n 1952, Whittaker Chambers published his autobiography, Witness, which described his experience in the Alger Hiss trial. He describes his early days in the Communist party and the trial in which he eventually identified Alger Hiss, an American diplomat and statesman,
as part of a Soviet spy ring in the 1930s. Hiss was convicted of perjury and sentenced to imprisonment. Witness fueled anti-Communist sentiment in the United Sates at the time of its publication. It also strengthened conservatism as a political force.