The year 1938? Here’s where it comes alive. It’s the year on all the documents that Chambers produced. Every single one. The first one is dated January 5, 1938. The last is April 1, 1938.
So this is why Chambers went off the record for over two hours during his executive session with Nixon. He had documentation that didn’t fit the story he’d been telling for a decade – leaving the Party and last seeing Alger in 1937 – and the documents couldn’t be changed. But the story? Who would notice just another Chambers shift a little this way or a little that?