Hiss-Chambers Chapter 31: Chambers' Mental Condition

Psychiatrist Dr. Carl Binger This Podcast presents the testimony of an eminent psychiatrist, Dr. Carl Binger.  He opined that Whittaker Chambers suffered from a mental illness, called “Psychopathic Personality,” which causes its sufferers to make false accusations that they sincerely believe to be true.  Dr. Carl Binger was supposed to be, to use a baseball metaphor, The Clean-Up Hitter of The Hiss Defense.  The Defense had loaded the bases with Hiss and his wife (we barely knew Chambers/Crosley), the character witnesses (Alger is a fine upstanding man), and the Catletts (we had The Typewriter when The Spy Documents were typed).  Binger was supposed to bring all those runners and himself across home plate by answering a question so obvious that Hiss was asked it at his first HUAC appearance: why is Chambers lying?  Chambers had no rational motive to lie, but . . . . maybe an irrational one. Chambers’ greatest fan would admit that his life was a target-rich environment of off-the-beaten-path behaviors.   Prosecutor Murphy fought to the bitter end to keep Binger’s opinion from reaching the jury’s ears.  But he had a good Plan B.  His cross-examination of Dr. Binger has been called the most destructive cross-examination of a psychiatrist in history.  The conventional opinion of scholars is that when Murphy was through with Binger, there was nothing left, not even mincemeat.  To many, Binger’s testimony seemed a failed attempt to smear an honest man who was merely strange. See if you agree.