About

Whittaker Chambers wrote the best-selling memoir Witness (1952), which recounts the Hiss Case (1948-1950) and was a National Book Award finalist for nonfiction (1953), published currently by Regnery.

He translated Bambi: A Life in the Woods (1928), Fifteen Rabbits (1930), and City Jungle (1932), all by by Felix Salten, all published currently by Simon & Schuster.

Chambers (1901-1961) was a writer, translator, and poet. He joined the Workers Party of America (Communist Party) in 1925. He wrote for the Daily Worker (1926-1928) and was an editor of the New Masses (1931-1932). Under orders to join the Soviet underground in 1932, he served as a spy until defecting in 1938. He joined TIME in 1939, rose to senior editor, and resigned in 1948 amidst the Hiss Case. In the late 1950s, he served as an early contributing editor to National Review. In 1984, he posthumously received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

(Grandchild David Chambers served as acting executor of the Literary Estate of Whittaker Chambers, 2004-2020, and remains a co-executor.)

Featured Work

_Witness_ (Random House)

1952

Best-selling memoir by Hiss Case witness Whittaker Chambers

Other Works

  • _Cold Friday_ (Random House)

    1964

  • “20th Congress” (Life Magazine)

    1956

  • “Is Academic Freedom in Danger?” (Life Magazine)

    1953

  • “What Is A Communist?”(Look Magazine)

    1953

  • “The Herring and the Thing” (Look Magazine)

    1953

  • "I Was the Witness" (Saturday Evening Post)n - 10-part serial

    1952

  • _The Great Crusade_ by Gustav Regler, prefaced by Ernest Hemingay (translated from German)

    1940

  • _Dunant: The Story of the Red Cross_ by Martin Gumpert (translated from German)

    1938

  • _The Scorpion_ by Anna Elisabet Weirauch (translated from German)

    1932

  • _The Venetian Lover: The Romance of Giorgione_ by A. De Nora [Anton Alfred Noder] (translated from German)

    1931

  • _Cards and Kings_ by Johannes Tralow (translated from German)

    1931

  • _The Passionate Rebel: The Life of Lord Byron_ by Kasimir Edschmid (translated from German)

    1930

  • _Mugel the Giant_ by Paul Gartner (translated from German)

    1930

  • _Adventures of Mario_ by Waldemar Bonsels (translated from German)

    1930

  • _Thistles of the Barragon_ by Panait Istrati (translated from French)

    1930

  • _The Sentimental Vagabond_ by Albert t’Serstevens (translated from French)

    1930

  • _Class Reunion_ by Franz Werfel (translated from German)

    1929

  • _Bambi_ by Felix Salten (translated from German)

    1928

  • _Aphrodite_ by Pierre Louÿs (translated from French)

    1928

  • _Mother Mary_ by Heinrich Mann (translated from German)

    1928

Awards and Recognition

  • 1984: Presidential Medal of Freedom (posthumously)
  • 1953: National Book Award finalist for nonfiction for _Witness_
  • 1952: Honorary Doctorate of Law from Mount Mary College

Press and Media Mentions