Concealed Enemies

Concealed Enemies is a 1984 American PBS docudrama, produced by WGBH-TV in Boston,[1] about the events leading to the arrest, conviction and imprisonment of former U.S. State Department official Alger Hiss. Directed by Jeff Bleckner, written by Hugh Whitemore[2] and starring Edward Herrmann as Hiss, John Harkins as Whittaker Chambers and Peter Riegert as Richard Nixon, the two-part miniseries won the 1984 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series.[3]

The title comes from August 25, 1948, known as "Confrontation Day," during which Whittaker Chambers stated:

The story has spread that in testifying against Mr. Hiss I am working out some old grudge, or motives of revenge or hatred. I do not hate Mr. Hiss. We were close friends, but we are caught in a tragedy of history. Mr. Hiss represents the concealed enemy against which we are all fighting, and I am fighting. I have testified against him with remorse and pity, but in a moment of history in which this Nation now stands, so help me God, I could not do otherwise.[4][5]

Senator Joseph McCarthy paraphrased this phrase with his own: "the enemy within."[6]

Goldcrest Films invested £558,000 in the film and received £545,000 causing them a loss of £13,000.[7]

References

  1. ^ Butterfield, Fox (May 6, 1984). "TV Plays the Hiss Case Down the Middle". The New York Times. Retrieved January 29, 2017.
  2. ^ Hastings, Julianne (May 3, 1984). "Hiss-Chambers spy tale told in PBS'S 'Concealed Enemies'". upi.com. Retrieved January 29, 2017.
  3. ^ Roberts, Jerry (2009). Encyclopedia of Television Film Directors. Scarecrow Press. p. 47. ISBN 9780810863781.
  4. ^ Chambers, Whittaker (May 1952). Witness. New York: Random House. pp. 799 (total).
  5. ^ "Hiss-Chambers Hearing". C-SPAN. 25 August 1948. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  6. ^ "'ENEMIES FROM WITHIN' SPEECH Senator Joseph McCarthy's 1950 Lincoln Day Address by Senator Joseph McCarthy". Highline Public Schools. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  7. ^ Eberts, Jake; Illott, Terry (1990). My indecision is final. Faber and Faber. p. 657.


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