==Early life==
Alger Hiss was born November 11, 1904, in [[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]]<ref>"Mr. Hiss. I was born in Baltimore. Md., on November 11, 1904." [[#refHUAC48|HUAC 1948]]: 642 (PDF 152)</ref> to a [[#refNoerefNoe1|financially comfortable]] [[#refNoerefNoe1|upper-middle-class]]<ref>Contrary to ex-Communist ("I belonged for a little while to the Young Communist League, and thereafter to the Socialist party." [[#refKempton04|Kempton 2004]]: 11) Murray Kempton's oft-repeated claim that Hiss was a "child of shabby gentility," ([[#refKempton04|Kempton 2004]]: 17), Hiss protested that the economic circumstances of his childhood were "not particularly shabby." ([[#refWhite04|White 2004]]: 4)
The Hisses were "prominent, respected people. They kept their own horse and carriage, and on occasion [Alger's father] would hire a private railroad car for a family outing.... they knew everyone they wanted to know in Baltimore, they belonged to the best clubs, and they were recognized wherever they went." ([[#refSmith76|Smith 1976]]: 34) "Growing up, all five children had music and art lessons, as well as German language lessons for Alger. They attended private colleges or universities and vacationed on Maryland's Eastern Shore. During college, the three boys spent summers in Europe." ([[#refShelton2012|Shelton 2012]]: 12). Young Alger went [http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/09/reviews/chambers-prophecy.html to camp] ([[#refHUAC48|HUAC 1948]]: 643 [PDF 153]) [http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,799516,00.html in Maine]; he later participated "in the usual round of activities enjoyed by affluent college students of his time" ([[#refWhite04|White 2004]]: 9); among his hobbies were tennis and horseback riding. ([[#refMorrow05|Morrow 2005]]: 248)</ref> [http://yalepress.yale.edu/book.asp?isbn=9780300038187 WASP]<ref>"Hiss was... not only a goy but a WASP!" ([[#refJacoby09|Jacoby 2009]]: 20). Hiss testified: "I have been an Episcopalian all my life" ([[#refHUAC48|HUAC 1948]]: 649 [PDF 159]); "Alger's mother claimed descent from the Earl of Leicester and, on her mother's side, a leading Baltimore family, the Grundys." ([[#refMorrow05|Morrow 2005]]: 248) Cf. Aaron Beim and Gary Alan Fine, "[http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/117985047/abstract The Cultural Frameworks of Prejudice: Reputational Images and the Postwar Disjuncture of Jews and Communism]," ''The Sociological Quarterly'', Vol. 48, Issue 3 (Summer 2007): 373-397.</ref> family. His father, an executive with a wholesale dry goods firm,<ref>[[#refScott96|Scott 1996]]. This [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dry%20goods contradicts the claim] of Murray Kempton that Hiss's father was "a wholesale grocer." ([[#refKempton04|Kempton 2004]]: 17)</ref> committed [[suicide]] by [[#refMorrow96|slashing]] his throat with a razor when Alger was just two years old.<ref>[[#refScott96|Scott 1996]]. According to the [[#refBarron01|personal Web site of Hiss's son]], Alger's father died on [[#refTonyTimeline|April 7, 1907]]—this in contrast to Kempton's claim that Hiss's father "committed suicide when Alger was nine." ([[#refKempton04|Kempton 2004]]: 17) As G. Edward White puts it (somewhat charitably), Kempton's version of events is "not quite accurate." ([[#refWhite04|White 2004]]: 4) Susan Jacoby also gets this wrong, writing of "the suicide of his father (when Alger was only five)" ([[#refJacoby09|Jacoby 2009]]: 62), an error she repeated on [[#refQA|C-SPAN]].</ref> When Hiss was 25, his [[sister]] Mary Ann also [[#refMorrow96|committed suicide]], by drinking a bottle of [http://farm1.static.flickr.com/118/261588419_6b641c8815_o.jpg Lysol].<ref>"....Mary Ann... had swallowed a bottle of Lysol, killing herself." [[#refWhite04|White 2004]]: 5</ref> Two years earlier, Alger's older brother Bosley, a ''Baltimore Sun'' reporter,<ref>[[#refWhite04|White 2004]]: 6</ref> had died at age 26 from a [[kidney]] disorder attributed to excessive [[alcohol]] consumption.<ref>"Bos.... drank a lot." ([[#refTHiss77|T. Hiss 1977]]: 11); "He was undisciplined in habits of...drink." [[#refZeligs67|Zeligs 1967]]: 167; "Bos.... contracted Bright's disease, an alcohol-induced kidney ailment...." ([[#refTHiss77|T. Hiss 1977]]: 141); "Hiss's older brother Bosley, died when he was in his early twenties of Bright's disease, a kidney disorder aggravated by Bosley's [[#refNoe1|overindulgence in alcohol]]." Cf. [[#refTanenhaus97|Tanenhaus 1997]]: 383</ref>