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EXCERPT:
The year before the Soviet Union developed nuclear weapons, U.S. State Department official Alger Hiss, who was intimately involved in the founding of the United Nations and served as a top advisor to Truman’s Secretary of State Dean Acheson, was accused of being a Soviet agent by former communist Whittaker Chambers, among others. The statute of limitations for bringing espionage charges against Hiss had already expired, but the spy was convicted of perjury relating to his espionage work. Shockingly, Hiss was defended by a number of high-profile government officials, including future Democratic presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson and former Democratic presidential candidate John W. Davis, in addition to Truman and Acheson. Following the Hiss conviction, Acheson is reported to have stated, “I do not intend to turn my back on Alger Hiss.” McCarthy delivered his speech two weeks later.