Donald Hiss was the younger brother of Alger Hiss. From 1929 to 1930 he was secretary and law clerk to a Supreme Court justice. From 1930 until 1933 he engaged in the private practice of law. From 1933 to 1935 he was employed by the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. In 1934 he was also attached to a special Senate committee investigating the munitions industry. In 1935 he was employed as a special attorney by the United States Department of Justice. On September 18, 1936, he was appointed an assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State and worked in the State Department throughout World War II until 1945. Donald, like his brother Alger, was allegedly a secret member of the Ware group, a group of United States government employees who belonged to the Communist Party of the United States and engaged in espionage for the Soviet Union. This allegation, made early in the Alger Hiss case, was never supported and quickly dropped. Donald Hiss continued a successful practice with a major Washington law firm until retirement and death.
References
- John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America, Yale University Press
- Obituary, New York Times, May 20, 1989.
