Elizabeth Bentley, 1948

Elizabeth Terrill Bentley (January 1, 1908 – December 3, 1963) was an American spy for the Soviet Union from 1938 until 1945. In 1945 she defected from the Communist Party and Soviet intelligence and became an informer for the U.S. She exposed two networks of spies, ultimately naming over 80 Americans who had engaged in espionage for the Soviets.^[1] When her testimony became public in 1948, it became a media sensation and had a major effect on the popular anti-communism of the McCarthy era.^[2] Elizabeth Bentley (1767-1839), poet, was born in Norwich to Elizabeth Lawrence and Daniel Bentley. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 433 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (1350 × 1870 pixel, file size: 257 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) {{en|Elizabeth Terrill Bentley ( January 1, 1908- November 18, 1963) was an American spy for the Soviet Union from 1938 until 1945. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 433 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (1350 × 1870 pixel, file size: 257 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) {{en|Elizabeth Terrill Bentley ( January 1, 1908- November 18, 1963) was an American spy for the Soviet Union from 1938 until 1945. ... is the 1st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1908 (MCMVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... is the 337th day of the year (338th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see 1963 (disambiguation). ... Spy and Secret agent redirect here. ... In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state or political entity in exchange for allegiance to another. ... The Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) is a Marxist-Leninist political party in the United States. ... The Soviet Union had a succession of secret police agencies over the course of its existence. ... Ideologies Communist internationals Prominent communists Related subjects Anti-communism refers to opposition to communism. ... A 1947 comic book published by the Catechetical Guild Educational Society warning of the dangers of a Communist takeover. ...

Early life

Elizabeth Bentley was born in New Milford, Connecticut to Charles Prentiss Bentley, a dry-goods merchant, and May Charlotte Bentley, a schoolteacher. Her parents were described as straight-laced old family Episcopalian New Englanders. New Milford (Incorporated 1712) is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States 14 miles (23 km) north of Danbury, on the Housatonic River. ... This article is about the Episcopal Church in the United States. ... This article is about the region in the United States of America. ...

She attended Vassar College, graduating in 1930 with a degree in English, Italian, and French. In 1933, while she was attending graduate school at Columbia University, she won a fellowship to the University of Florence. While in Italy, she briefly joined a local student Fascist group, the Gruppo Universitate Fascisti. Under the influence of her anti-Fascist^[3] faculty adviser Mario Casella, with whom she had an affair,^[4] she soon moved to the opposite end of the political spectrum, however. While completing her Masters degree at Columbia University, she attended meetings of the American League Against War and Fascism, a Communist front group. Although she would later state that she found Communist literature unreadable and "dry as dust,"^[5] she was attracted by the sense of community and social conscience she found with her friends in the league. When she learned that most of them were members of the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA), she joined the party herself in 1932.^[6] Vassar College is a private, coeducational, liberal arts college situated in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, USA. Founded as a womens college in 1861, it was the first member of the Seven Sisters to become coeducational. ... Alma Mater Columbia University is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. ... The University of Florence (Università degli Studi di Firenze, UNIFI) is one of the largest and oldest universities in Italy. ... The American League Against War and Fascism was formed in 1933 by communists and pacifists united by their concern as Nazism and Fascism rose in Europe. ... Communist front was originally the term used by the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA), and then later by the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) or the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee (SISS) to label Comintern organizations found to be under the effective control of the (CPUSA), with... The Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) is one of several Marxist-Leninist groups in the United States. ...

Espionage activity

Bentley's entry into espionage came at her own initiative. In 1938 she obtained a job at the Italian Library of Information in New York City; an organization that was fascist Italy's propaganda bureau in the United States. She then reported to CPUSA headquarters, telling them of her willingness to spy on the fascists.^[7] The Communists were interested in the information Bentley could provide, and NKVD officer^[8] Jacob Golos was assigned to be her contact and controller. Golos was a Russian émigré who had been a naturalized United States citizen since 1915.^[9] New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... The NKVD (Narodny Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del  ) (Russian: , ) or Peoples Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the leading secret police organization of the Soviet Union that was responsible for political repressions during Stalinism. ... Russian-born Jacob Golos (birth name Jacob Rasin orJacob Raisin) (died 1943) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and Soviet secret police operative in the USSR an longtime senior official of the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) involved in icovert work and cooperation with Soviet intelligence agencies. ... Émigré is a French term that shows how Martin B. loves stephanie. ...

