More than 50 years after the verdict in the Hiss case, important historical records that could throw new light on the charges against Alger Hiss and on many other important mid-2Oth Century events remain locked in government files in various countries - including Russia, and a number of formerly communist Eastern European countries. The Search for the Truth is being thwarted.

In Russia, most of Joseph Stalin's "personal" files (actually office files) are still under lock and key in the Kremlin. You can add your voice to those around the world who are pushing for historical openness and the daylighting of long-suppressed records by writing officials at government agencies in various countries to urge them to encourage their governments to release more information to scholars and to the public.

If you are interested in participating, here is a useful name and address:

Vladimir Putin
President of the Russian Federation
Kremlin 105132
Moscow, Russia

The Freedom in Information Act (FOIA) Reading Room in the J. Edgar Hoover Building at FBI Headquarters, in Washington, D.C., offers 46,213 pages of released FBI documents about the Hiss case for public inspection. Although many FBI documents from other celebrated cases have been posted at the FBI Web site (www.fbi.gov), no Hiss case documents are available online. To request that the FBI digitize and post these records, you could write to:

Robert S. Mueller, III
Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
J. Edgar Hoover Office Building
935 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20535-0001

Please also feel free to e-mail this Web site for additional information, at hiss.info@nyu.edu.