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): Alexander Yakovlev (engineer) • Anne McCaffrey • Antonis Fotsis • Clementine Churchill • Duke Jordan • Ferruccio Busoni • François de Bonne, Duke of Lesdiguières • Gaston Eyskens • Hillary Scott • Mark Shulman (author) • Nikitas Kaklamanis • Prince Karl of Bavaria (1874–1927) • Stefanie Clausen • Ève Lavallière

Born in the same month (April 1901): Al Lewis (lyricist) • Chester B. Bowles • Curt Bois • Dhananjay Ramchandra Gadgil • Doggie Julian • Joe Davis • Lowell Stockman • Melvyn Douglas • Pier Giorgio Frassati • Simon Kuznets