November 27

This Day in History

Also on This Day

Lead Story
Pope Urban II orders first Crusade, 1095
American Revolution
"The Chancellor" is born, 1746
Automotive
Indy 500 champ Hélio Castroneves wins "Dancing with the Stars", 2007
Civil War
John Hunt Morgan escapes from the Ohio Penitentiary, 1863
Cold War
Alger Hiss released from prison, 1954
Crime
San Francisco leaders George Moscone and Harvey Milk are murdered, 1978
Disaster
Freak storm dissipates over England, 1703
General Interest
Iron Guard massacres former Romanian government, 1940
Nehru appeals for disarmament, 1957
Hollywood
Bruce Lee born, 1940
Literary
Robert Burns postpones emigration to Jamaica, 1786
Music
Jimi Hendrix born, 1942
Aerosmith and 50 Cent headline a $10 million bar mitzvah, 2005
Old West
Custer massacres Cheyenne on Washita River, 1868
Presidential
White House housekeeper frets over presidential waistline, 1911
Sports
Gordie Howe scores his 600th goal, 1965
Vietnam War
Pentagon calls for troop increase, 1965
South Vietnamese forces attacked near Cambodian border, 1970
World War I
Hindenburg celebrates Warsaw campaign, 1914
World War II
French scuttle their fleet, 1942

Cold War

Nov 27, 1954:

Alger Hiss released from prison

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After 44 months in prison, former government official Alger Hiss is released and proclaims once again that he is innocent of the charges that led to his incarceration. One of the most famous figures of the Cold War period, Hiss was convicted in 1950 of perjury for lying to a federal grand jury. Specifically, Hiss was judged to have lied about his complicity in passing secret government documents to Whittaker Chambers, who thereupon passed the papers along to agents of the Soviet Union
Upon his release, Hiss immediately declared that he wished to "reassert my complete innocence of the charges that were brought against me by Whittaker Chambers." He claimed that his conviction was the result of the "fear and hysteria of the times," and stated that he was going to "resume my efforts to dispel the deception that has been foisted on the American people." He was confident that such efforts would "vindicate my name."
Some observers remained skeptical of Hiss's protestations. Senator Karl Mundt felt that further investigation of the matter would probably be a waste of time, unless Hiss decided "to come clean and tell the whole story." Chambers issued a brief statement in which he declared that the "saddest single factor about the Hiss case is that nobody can change the facts as they are known...They are there forever. That is the inherent tragedy of this case."
The controversy over the facts in the Hiss case is also here forever. It remains a highly charged issue. His defenders argue that Hiss was a victim of the Red Scare that swept through the U.S. during the 1940s and 1950s. Others are equally adamant in maintaining his guilt, claiming that documents recently released from Soviet archives strongly support the case that Hiss was a spy for the Soviet Union.

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This Week in History, Nov 27 - Dec 3

Nov 27, 1954
Alger Hiss released from prison
Nov 28, 1989
Czechoslovakian Communist Party gives up monopoly on political power
Nov 29, 1952
Eisenhower goes to Korea
Nov 30, 1981
The United States and U.S.S.R. open talks to reduce intermediate-range nuclear forces
Dec 01, 1959
Antarctica made a military-free continent
Dec 02, 1961
Castro declares himself a Marxist-Leninist
Dec 03, 1989
Bush and Gorbachev suggest Cold War is coming to an end

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