Hiss-Chambers Chapter 20: The Prosecution

Lloyd Paul Stryker, Hiss's Defense Atty (Digital Commons) Whittaker Chambers, and then his wife Esther, testify in court.  Both their direct testimonies were rocky due to Stryker’s objections and Judge Kaufman’s rulings.  Their cross-examinations by Stryker were brutal. Chambers sat there and passively took blow after blow, but Mrs. Chambers shouted back at Stryker as forcefully as he had shouted at her.  But each got to say what needed to be said — that Hiss passed Chambers State Department documents in 1937 and 1938 and that the two families were friends.  At the second trial, both Chamberses were more relaxed and forthcoming because they had been through it all before (isn’t everything easier the second time?) and because the judge at the second trial gave all the witnesses more leeway.  Everyone agreed their testimonies at the second trial were more effective.