Witness

American, Communist, Spy

Witness by Whittaker Chambers is an eye-witness account of Communist infiltration in Washington D.C. in the first half of the 20th Century. Chambers relates his early life experiences that led him to join the Communist Party as a young, native-born American. He narrates his engagement in communistic journalism and describes his involvement in a Soviet spy ring. Chambers was the contact point for numerous influential U.S. bureaucrats, including Alger Hiss, who had access to and were willing to share some of America’s most important secrets with the Soviets. A series of events awakened Chambers to the ugliness of his chosen ideology, and he begin to consider leaving the Communist Party. By this time he was deeply entangled in the Communist apparatus. Having seen newly-departed ex-communist spies suffer unusual fatal “accidents,” when Chambers decided to extricate himself from the Party, he took great pains to form an intricate plan for disappearing suddenly and entirely. He also took along documentation implicating high ranking government officials who had provided information to his spy ring, famously hiding some of it in a pumpkin! Chambers was deposed several times by the FBI, and later came forward to testify before Congress on Communist infiltration of the U.S. government. Witness is highly recommended reading for high school and college students, as well as adults.