New York, Nov. 18—Mr. Alfred Friendly, formerly the managing editor of the Washington Post and now its London correspondent, has written a dispatch which is hard to caricature, because it is its own caricature. The subject is Alger Hiss, and the headline is: “Hiss Hopes New Evidence/Will Clear His Reputation.”
I asked a room full of high-school students the other day if they knew who Alger Hiss was. Only one student raised his hand. I asked them if they knew who Dreyfus was—only one hand (the same hand). Sacco-Vanzetti did better (I think there is the usual movie, or play, making the rounds). The young generation is willing to forgive Alger Hiss by forgetting who he was.
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