Pumpkin Papers Launch Nixon's Career, Validate Spy Accusations Against Hiss
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In 1948, Whittaker Chambers, a confessed Soviet spy, revealed microfilm he had hidden in a pumpkin containing documents Alger Hiss had allegedly passed to him.
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The "Pumpkin Papers" helped validate accusations against Hiss, a former State Department official accused of being a Soviet spy.
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Congressman Richard Nixon seized on the Pumpkin Papers to boost his profile, helping launch his political career.
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Two years later Nixon was elected to the Senate, aided by name recognition from the Hiss case.
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The Pumpkin Papers entered popular culture, coining the term "Papers" for secret documents and inspiring a climactic scene in North by Northwest.