At this point, Bentley thought she was spying solely for the American Communist Party. In fact, Golos was one of the Soviet Union's most important intelligence agents in the United States. At the time when he and Bentley met, Golos was involved in planning the assassination of Leon Trotsky, which would take place in Mexico in 1940.^[10] Bentley and Golos soon became lovers, although it would be more than a year before she learned his true name, and, according to her later testimony, two years before she knew that he was working for Soviet intelligence. Leon Trotsky (Russian:  , Lev Davidovich Trotsky, also transliterated Leo, Lyev, Trotskii, Trotski, Trotskij, Trockij and Trotzky) (November 7 [O.S. October 26] 1879 – August 21, 1940), born Lev Davidovich Bronstein (), was a Ukrainian-born Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxist theorist. ...

In 1940, two years into their relationship, the Justice Department forced Golos to register as an agent of the Soviet government under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. This made it dangerous for him to contact and take documents from the network of American spies he controlled, and he gradually transferred this responsibility to Bentley. Golos also needed someone to take charge of the day to day business of the United States Service and Shipping Corporation, a Comintern front organization for espionage activities.^[11] Bentley stepped into this role as well. Although she was never directly paid for any of her espionage work, she would eventually earn $800 a month as vice president of U.S. Service and Shipping, a considerable salary for the time.^[12] As Bentley acquired an important role in Soviet intelligence, the Soviets gave her the code name Umnitsa, loosely translated as "clever girl" or "Miss Wise." (In some literature it is less correctly translated as "good girl".) The Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building in Washington, D.C. “Justice Department” redirects here. ... The Foreign Agents Registration Act is a United States law passed in 1938 requiring information from foreign sources to be properly identified to the American public. ... The Comintern (Russian: Коммунистический Интернационал, Kommunisticheskiy Internatsional – Communist International, also known as the Third International) was an international Communist organization founded in March 1919, in the midst of the war communism period (1918-1921), by Vladimir Lenin and the Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik), which intended to fight by all available means, including...

The Silvermaster group

Most of Bentley's contacts were in what prosecutors and historians would later call the "Silvermaster group," a network of spies centered around Nathan Gregory Silvermaster that would become one of the most important Soviet espionage operations in the United States.^[13] Silvermaster worked with the Resettlement Administration and later with the Board of Economic Warfare. He didn't have access to much sensitive information himself, but he knew several Communists and sympathizers within the government who were willing to pass information to him, and by way of Elizabeth Bentley, ultimately to Moscow. At this time, the Soviet Union and the United States were allies in the Second World War, and much of the information Silvermaster collected for the Soviets had to do with the war against Nazi Germany. It included secret estimates of German military strength, data on U.S. munitions production, and information on the Allies' schedule for opening a second front in Europe. The contacts in Golos and Bentley's extended network ranged from dedicated Stalinists to, in the words of Bentley's biographer Kathryn Olmsted, "romantic idealists" who "wanted to help the brave Russians beat the Nazi war machine."^[14] Nathan Gregory Silvermaster or Greg Silvermaster (1898–1964) born in Russia, attended school in China, received a B.A. from the University of Washington in Seattle and a Ph. ... This article needs to be wikified. ... The Office of Administrator of Export Control was established by Presidential Proclamation 2413, July 2, 1940, to administer export licensing provisions of the act of July 2, 1940 (54 Stat. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... This article is about the assault phase of Operation Overlord. ... For architecture, see Stalinist architecture. ...

Conflicts with Soviet spymasters

Late in 1943, Jacob Golos suffered a fatal heart attack. After meeting with CPUSA General Secretary Earl Browder, Bentley decided to continue her espionage work, taking Golos's place. Her new contact in Soviet intelligence was Iskhak Akhmerov, the leading NKGB "Illegal Rezident," or undercover spy chief working without a diplomatic cover. Under orders from Moscow, Akhmerov wanted to have Bentley's contacts report directly to him. Bentley, Browder and Golos had been resisting this move, believing that an American intermediary was the best way to handle their sources, and fearing that Russian agents would endanger the American spies and possibly drive them away. With Browder's support, Bentley initially ignored a series of orders that she "hand over" her agents to Akhmerov. Indeed, she expanded her spy network when Browder gave her control over another group of agents. This was the "Perlo group," with contacts in the War Production Board, the United States Senate and the Treasury Department.^[15] The term General Secretary (alternatively First Secretary) denotes a leader of various unions, parties or associations. ... Earl Russell Browder (May 20, 1891–June 27, 1973) was an American socialist and leader of the Communist Party USA. // Early years Browder was born in Wichita, Kansas. ... Iskhak Abdulovich Akhmerov (1901–1975) was of Tartar background and joined the Bolshevik Party in 1919. ... The Peoples Commissariat for State Security (Народный комиссариат государственной безопасн&#1086... The Perlo group fits into the Venona project information when transcript # 687 of 13 May 1944 is examined. ... The War Production Board (WPB) was established in 1942 by executive order of Franklin D. Roosevelt. ... Type Upper House President of the Senate Richard B. Cheney, R since January 20, 2001 President pro tempore Robert C. Byrd, D since January 4, 2007 Members 100 Political groups Democratic Party Republican Party Last elections November 7, 2006 Meeting place Senate Chamber United States Capitol Washington, DC United States... The U.S. Treasury building today. ...

