)]

[This article also appeared in The American Mercury.]

Whittaker Chambers died 50 years ago today at the age of 60. Much in the world has changed since then. What might he think about world affairs today, were he still [...]

Ill Fares the Land: Tony Judt

David Chambers — Fri, 21 May 2010 16:45:03 +0000

Ill Fares the Land
Tony Judt
(New York: Penguin, 2010)

Ill Fares the Land makes for a brisk if chilling read. “We have entered an age of insecurity: economic insecurity, physical insecurity, political insecurity,” it begins. “The last time a cohort of young [...]

With the Precision of a Bullet

David Chambers — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 11:00:42 +0000

Koestler:
The Literary and Political Odyssey of a Twentieth-Century Skeptic
Michael Scammell
(New York: Random House, 2009)

It takes talent to write about someone else’s interesting life in a book that is interesting itself. The biographer would have to be, say, an author, scholar and translator. [...]

Equally Erring About Hiss

David Chambers — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:48:15 +0000

Alger Hiss and the Battle for History
Susan Jacoby
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009)

Susan Jacoby is a gifted writer. She is deft and light. As a grandchild of Whittaker Chambers (who was another gifted writer, if rarely so light), I looked forward to Alger Hiss and [...]

Declassified Documents Reveal KGB Spies in U.S.

David Chambers — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 14:10:18 +0000

Comment on “Declassified Documents Reveal KGB Spies in U.S.” by Alex Kingsbury:

Mr. Kingsbury,

The Hiss Case was a bit more complicated than you say, and the results more conclusive.

During 1948, both Alger Hiss and Whittaker Chambers lied under oath, but the nature of [...]

Correction to Andrew Meier on The Lost Spy

David Chambers — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:00:41 +0000

[Cy Oggins in 1938 and 1947]

During Power Line’s interview on September 21, 2008, The Lost Spy author Andrew Meier stated:
“[Whittaker] Chambers always said that he had been sent to Europe, and it’s a big debate among sort of scholars of the Hiss Case. It’s [...]

Different Legal Risks in Hiss, Libby Cases

David Chambers — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 03:01:52 +0000

Your article “Trial’s Lesson: Just Take the Fifth” (Politics & Economics, March 7) may have stretched matters comparing the perjury cases of Lewis “Scooter” Libby and Alger Hiss. Following its logic, the statute of limitations always protected Mr. Hiss, so his only legal risk in [...]