Seven decades after Whittaker Chambers exposed the misdeeds of Alger Hiss and others to the public, his name is once again at the center of controversy.

Last month, Chambers’ surviving son and seven grandchildren published a letter rebuking the National Review Institute, the nonprofit think tank of which National Review magazine is a subsidiary, for bestowing its annual Whittaker Chambers Award on individuals they object to. Partially yielding to their demands, the institute has discontinued the award out of respect for the family. That is understandable. Less so are the arguments advanced by the Chambers family in support of the speculative assertions regarding their deceased forebear.