Bentley had been noted as suffering from bouts of depression and having a drinking problem since her days in Florence. Now, despondent and lonely after the death of Golos and under increasing pressure from Soviet intelligence, she began to drink more heavily. She missed work at U.S. Service and Shipping, and neighbors described her as drinking "all the time."^[16] This article is about the city in Italy. ...

In early June 1944, Browder gave in to Akhmerov's demands and agreed to instruct the Silvermaster group to report directly to the NKGB. After her defection, Bentley would describe this as the event that turned her against Communism. "I discovered then that Earl Browder was just a puppet, that somebody pulled the strings in Moscow," she would say.^[17] Her biographers suggest that Bentley's objections, rather than being ideological, were more a life-long dislike for being given orders and a sense that the reassignments left her with no meaningful role.^[18] Late in 1944 Bentley was ordered to give up all of her remaining sources, including the Perlo group she had recently acquired. Her Soviet superiors also told her she would have to leave her position as vice president of U.S. Service and Shipping. Year 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Breaking with the Soviets

Things did not improve for Bentley in 1945. She began an affair with a man whom she came to suspect was either an FBI or a Soviet agent sent to spy on her, and her Soviet contact suggested that she should emigrate to the Soviet Union--a move Bentley feared would end with her execution.^[19] In August of 1945, Bentley went to the FBI office in New Haven, Connecticut and met with the agent in charge. She did not immediately defect, however. Instead she seemed to be "feeling out" the FBI, and it would not be until November that she began to tell her full story to the FBI. In the meantime, her situation continued to worsen. In September she met with Anatoly Gorsky, her latest NKGB controller, and arrived at the meeting drunk.^[20] She became angry with Gorsky, called him and his fellow Russian agents "gangsters," and obliquely threatened to become an informer. She soon realized that her tirade could have put her life in danger, and in fact when Gorsky reported to Moscow his recommendation was to "get rid of her."^[21] “New Haven” redirects here. ... Anatoly Veniaminovich Gorsky (~1907 - 1980), or Anatoly Gromov as he was known in the United States, was an espionage agent for the Soviet Union. ...

Moscow advised Gorsky to be patient with Bentley and calm her down. Only a few weeks later it was revealed that Louis Budenz, editor of the CPUSA newspaper and one of Bentley's sources, had defected. Budenz had not yet revealed any of his knowledge of espionage activity, but he knew Elizabeth Bentley's name and knew she was a spy. Imperiled on both sides, Bentley made her final decision to defect on November 6, 1945. Louis Francis Budenz (July 17, 1891–April 27, 1972) was an American activist and writer, as well as a Soviet espionage agent and head of the Buben group of spies. ... is the 310th day of the year (311th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ...

Defection and after

In a series of debriefing interviews with the FBI beginning November 7, 1945, Bentley implicated close to 150 people in spying for the Soviet Union,^[22] including 37 federal employees. The FBI already suspected many of those she named, and some of them had been named by earlier defectors Igor Gouzenko and Whittaker Chambers, so the FBI was fairly confident that her story was genuine. They gave her the code name "Gregory," and J. Edgar Hoover ordered the strictest secrecy measures be taken to hide her identity and defection. Hoover advised Sir William Stephenson, head of British Security Coordination for the Western hemisphere, of Bentley’s defection, and Stephenson duly notified London. Unfortunately, the head of the British Secret Intelligence Service's (SIS or "MI6") new Section IX (counter-espionage against the Soviet Union), was the Soviet double agent Kim Philby, who would flee to the Soviet Union in 1963. Philby promptly alerted Moscow, which immediately shut down all contact with Bentley's people, just as the FBI was beginning surveillance of them.^[23] Bentley's NKGB contact Gorsky once again recommended to Moscow that she be "liquidated", and again Moscow rejected the idea.^[24] Gouzenko wearing his white hood for anonymity Igor Sergeyevich Gouzenko (January 13, 1919, Rogachev, Soviet Union – June 28, 1982, Mississauga, Canada) was a cipher clerk for the Soviet Embassy to Canada in Ottawa, Ontario. ... Whittaker Chambers, 1948 Jay Vivian (David Whittaker) Chambers (April 1, 1901 – July 9, 1961) was an American writer, editor, Communist party member and spy for the Soviet Union who defected and became an outspoken opponent of communism. ... John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States. ... Sir William Samuel Stephenson, C.C., M.C., D.F.C. (January 23, 1897–January 31, 1989) was a Canadian soldier, airman, businessman, inventor, spymaster, and the senior representative of British intelligence for the entire western hemisphere during World War II. Stephenson is best-known by his wartime intelligence... The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), more commonly known as MI6 (originally Military Intelligence [section] 6), or Her Majestys Secret Service or just the Secret Service, is the British external security agency. ... Kim Philby Harold Adrian Russell Kim Philby or H.A.R. Philby (OBE: 1946-1965), (1 January 1912 – 11 May 1988) was a high-ranking member of British intelligence, a communist, and spy for the Soviet Unions NKVD and KGB. In 1963, Philby was revealed as a member of...

