THE PITFALLS OF BIRDWATCHING

By Dominic Sherony [CC BY-SA 2.0
 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)],
 via Wikimedia Commons

The prothonotary warbler is a perky little yellow bird found nesting in cavities in trees over water in swampy areas in the southeastern USA. Actually, "found" is the incorrect term, as the birds, being reclusive, small, and skittish, usually are not found at all. A sighting of one of these gorgeous creatures is a red-letter date in the life of any ornithologist and evokes the same type of excitement experienced by a golfer who shoots a hole-in-one. The prothonotary (named after clerks in the Roman Catholic Church who sported a bright yellow robe) warbler is not only eye candy to birdwatchers; it also played a pivotal role in modern US history.

Alger Hiss was an aristocratic official in the US State Department as well as the United Nations. In 1948, an unctuous and self-proclaimed Red journalist named Whittaker Chambers accused Hiss of being a Commie and of conspiring with Chambers to further the cause of Marxism. These accusations made their way to the House Un-American Activities Committee, who interrogated Hiss concerning their veracity. Hiss had pretty well convinced the Committee members that he was not acquainted with Chambers and that Chambers's claims that he knew Hiss and that he had even briefly lived with him were poppycock. One freshly-elected junior congressman, however, a Californian named Richard M. Nixon, was still unsure about Hiss's version and convinced the HUAC to appoint a sub-committee, headed by Nixon, to determine whether it was Hiss or Chambers who was lying. 

This did not appear to be an easy task, as many of the details about Chambers's purported relationship with Hiss could have been fabricated based upon public information which Chambers, as an experienced journalist, could have unearthed. However, on August 7, 1948, while testifying before an executive session of the Committee unattended by Hiss, Chambers was asked if Hiss had any hobbies. Chambers replied, "Yes, he did. They both [Alger and his wife, Priscilla] had the same hobby--amateur ornithologists, bird observers. They used to get up early in the morning and go to Glen Echo, out the canal, to observe birds. I recall once they saw, to their great excitement, a prothonotary warbler."  

The Committee laid its trap. On August 16, 1948, Hiss testified again. Nixon innocently asked him, "What hobby, if any, do you have, Mr. Hiss?" Hiss indicated that he favored tennis and amateur ornithology. Congressman John McDowell, an amateur ornithologist himself, interjected, "Did you ever see a prothonotary warbler?" Hiss, believing that he was now engaged in an innocent and informal conversation with a fellow birdman, eagerly responded with "I have--right here on the Potomac. Do you know that place?"

Believing that there was no reasonable way that Chambers would have known that Hiss had seen a prothonotary warbler unless Chambers in fact had had a close relationship with Hiss, the Committee reversed its initial impression of Hiss's innocence and maintained a full-court press against him. Hiss sued Chambers  for libel when Chambers repeated his accusations outside of the Committee room. Chambers responded by saying that Hiss was not merely a Communist but was also a Communist spy. Eventually, when all the smoke had cleared, after it was apparent that both men had uttered various lies along the way, and after a dramatic search of a pumpkin on Chambers's farm yielded films of State Department documents purportedly originally obtained by Hiss, Hiss was charged with and convicted of perjury (the statute of limitations had run on the possible espionage charges) and was sentenced to five years in the federal pen on January 25, 1950.

Hiss was released in 1954. He was a stationery salesman for awhile but, in 1975, he was allowed to rejoin the Massachusetts bar and was authorized to practice law. He died in 1996 at the age of 92. Chambers continued to work as a journalist until his death in 1961 at the age of 60. Ronald Reagan posthumously awarded him the American Medal of Freedom in 1984, and Chambers's pumpkin farm was designated a historical landmark in 1988.

The downfall of Hess placed Nixon squarely in the public eye where he won election to the Senate in 1950, achieved the Vice-Presidency in 1952 and was ultimately elected President in 1968--only to resign as a result of scandal in 1974. 

The Hiss revelations also fueled the anti-Communist campaign of Senator Joseph McCarthy and the Red scare in America generally.

As for the particular prothonotary warbler who ultimately knocked Hiss off of his perch? He remains a recluse and his ultimate fate is still shrouded in mystery.

ALGER HISS