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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