The breach of secrecy around Bentley's defection foiled a year-long attempt by the FBI to have her act as a double agent. Additionally, because of the shutdown of Soviet espionage activity, the FBI surveillance of the agents Bentley had named turned up no evidence that could be used to prosecute them.^[25] Some 250 FBI agents were assigned to the Bentley case, following up the leads she had provided and, through phone tap, surveillance and mail openings, investigating people she had named. The FBI, grand juries and congressional committees would eventually interview many of these alleged spies, but all of them would either invoke their Fifth Amendment right not to testify or maintain their innocence. A double agent pretends to spy on a target organization on behalf of a controlling organization, but in fact is loyal to the target organization. ... Amendment V (the Fifth Amendment) of the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, is related to legal procedure. ...

For J. Edgar Hoover and a few highly placed FBI and army intelligence personnel, the definitive corroboration of Bentley's story came some time in the late 1940s to early 1950s, when the highly secret Venona project succeeded in decrypting some wartime cables sent between Soviet intelligence agents and Moscow. In these cables, Bentley was referred to by the codename she told to the FBI, and several of her contacts and documents she had collected were discussed.^[26][27] However, Venona was considered so secret that Hoover was unwilling to expose it by allowing it to be used as evidence in any trial. In fact, even presidents Roosevelt and Harry Truman were unaware of Venona; when Hoover delivered intelligence reports based on Venona data, the source of the information was not named. John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States. ... The Venona project was a long-running and highly secret collaboration between intelligence agencies of the United States and United Kingdom that involved the cryptanalysis of messages sent by several intelligence agencies of the Soviet Union. ... For the victim of Mt. ...

Public testimony

With the chances of successful prosecution looking unlikely, Hoover chose to give Bentley's information to certain U.S. Congressmen with the understanding that the accused spies would be questioned before congressional committees, and the publicized suspicion and accusations would be sufficient to ruin their careers.^[28] Additionally, Attorney General Tom C. Clark decided to present the Bentley case to a grand jury, although he thought there was little chance they would be able to return any indictments. Bentley's appearances before this grand jury lasted until April 1948, and during this time, some details of her case began to leak to the press. It was Bentley herself who decided to reveal the full story, however. She met with reporters for the New York World-Telegram, and in July 1948 the paper carried a series of front page stories about the "beautiful young blonde" who had exposed a ring of spies (the initial articles included no picture of Bentley). Almost immediately, Bentley was subpoenaed to testify at a public hearing of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Seal of the United States Department of Justice The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice (see 28 U.S.C. Â§ 503) concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. ... Thomas Campbell Clark (September 23, 1899 – June 13, 1977) was United States Attorney General from 1945 to 1949 and an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1949-1967). ... In the American common law legal system, a grand jury is a type of jury which determines if there is enough evidence for a trial. ... The New York World-Telegram was formed by the 1931 sale of the New York World by the heirs of Joseph Pulitzer to Scripps Howard, owners since 1927 of the Evening Telegram. ... HUAC hearings House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC or HCUA) (1938–1975) was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. ...

