Whittaker Chambers

Jay Vivian (Whittaker) Chambers (April 1, 1901 – July 9, 1961) was an American writer, editor, political operative and defector best known for his accusation and testimony against Alger Hiss, the architect of the Yalta Conference and Secretary General of the San Francisco conference that created the United Nations, on espionage and subversion charges.

Presidential Medal of Freedom

While the Hiss trial propelled Nixon's political career, Chambers derived little benefit from it. His job at Time gone, Chambers went to work on his farm, writing his autobiography, Witness, which was published in 1952.

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Critics of Chambers, then and now, maintain that his life was a paradox and he experienced so many changes of lifestyle and philosophy that his testimony was unreliable and self serving.

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Before his death, Chambers served briefly as senior editor of William F. Buckley Jr.'s National Review.

Related Topics:
William F. Buckley Jr. - National Review

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Chambers died of a heart attack on July 9, 1961. A final book, titled Cold Friday, was published posthumously in 1964. It predicted, correctly, that the fall of communism would start in the satellite states surrounding the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe.

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Whittaker Chambers life is the classic tale of redemption, when in 1984, more than twenty years after his death, President Ronald Reagan posthumously awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, for his contribution to "the century's epic struggle between freedom and totalitarianism."

Related Topics:
1984 - Ronald Reagan - Presidential Medal of Freedom

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