America during the red scare was a very different place. The main fears of the day were not the goings on of the Middle East or the walls between countries; rather, people feared the loyalties of their own neighbors. As the Cold War with Russia emerged at the end of World War II, the lure of communistic thought sent shivers down the spines of patriotic Americans. Everywhere one looked someone was being accused of socialist ties, communist sentiments and worst of all, spying for the Russians. One of the most highlighted cases from the post war period was that of Alger Hiss.

Born in Baltimore in 1904, Hiss studied law at John Hopkins and Harvard and began a promising career as law clerk for the prestigious Oliver Wendell Holmes. From this esteemed beginning, Hiss went on to hold a number of positions in the Roosevelt Administration. America in the 1930s was a nation of unrest and uncertainty about the viability and longevity of the capitalist system. The stock market crash of 1929 coupled with the Dust Bowl in the mid west, left many searching for alternative ideologies.

One of these searchers was Whittaker Chambers. Chambers came from a broken Philadelphia home and in 1924 began to see the failure of his home life as an analogy for the failure of the capitalist system. In 1925, he became a devout Marxists and joined the communist party. Later, Chambers would defect from the party and become one of its biggest enemies.

As Chambers affirmed his commitment to the Communist ideology, Hiss held a number of important offices in the United States government. Work with the department of Agriculture and State Department led Hiss to serve as Roosevelt’s assistant during the Yalta Conference in 1945 and Secretary General of the newly formed United Nations. In 1949, Hiss left public office to work towards international peace as the president of the Carnegie Endowment. A rich and diverse career would have been Hiss legacy if Chambers and his associates hadn’t made him the target of an FBI espionage investigation.

Whittaker Chambers was a writer and editor who while working for TIME magazine confessed to being a communist during the 1930s before the House on Un American Activities. He chose to point to Hiss as a fellow believer who had worked actively in the party from 1933 to 1938. The FBI and NSA investigated the State department during the time Hiss served and found what they believed to be evidence of Hiss disloyalty.

After two grand jury trials, the first resulting in a hung jury, Hiss was sentence to five years in prison after being found guilty of spying for the Russians. Documents from the Yalta conference in 1945 indicated a Russian American spy was with FDR at the conference. This coupled with Chambers’ accusation was enough to put Hiss away for five years and destroy the reputation of one of America’s dedicated civil servants. Hiss tried to prove his innocence throughout his life, suing both Chambers for libel and the United States government fort wrongful imprisonment.

It would take until 1992 for Russian documents that showed Hiss had no involvement with espionage to surface. Hiss passed away just four years later in 1996. And even after his death and the lack of material evidence, historians still remain divided on the guilt or innocence of Alger Hiss.

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The trial set the precedent for many things to come including by some accounts, the McCarthy era, the election of Richard Nixon, the founding principals of the modern conservative movement and even the election of Ronald Reagan. The story of Alger Hiss does show the gravity of accusation and the means by which fear of other ideologies can be carried to extremes.

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Father’s Day is a well known holiday celebrating dads, forefathers, and male parents in general. It is a fairly recent holiday and was instituted as a complement to the established Mother’s Day celebration. Father’s Day was created in the early years of the 20^th century and it usually consists of family activities such as gift giving or dining out. Dads around the world probably have closets full of bad ties given over the years since fathers are notoriously difficult to find an appropriate gift for.

Ms. Sonora Smart Dodd thought of the holiday during a Mother’s Day sermon at her church in Spokane, Washington in 1909. She put together a celebration for her father on June 19, 1910 and was the first person to champion an official holiday to honor fathers in general. There was support from groups such as the YMCA, YWCA, and numerous churches but it still took many years to get the holiday officially recognized. People considered Father’s Day to basically be a joke and did not take it seriously. Mother’s Day was looked forward to and celebrated with sincerity but Father’s Day was the object of parody and the butt of many jokes often printed in newspapers. They saw it as the beginning of frivolous holidays including Professional Secretary Day or National Clean Your Desk Day, etc.

In 1913 a congressional bill was introduced but was not quickly successful. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge put his support behind the idea. Several trade organizations formed a committee during the 1930s and made an effort to bring legitimacy to Father’s Day. It was not until 1966 when President Lyndon Johnson signed a proclamation formally recognizing it as a federal holiday. As with many holidays, Father’s Day has become increasingly commercialized with multitudes of retailers marketing a wide range of merchandise and gift ideas for dad. The trade

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groups of the 1930s often participated in the mocking of Father’s Day and promoted gifts at the same time. The Mother’s Day holiday is very sentimental and its legitimacy is not questioned since it is a proper homage to the contributions of our mothers. Speaking as a father, it is also as important to recognize the important role father’s play even if we are difficult to shop for. A bad tie is just fine.

Tags: 1909, 1910, 1913 Congressional Bill, 1924, 1930s, 1966, Commercialization of Father's Day, father's day history, History DVDs, June 19, Mother's Day, National Clean Your Desk Day, origin of father's day, President Calvin Coolidge, President Lyndon Johnson, Professional Secretary Day, replica guns, Replica Swords, scale model kits, Sonora Smart Dodd, YMCA and Father's Day, YWCA and Father's Day