Descriptions and analyses of Bentley's testimony varied wildly with the politics of the reporter. The strongly anti-communist New York Journal-American described her as a "shapely" "blonde and blue-eyed New Yorker" who "lured" secrets from her sources, while A. J. Liebling of The New Yorker ridiculed her story and called her the "Nutmeg Mata Hari."^[29] For her part, Bentley portrayed herself as naïve and innocent; corrupted by her liberal professors at Vassar and seduced into espionage by Golos. One of the New York Journals most infamous cartoons, depicting Philippine-American War General Jacob H. Smiths order KILL EVERYONE OVER TEN, from the front page on May 5, 1902. ... Abbott Joseph Liebling (October 18, 1904 – December 28, 1963) was an American journalist who was closely associated with The New Yorker from 1935 until his death. ... For other uses, see New Yorker. ... Mata Hari, exotic dancer and convicted spy, made her name synonymous with femme fatale during World War I. For the Indonesian supermarket/department store chain, see Matahari. ...

At the HUAC hearings, Bentley received some corroboration from Whittaker Chambers. Although at this time he was denying any knowledge of espionage activity, he claimed to know that two Bentley contacts, Victor Perlo and Charles Kramer, were Communists. He also supported her charge that Harry Dexter White, a prominent economist who had worked in the Treasury Department, was a Communist sympathizer. Still there was considerable skepticism in some quarters about Bentley's claims. Since some of those she accused were prominent figures in two Democratic administrations, Democrats in particular were eager to have her discredited. President Truman at one point characterized her testimony as a Republican-inspired "red herring." Republicans, in turn, accused Truman of "covering up" Communist espionage. Conflicts of this nature, along with the increasingly publicized hearings of HUAC, were setting the stage for McCarthyism, which would become a central factor in domestic American politics in the 1950s. Whittaker Chambers, 1948 Jay Vivian (David Whittaker) Chambers (April 1, 1901 – July 9, 1961) was an American writer, editor, Communist party member and spy for the Soviet Union who defected and became an outspoken opponent of communism. ... Harry Dexter White (left) and John Maynard Keynes (right) at the Bretton Woods Conference Harry Dexter White (October 1892 – August 16, 1948) was an American economist and senior U.S. Treasury department official. ... The U.S. Treasury building today. ... A 1947 comic book published by the Catechetical Guild Educational Society warning of the dangers of a Communist takeover. ...

Trials and credibility

Most of the people accused by Bentley invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer her charges. A few, however, specifically denied them. Most notable of these was Harry Dexter White. White was suffering from heart disease, and he died of a heart attack a few days after his testimony before HUAC. Others who denied Bentley's charges were Lauchlin Currie, formerly President Roosevelt's economic affairs advisor, perjurer William Remington and William Henry Taylor, both midlevel government economists, Duncan Lee, formerly with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and Abe Brothman, a private sector chemist who worked on defense projects. In September of 1948, William Remington sued Bentley and NBC for libel. In hopes of discrediting her, Remington's attorneys hired private detectives to look into her past. They were able to produce evidence of her alcoholism, her periods of severe depression and a suicide attempt while a student in Florence, that her master's thesis had been written by someone else, and that, by the standards of her day, she had been sexually promiscuous since her college days. Bentley declined to testify at a Remington loyalty board hearing, and NBC settled the libel case out of court for $10,000. Harry Dexter White (left) and John Maynard Keynes (right) at the Bretton Woods Conference Harry Dexter White (October 1892 – August 16, 1948) was an American economist and senior U.S. Treasury department official. ... Lauchlin Currie in 1939 Lauchlin Bernard Currie (October 8, 1902 – December 23, 1993) was a Canadian-born economist from New Dublin, Nova Scotia, Canada, a U.S. economist, and an alleged Soviet Agent. ... William Remington with Soviet Spy Elizabeth Bentley William Walter Remington (October 25, 1917 - November 24, 1954) was a U.S. economist and civil servant whom the Venona transcripts confirm was a spy for Soviet Union[1]; he was later convicted on perjury charges. ... Willaim Henry Taylor was born in British Columbia on 30 March 1906 and studied at the Unversity of British Columbia, and attended school with Nathan Gregory Silvermaster at the University of California where he recieved a Ph. ... Lt. ... The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency and was the predecessor to the Central Intelligence Agency, the Special Forces, and Navy SEALs. ...

Bentley would give testimony in the trials of three accused spies: The perjury trial of William Remington, a case against Abe Brothman for obstruction of justice, and the famous case of the "atomic spies" Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Bentley's involvement with the Rosenberg case was peripheral. She was used to develop two points for the prosecution: first, the proclivity of Communists to be spies for the Soviet Union; and second, to establish, if only vaguely in the jury's mind, a connection between Julius Rosenberg and Golos. She testified that she would receive calls from a man who identified himself as Julius, after which Golos would go out to meet him. Perjury is the act of lying or making verifiably false statements on a material matter under oath or affirmation in a court of law or in any of various sworn statements in writing. ... Modern Obstruction of Justice, in a common law state, refers to the crime of offering interference of any sort to the work of police, investigators, regulatory agencies, prosecutors, or other (usually government) officials. ... Julius Rosenberg (May 12, 1918 – June 19, 1953) and Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg (September 28, 1915 – June 19, 1953) were American Communists who received international attention when they were executed for passing nuclear weapons secrets to the Soviet Union. ...

