NEW YORK, UNITED STATES: Former State Department official Alger Hiss (R) and his wife leave the Federal Court 13 October 1950 after the opening hearing, before the court of appeals, to appeal his perjury conviction earlier in the year. In 1948, Hiss was accused by the HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee) of having been a member of the Communist party and of having handed official documents to the Soviet Union. His 1950 condemnation was due to the then investigator Richard Nixon. Nixon who became vice-president in 1952 and president in 1968, was very much involved in the anti-Communist witchhunt campaign instigated by John Parnell Thomas and Senator Joseph McCarthy. (Photo credit should read AFP/AFP via Getty Images)