Alger & Jerry

Many of you may not remember who Alger Hiss was. All of you know who Jerry Sandusky is. The two of them have something very much in common. Have I aroused your curiosity? I sure hope so.

Alger Hiss was convicted of being a Soviet Spy. The prior sentence is not true. He was convicted and sent to jail but he was convicted of Perjury.

Here I go again getting all hot and bothered about our Judicial System...

The record of negligence was almost too flagrant to believe. A guy named Whittaker Chambers first made his charges about Hiss in 1939 and he repeated them to government officials several times thereafter. Yet as far as the public record is concerned, the only action taken on his charges until the House Committee on Un-American Activities started its investigation in 1948, was to promote each of the individuals Chambers had named to higher positions of power and influence within the government.

The most damning proof of negligence on the part of the Executive Branch was that Hiss himself had to be indicted and convicted not for espionage, the crime of which he was originally guilty, but for perjury—for lying when he denied committing espionage. The statute of limitations, requiring prosecution for espionage within three years after the crime had been committed, had already long expired.

He was sent to jail for a total of 10 years but served less than 4 years.

Alger had been disbarred but was reinstated to the bar years later. This is what was written about his reinstatement when he was undisbarred ...

On August 5, 1975, Hiss was readmitted to the Massachusetts Bar. The state's Supreme Judicial Court overruled its Committee of Bar Overseers and stated in a unanimous decision that, despite his conviction, Hiss had demonstrated the "moral and intellectual fitness" required to be an attorney. Hiss was the first lawyer ever readmitted to the Massachusetts bar after a major criminal conviction.

Don’t you just love (hate) the part where it says that, even though he had been convicted of a Major Criminal Offense, he demonstrated the “moral and intellectual fitness" required to be an attorney.

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As a young congressman Richard Nixon was doggedly instrumental in getting Hiss convicted. He withstood tremendous pressure because Hiss had been around a long time and had a lot of friends. One on his biggest supporters was Harry S. Truman.

In a sad and funny note, it was reported that a politically well connected lady from the state of New York said, when asked if she voted for Nixon years later when he ran for something or other, that she would not ever vote for him because Nixon was all mixed up with Alger Hiss in that Spying Scandal.

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After Hiss got out of jail, he applied for and received his government pension for his years of service in government...

Provided you, my dear reader, have been paying attention (and you always do, don’t you), you are saying to yourself about now, “What does all this Alger Hiss stuff have to do with Jerry Sandusky?”

I will not spend as much time on Jerry as I did on Alger but I will do a quick refresher...

• Jerry was convicted of 45 counts of Child Sexual Abuse.
• In other areas I read where his crimes were referred to as Involuntary Deviate Sexual Intercourse and Indecent Assault.
• He was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison.

What Alger and Jerry have in common is that Jerry is applying for reinstatement of his $4,900 a month Pension from Penn State.

Too bad Alger died in 1996. If Alger were still around Jerry could use his expertise in pension reclamation and Alger could handle Jerry’s appeal case because Alger, as you remember, was a Lawyer in good standing.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

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