Bentley's personal life became increasingly tumultuous after her defection. She continued to drink heavily, was involved in car accidents and had a relationship with a man who beat her severely. She also avoided subpoenas on a number of occasions. These incidents, along with generally erratic behavior, led her FBI handlers to worry that she was "bordering on some mental pitfall".^[30] Nevertheless, she was invariably calm and professional on the witness stand, earning praise from the prosecutors whose cases she was supporting. As she repeatedly testified before grand juries, congressional committees and jury trials, however, some details of her story became embellished over time. Information passed to her about a process for manufacturing synthetic rubber that was originally "vague" and "probably of no value" became "super-secret" and "an extremely complicated thing."^[31] She would also assert that her espionage gave her advance notice of the Doolittle raid on Japan and the D-Day invasions, both claims that appeared to be exaggerated.^[32] Combatants  United States  Japan Commanders James H. Doolittle Hideki Tojo Strength 16 B-25 Mitchells Unknown number of troops and homeland defense Casualties 3 dead, 8 POWs (4 died in captivity); 5 interned in USSR all 16 B-25s About 50 dead, 400 injured Lt. ... This article is about the assault phase of Operation Overlord. ...

Bentley also testified that Harry Dexter White was responsible for passing treasury plates for printing Allied currency in occupied Germany to the Soviet Union, which then used them to print millions of Marks.^[33] Russian soldiers exchanged these Marks for goods and hard currency, sparking a black market and serious inflation throughout the occupied country,^[34] and costing the U.S. a quarter of a billion dollars.^[35] Harry Dexter White (left) and John Maynard Keynes (right) at the Bretton Woods Conference Harry Dexter White (October 1892 – August 16, 1948) was an American economist and senior U.S. Treasury department official. ... ISO 4217 Code DEM User(s) Germany, Montenegro, Kosovo ERM Since 13 March 1979 Fixed rate since 31 December 1998 Replaced by €, non cash 1 January 1999 Replaced by €, cash 1 January 2002 € = 1. ...

Bentley wrote in her 1951 autobiography that she had been "able through Harry Dexter White to arrange that the United States Treasury Department turn the actual printing plates over to the Russians."^[36] In her 1953 testimony before Joseph McCarthy's Senate subcommittee, she elaborated, testifying that she was following instructions from NKVD New York rezident Iskhak Abdulovich Akhmerov to pass word through Ludwig Ullmann and Nathan Gregory Silvermaster for White to “put the pressure on for the delivery of the plates to Russia.”^[37] This article is about the U.S. senator from Wisconsin (1947-1957). ... Iskhak Akhmerov: covert NKVD resident in New York 1942 - 1945 Iskhak Abdulovich Akhmerov (Russian: ; Troitsk, located in modern Chelyabinsk Oblast, 1901–1975) was a Soviet spy of Tatar background who joined the Bolshevik Party in 1919. ... Soviet spy William Ludwig Ullmann was born in Springfield, Missouri in 1908, attended Drury College (now Drury University), and graduated from Harvard Business School with an MBA in 1935. ... Nathan Gregory Silvermaster or Greg Silvermaster (1898–1964) born in Russia, attended school in China, received a B.A. from the University of Washington in Seattle and a Ph. ...

Bentley had not previously mentioned this in any of her earlier debriefings or testimonies, and there was no evidence at the time that Bentley had any role in this transfer. Bentley biographer Kathryn Olmstead concluded that Bentley was "lying about her role in the scandal",^[38] citing historian Bruce Craig's conclusion "that the whole 'scheme' was a complete fabrication";^[39] i.e., that neither Bentley nor Harry Dexter White had a role in the plate transfer.^[40]

After the publication of Olmsted's biography, Bentley's testimony in this matter would be corroborated by a memorandum found in Soviet archives and published in 2002. In it, Gaik Ovakimian, head of the American desk of the NKVD cites a April 14, 1944 report reporting that, "following our instructions" via Silvermaster, White had "attained the positive decision of the Treasury Department to provide the Soviet side with the plates for engraving German occupation marks."^[41] Since Bentley was the Soviet's contact to Silvermaster at this time, her involvement in this incident is substantiated. Haik Badalovich Ovakimian (Hayk Hovakimyan), Major General, USSR (11 August 1898, Nakhchivan - 1967), better known as the puppetmaster in intelligence circles, was a leading Soviet NKVD spy in the United States. ...

