The secretary-general of the conference that created the charter of the United Nations was Alger Hiss. He was a senior U.S. State Department official who was later convicted of perjury in connection with a Soviet espionage ring. He could not be charged with espionage because the statute of limitations had expired. He served 44 months in prison. In 1996, the U.S. released an intercepted Soviet communication that provided evidence of Hiss's guilt.