Biography

Donald Hiss was born on December 15, 1906, in Baltimore, Maryland. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins University

The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...

 and the Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...

.

In 1932, he was a law secretary to Associate Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. was an American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1902 to 1932...

 of the United States Supreme Court. From 1933 to 1935, he was employed by the Agricultural Adjustment Administration of the United States Department of Labor

United States Department of Labor

The United States Department of Labor is a Cabinet department of the United States government responsible for occupational safety, wage and hour standards, unemployment insurance benefits, re-employment services, and some economic statistics. Many U.S. states also have such departments. The...

. In 1934, he was also attached to a special U.S. Senate committee investigating the munitions industry.

In 1935, he was employed as a special attorney by the United States Department of Justice

United States Department of Justice

The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...

. On September 18, 1936, he was appointed an assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State and worked in the State Department throughout World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 until 1945.

Donald, like his brother Alger, was allegedly a secret member of the Ware Group, a group of United States government employees who belonged to the Communist Party of the United States and engaged in espionage for the Soviet Union. This allegation, made early in the Alger Hiss case, was never supported and quickly dropped. Donald Hiss continued a successful law practice with Covington & Burling

Covington & Burling

Covington & Burling LLP is an international law firm with offices in Beijing, Brussels, London, New York, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, San Diego, and Washington, DC. The firm advises multinational corporations on significant transactional, litigation, regulatory, and public policy matters...

 until retirement and death.

He died of lung cancer

Lung cancer

Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...

 on May 18, 1999, in St. Michaels, Maryland

St. Michaels, Maryland

Saint Michaels is a town in Talbot County, Maryland, United States. The population was 1,193 at the 2000 census. Saint Michaels derives its name from the Episcopal Parish established here in 1677...

.

Further reading

• John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America, Yale University Press
  Yale University Press
  Yale University Press is a book publisher founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day. It became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but remains financially and operationally autonomous....