Aftermath

After her defection, calls to give evidence before various bodies would be a fixture in Bentley's life for many years. Occasional consultations with the FBI would continue for the rest of her life. Though she had been a successful executive with a profitable shipping company while she was with the Communists, after her defection she earned a living first through secretarial work and then at a variety of teaching jobs.

She died on December 3, 1963, aged 55, from abdominal cancer. Her death passed with minimal notice; the National Review, which had put out a special memorial issue on the death two years earlier of Whittaker Chambers, allotted only a paragraph to Elizabeth Bentley. In the 1990s the Venona transcripts and some Soviet intelligence archives were made available. With these revelations there was finally a definitive and public verification of the basics of Bentley's story, and also a new appreciation of the impact her defection had on Soviet espionage in the United States. is the 337th day of the year (338th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see 1963 (disambiguation). ... Cancer is a class of diseases or disorders characterized by uncontrolled division of cells and the ability of these to spread, either by direct growth into adjacent tissue through invasion, or by implantation into distant sites by metastasis (where cancer cells are transported through the bloodstream or lymphatic system). ... National Review (NR) is a biweekly magazine of political opinion, founded by author William F. Buckley, Jr. ... Whittaker Chambers, 1948 Jay Vivian (David Whittaker) Chambers (April 1, 1901 – July 9, 1961) was an American writer, editor, Communist party member and spy for the Soviet Union who defected and became an outspoken opponent of communism. ...

Named by Bentley

Among the individuals named by Bentley are:

• Rae Elson, an active Communist, and courier of the CPUSA underground, was chosen by Joseph Katz to replace Bentley at the Soviet front organization, U.S. Shipping and Service Corporation.
• Frederick V. Field, Executive Secretary American Peace Mobilization
• Michael Greenberg, Board of Economic Warfare; Administrative Division, Enemy Branch, Foreign Economic Administration; United States Department of State
• Joseph Gregg, Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs; United States Department of State
• Maurice Halperin, Office of Strategic Services (OSS), and later advisor to Secretary of State Dean Acheson and advisor to the United Nations.
• Alger Hiss, a U.S. State Department official involved in the establishment of the United Nations, whom she identified as "Eugene Hiss."
• Irving Kaplan, United States Department of the Treasury Foreign Economic Administration; United Nations Division of Economic Stability and Development; Chief Advisor to the Military Government of Germany
• Charles Kramer, Senate Subcommittee on War Mobilization; Office of Price Administration; National Labor Relations Board; Senate Subcommittee on Wartime Health and Education; Agricultural Adjustment Administration; Civil Liberties Subcommittee, Senate Committee on Education and Labor; Senate Labor and Public Welfare Committee; Democratic National Committee
• Bernice Levin, Office of Emergency Management; Office of Production Management
• Harry Magdoff, Chief of the Control Records Section of War Production Board and Office of Emergency Management; Bureau of Research and Statistics, WTB; Tools Division, War Production Board; Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, United States Department of Commerce; Statistics Division Works Progress Administration
• Jenny Levy Miller, Chinese Government Purchasing Commission
• Robert Miller, Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs; Near Eastern Division United States Department of State
• Willard Park, Assistant Chief of the Economic Analysis Section, Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs; United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
• Victor Perlo, chief of the Aviation Section of the War Production Board; head of branch in Research Section, Office of Price Administration Department of Commerce; Division of Monetary Research Department of Treasury; Brookings Institution
• Bernard Redmont, head of the Foreign News Bureau Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs
• William Remington, War Production Board; Office of Emergency Management
• George Silverman, Civilian Chief of Analysis and Plans with the Army Air Forces at the Pentagon.
• William Taylor, Assistant Director of Monetary Research, United States Department of Treasury
• David Weintraub, United States Department of State; head of the Office of Foreign Relief and Rehabilitation Operations; United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA); United Nations Division of Economic Stability and Development

