Post #4052949
2026-07-24 03:28 UTC
In this case Nixon was able to make the charge stick because a curious young man named Whittaker Chambers, a conservative Christian fanatics as I recall, came forward to say that he used to be a Communist but repented, and he fingered Alger Hiss as a "fellow traveler". Hiss said it was bullshit but Chambers came up with a bombshell, records linking Hiss to Communism hidden in a hollow pumpkin.
These were accepted as genuine, Hiss was convicted of perjury (for denying Chambers's story) and that finished him. And Richard Nixon racked up one of his Six Crises, which both Frisk and I have also read.
(cont'd)
Replies (1)
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@mxchara@seattle.pink 2026-07-24 03:30
It's quite a readable book and insightful, and I actually liked it quite a bit more than the flabby and pompous political hagiography of JFK's ghostwritten Profiles in Courage which came out round the same time. But Six Crises is, of course, Richard Nixon propagandizing himself and that must always be kept in mind. Dave Sim makes a Six Crises joke in Cerebus in one of the earlier storylines. It's peculiar to remember those times when Cerebus still seemed witty and unique for its social commentary as an indie #comic. (cont'd)