Age, Biography and Wiki

Priscilla Hiss (Priscilla Harriet Fansler) was born on 13 October, 1903 in Evanston, Illinois, is an American wife of Alger Hiss. Discover Priscilla Hiss's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Learn How rich is she in this year and how she spends money? Also learn how she earned most of networth at the age of 81 years old?

Popular As Priscilla Harriet Fansler
Occupation art teacher · book editor
Age 81 years old
Zodiac Sign Libra
Born 13 October 1903
Birthday 13 October
Birthplace Evanston, Illinois
Date of death 14 October, 1984
Died Place New York City
Nationality United States

We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 13 October. She is a member of famous editor with the age 81 years old group.

Priscilla Hiss Height, Weight & Measurements

At 81 years old, Priscilla Hiss height not available right now. We will update Priscilla Hiss's Height, weight, Body Measurements, Eye Color, Hair Color, Shoe & Dress size soon as possible.

Physical Status
Height Not Available
Weight Not Available
Body Measurements Not Available
Eye Color Not Available
Hair Color Not Available

Who Is Priscilla Hiss's Husband?

Her husband is Thayer Hobson (m. 1925-1927) Alger Hiss (m. 1929)

Family
Parents Thomas Lafayette Fansler, Willa Roland Spruill
Husband Thayer Hobson (m. 1925-1927) Alger Hiss (m. 1929)
Sibling Not Available
Children Timothy Hobson, Tony Hiss

Priscilla Hiss Net Worth

Her net worth has been growing significantly in 2023-2024. So, how much is Priscilla Hiss worth at the age of 81 years old? Priscilla Hiss’s income source is mostly from being a successful editor. She is from United States. We have estimated Priscilla Hiss's net worth, money, salary, income, and assets.

Net Worth in 2024 $1 Million - $5 Million
Salary in 2024 Under Review
Net Worth in 2023 Pending
Salary in 2023 Under Review
House Not Available
Cars Not Available
Source of Income editor

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Timeline

1903

Priscilla Hiss (October 13, 1903 – October 14, 1984), born Priscilla Fansler and first married as Priscilla Hobson, was a 20th-century American teacher and book editor, best known as the wife of Alger Hiss, an alleged Communist and former State Department official whose innocence she supported with testimony throughout his two, highly publicized criminal trials in 1949.

Priscilla Harriet Fansler was born on October 13, 1903, in Evanston, Illinois.

Her father was Thomas Lafayette Fansler and mother Willa Roland Spruill.

She had two older brothers Dean Fansler (a teacher of English at Columbia University and acquaintance of Mortimer J. Adler, a classmate of Whittaker Chambers ) and Henry Fansler (who as the Hiss Case began had moved recently to Preston, Maryland, and whom the FBI reported was a "something of a drunkard" ).

1920

In the mid-1920s, Priscilla Hiss was working as an "office manager" at TIME magazine.

When the Hiss family moved to Washington, DC (where her husband, Alger Hiss, would join the New Deal government), she taught English at the Potomac School.

1924

In 1924, she graduated cum laude from Bryn Mawr College.

Her roommate Roberta Murray (of Murray Hill, Manhattan) became for a time her sister-in-law as Roberta Fansler.

Later, she obtained an MA in English literature from Yale University.

1925

In 1925, Priscilla Fansler married Thayer Hobson, a New York book publisher (who bought William Morrow and Company when Morrow himself died).

1926

In 1926, they had one son, Timothy Hobson.

1927

In 1927, they divorced; her alumni records show her "divorced" in 1928.

1929

In 1929, she had an affair with William Brown Meloney V, became pregnant with his child, and underwent an abortion.

Priscilla, who had met Alger Hiss first when he was 19 and she 20, married Hiss that same year.

1930

At both trials, FBI typewriter experts testified that the Baltimore Documents from Chambers's matched samples typed in the 1930s by Priscilla Hiss on a Woodstock model number N23009 typewriter that the Hiss family had owned.

1933

For 1933–1934 and 1934–1935, her Bryn Mawr alumni records show that she engaged in "Research": for 1935–1936, her occupation is blank.

1937

Second, had she, like her husband, met with Whittaker Chambers (the Federal prosecutor's principal witness) after January 1, 1937?

She denied both allegations.

Before any trials proceedings began, Alger Hiss's lifelong friend and attorney William L. Marbury Jr. interviewed the two: I warned both Alger and Priscilla that if there were any skeletons in the closet of either one of them, they would certainly be discovered if suit were filed, and they both assured me there was no cause for worry on that count.

However, I found my interview with Priscilla somewhat mystifying.

I had asked to see her alone after Alger had left for the office, and we talked for nearly an hour.

I got the impression that she felt that in some way she was responsible for the troubles which had come to Alger.

However, she stoutly supported Alger's story of his association with "George Crosley" and flatly denied that either she or Alger had ever been connected with a Communist Party apparatus.

1947

When they moved back to Manhattan in 1947, she worked the Dalton School, as the alumni record confirms.

1950

After her husband, Alger, was convicted and imprisoned in the early 1950s, she worked in a bookstore and then as a book editor for publishing houses.

1966

In 1966, her alumni details show her working as copy editor for Harcourt, Brace & World.

1972

In 1972, she was a senior editor for the Golden Press children's imprint of the Western Publishing Company.

Later in life, she worked with Manhattan Community Board 2 in Greenwich Village, Village Independent Democrats, and the Democratic County Committee of New York County.

During two criminal trials against Alger Hiss, Priscilla Hiss defended her husband with her own testimony.

There were two principal areas of interest in her testimony.

First, had she typed documents found in the "Baltimore Documents" (scores of typewritten documents plus several documents handwritten by Hiss and Harry Dexter White)?

1978

On March 17, 1978, the New York Times published a letter from her: Miscarriage of Justice To the Editor: For more than a quarter of a century, I have kept silence amid the clamor concerning the conviction of Alger Hiss.

Recently, statements have appeared in print to the effect that I have made remarks indicating that Alger Hiss was guilty.

I fear that if I do not now speak out, my silence will be Interpreted as confirming these statements.

At all times.

and with my every fiber, I have believed in the innocence of Alger Hiss.

I have never spoken a word to the contrary.

To me the conviction of Alger Hiss represents a cruel miscarriage of justice.

I do not intend to make any further statements concerning this painful subject.

PRISCILLA HISS New York, March 10, 1978 (The letter preceded by just a few days the publication of Allen Weinstein's definitive book Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case. )