Alger Hiss: Framed

A New Look at the Case that Made Nixon Famous

A clear-eyed investigation into what is probably the biggest, longest cover-up in American history.

As a member of the House Un-American Activities Committee, Richard Nixon led the investigations that first drew attention to Alger Hiss and his purported ties to the Soviet regime. These investigations eventually led to the discovery of proof that Hiss was a mole in the State Department and precipitated a trial that would eventually ruin him and propel Nixon to the Presidency.

But what if the proof that eventually led to Hiss’s conviction was forged?

In this riveting investigation, Joan Brady—winner of The Whitbread Book of the Year—reveals how Nixon manipulated a media and public in the thrall of post-war anti-communist hysteria to make a fabricated case against Hiss, and draws a strong parallel with the French, who a half-century before turned Alfred Dreyfus into a scapegoat for anti-Semitism.

Alger Hiss: Framed is necessary and timely, telling soberly the tale of a nation in the grip of paranoid fear and the man who took most advantage of this fear.

“A bracing reminder of what indeed was so hateful, so villainous about Nixon and his political ascent.” —The Spectator

“[An] extraordinary book . . . Part autobiography, part memoir of Hiss, part thriller, and also a reminder of what happens when a society becomes infected by the paranoia that produced the American ‘Red Scare’ after the First and Second World Wars.” —The New Statesman

“Brady’s book . . . offers a unique perspective . . . She is an expert storyteller.” —The Guardian