Rae Elson, also Ray Elson was employed in the Civil Rights Committee in New York City in the 1930s and was a very active dues paying member of the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA). ... The Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) is one of several Marxist-Leninist groups in the United States. ... Joseph Katz allegedly worked for Soviet intelligence from the 1930s to the late 1940s as one of its most active liaison agents. ... Frederick Vanderbilt Field (April 13, 1905 – (February 1, 2000) was active in the communist movement through most of his adult life. ... Protest at the White House. ... Michael Greenberg (born 28 November 1914, died 19 April, 1992), a scholar of Chinese economics and history, was alleged to have provided a Soviet spy with information during the 1940s, but was never charged with espionage. ... The Office of Administrator of Export Control was established by Presidential Proclamation 2413, July 2, 1940, to administer export licensing provisions of the act of July 2, 1940 (54 Stat. ... Maurice Halperin secretly became a member of the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA) sometime in the 1930s. ... The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency and was the predecessor to the Central Intelligence Agency, the Special Forces, and Navy SEALs. ... Dean Acheson Dean Gooderham Acheson (April 11, 1893 – October 12, 1971) was an American statesman and lawyer; as United States Secretary of State in the late 1940s he played the central role in defining American foreign policy for the Cold War. ... UN and U.N. redirect here. ... Alger Hiss testifying Alger Hiss (November 11, 1904 – November 15, 1996) was a U.S. State Department official involved in the establishment of the United Nations. ... Irving Kaplan worked in the United States Department of the Treasury and for the Foreign Economic Administration. ... The Allied Military Government for Occupied Territories (AMGOT) was the form of military rule administered by Allied forces during and after World War II within European territories they occupied. ... Charlse Kramer, orignally Charles Krevitsky was an economist for who worked for the United States Senate Subcommittee on War Mobilization and also the United States governments Office of Price Administration during World War II. Before the war he worked for the Department of Labor National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). ... Former Vermont Governor Dr. Howard Dean is the current Chairman of the DNC. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the principal campaign and fund-raising organization affiliated with the United States Democratic Party. ... Bernice Levin was identified by Elizabeth Bentley as a source within the Office of Emergency Management and the Office of Production Management during World War II for information for Soviet intelligence. ... Harry Magdoff Henry Samuel Magdoff (August 21, 1913 – January 1, 2006), was a prominent American socialist commentator. ... The War Production Board (WPB) was established in 1942 by executive order of Franklin D. Roosevelt. ... WPA Graphic The Works Progress Administration (later Work Projects Administration, abbreviated WPA), was created on May 6, 1935 by Presidential order (Congress funded it annually but did not set it up). ... Jenny Miller, nee Jenny Levy (b. ... This article is about an Soviet spy who was an American citizen. ... Willard Z. Park, anthropologist. ... The Perlo group fits into the Venona project information when transcript # 687 of 13 May 1944 is examined. ... Bernard Sidney Redmont obtained an M.S. form the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1939 and was awarded the school’s highest honor, Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship. ... William Remington with Soviet Spy Elizabeth Bentley William Walter Remington (October 25, 1917 - November 24, 1954) was a U.S. economist and civil servant whom the Venona transcripts confirm was a spy for Soviet Union[1]; he was later convicted on perjury charges. ... Abraham George Silverman graduated from Harvard was considered a brilliant mathemetician and statistician who went to work in Washington D.C. in the early days of the President Franklin Roosevelts New Deal in the Railroad Retirement Board. ... The United States Army Air Forces, or USAAF, was a part of the U.S. military during World War II. The direct precursor to the U.S. Air Force, the USAAF formally existed between 1941 and 1947. ... Willaim Henry Taylor was born in British Columbia on 30 March 1906 and studied at the Unversity of British Columbia, and attended school with Nathan Gregory Silvermaster at the University of California where he recieved a Ph. ... David Weintraub worked in the United States Department of State and headed a mid-1930s New Deal project that hired a number of secret Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA) members. ...

Notes

John Earl Haynes is a historian who is a specialist in 20th Century political history in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress; he is known for his books on the subject of the American Communist and anti-Communist movements, and on Soviet espionage in America (many written jointly... Harvey E. Klehr (born December 25, 1945) is a professor of politics and history at Emory University; he is known for his books on the subject of the American Communist movement, and on Soviet espionage in America (many written jointly with John Earl Haynes). ... Ellen Wolf Schrecker, Ph. ...

References

Currently, two biographies of Elizabeth Bentley have been published:

Lauren Kessler is an American author. ... John Earl Haynes is a historian who is a specialist in 20th Century political history in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress; he is known for his books on the subject of the American Communist and anti-Communist movements, and on Soviet espionage in America (many written jointly... Harvey E. Klehr (born December 25, 1945) is a professor of politics and history at Emory University; he is known for his books on the subject of the American Communist movement, and on Soviet espionage in America (many written jointly with John Earl Haynes). ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 306th day of the year (307th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Truman Presidential Library Oral History Interview with Stephen J. Spingarn
• "The Network", Time, August 9, 1948