Evening star., 1950-01-22
of the Communist underground in
Washington before the war.
Massing Testimony Admitted.

vi tAlC SO111AllullloG uloC1 81 OAA10 LA
Washington before the war.
Massing Testimony Admitted.
Mrs. Massing's testimony was
vitality important to the Govern
ment because, until she testified.
Mr.. Chambers was the only per-
son who had ever publicly accused
Hiss of being a Communist.
Judge Samuel H. Kaufman, who
presided over the first trial, was
Iroundly criticized on Capitol Hill
after the trial for his refusal to
let Mrs. Massing testify. On the
other hand, Judge kaufman had
refused to let the jury listen to the
mental experts, either.
New witnesses, firmer testimony
from first trial witnesses and a
shift in Government strategy also
changed the complexion of the
second trial but the choice that
faced the jury was ultimately this:
Were they to subscribe to the
testimony of the mental experts
that Mr.. Chambers was too un-
balanced to be believed when he
said Hiss gave him State De-
partment secrets?
Silent Witnesses.
Or were they to be convinced
of Hiss guilt by the silent wit
nesses-the secret State Depart
ment papers copied on Hiss old
typewriter. and digests of other
dispatches in Hiss own handwrit-
ing?
On the defense side, DR.. Carl
Binger, New York psychiatrist,
and DR.. Henry Alexander Murray,
Harvard University psychologist,
drew heavily on medical texts
and Mr.. Chambers own writings
to support their diagnosis that
Mr.. Chambers was a psychic
pathic personality" and "patho-
logical liar"
DR.. Binger said Mr. Chambers
suffers from a recognized men
tai disease with these symptoms:
Persistent and repetitive lying,
stealing. alcoholism, deception
and Misrepresentation. abnormal
sexuality. vagabondage, panhan-
ding. inability to form stable
attachments and a tendency to
make false accusations.
Produced Medical Texts.
Prosecutor 4durphy, on cross
examination, produced medical
texts, too, in attempting to show
that "psycfiopathic personality"
is a vague erm held in low re-
pute as a diagnosis by leading
psychiatrists.
Counterattacking with suave
ridicule, Mr.. Murphy brought out
that DR.. Binger had said nothing
which might explain the fact
that Mr.. Chambers produced q
mass of documentary evidence to
support his accusations.
Before DR.. Murray left the
stand, Mr.. Murphy drew from
the psychologist an admission
that he might have described
MIR. Chambers as a pathological
liar" in November although he had
testified previously that he did
not make up his mind about Mr..
Chambers until Christmas time.
The Kisses tried to produce new
clinching testimony to disprove
some Of the stories Mr.. and Mrs.
Chambers had told to illustrate
their one-tiine close association
with the Kisses. But the Govern
ment retaliated with witnesses to
support the Chambers couple.
The character witnesses intro
duced by the defense did not in
clude the luminaries of the first
trial, when Supreme Court JUS
tices Frankfurter and Reed tes-
titled for Hiss. And one of the
character witnesses at the second
trial did Hiss no good when he ad-
mitted he had once heard Hiss
called a Communist by former
Ambassador William c. Bullitt.
Murphy Changed Tactics.
On the prosecution side, Mr.
Murphy from the outset changed
his tactics. At the first trial he
told the jury the Governments
case rested on the credibility oi
Mr.. Chambers. At the second
trial Mr.. Murphy laid more en-
phasis on the copied State De.
partment secrets and the testi.
mony of witnesses to support Mr.
Chambers veracity and to cast
doubt upon Hiss truthfulness.
Some of the rebuttal witnesses
who struck telling blows for the
Government were:
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