Diana Trilling
A MEM0 RAN DUM 0 NTH
E 'HISS ( ASE
Ralph de Toledano and Victor Lasky's
Seeds of Treason*
is first to appear of the several forthcoming books on the Hiss case. Mr.
Toledano is an editor of
Newsweek,
Mr. Lasky a
Worid-Telegram
reporter-both are experienced newspaper men and particularly know–
ing in the ways of Communist organization and intrigue. Frankly pro–
Chambers, they devote a good part of their book to Chambers'
personal history, from his youthful quest for a meaningful purpose in
life, through his involvement with the Communist movement and his
meeting and subsequent joint espionage with Alger Hiss, to the days of
his ordeal in court. But they also amplify the court record with a
variety of material gathered in extensive independent research and
interviewing. There is an enlightening account, for instance, of Com–
munist espionage throughout the world, similar to and contemporay
with that in which Hiss and Chambers were engaged. And there is an
instructive section dealing with the steady refusal of the Roosevelt ad–
ministration to pay any heed to the knowledge constantly being pressed
upon it, that there were undercover Communists in high government
places, Hiss among them. Mr. Toledano and Mr. Lasky's actual
recapitulation of the Congressional hearings and the two trials is
perhaps too brief, but it is cogent. Certainly nothing which came out
in court is not the more firmly established for being presented against
the background they have so painstakingly built up.
I say "established" because I speak from the point of view of
someone who agrees with the authors of
Seeds of Treason
that Chambers
told the truth and Hiss lied. But what about the many people of good
will who followed the case to a quite opposite conclusion-that Cham–
bers is a vicious liar and Hiss the innocent victim of his persecution? Is
there any possibility that they will change their minds just because they
are freshly confronted with the evidence, and with the material Mr.
Toledano and Mr. Lasky adduce in its support? I expect not. For
*
Funk and Wagnllils. $3.50.
