Whittaker Chambers

Whittaker Chambers was an American writer and intelligence agent. After early years as a Communist Party member (1925) and Soviet spy (1932–1938), he defected from the Soviet underground (1938), worked for Time magazine (1939–1948), and then testified about the Ware Group in what became the Hiss case for perjury (1949–1950), often referred to as the trial of the century, all described in his 1952 memoir Witness. Afterwards, he worked as a senior editor at National Review (1957–1959). US President Ronald Reagan awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously in 1984.

1 April 1901

Born on the same birth day (1 April): Dan Flavin • David Gower • Etan Thomas • Gabe Davis • George Dance the Younger • Jesse Tobias • Mirka Federer • O. W. Fischer • Paul Manafort • Richard Adolf Zsigmondy • Sean Taylor • Shinji Nakano • Teddy Diaz • Vitor Belfort • William Blomfield • Ève Lavallière

Born in the same month (April 1901): Ajoy Mukherjee • Al Lewis (lyricist) • Alan Watt (diplomat) • Chester B. Bowles • Hirohito • Jacques Lacan • Jean Bruchési • Joe Davis • László Németh • Melvyn Douglas • René Pleven • Simon Kuznets