Elizabeth
Bentley was
born in 1908. She joined the American Communist
Party while a student at Columbia University. In 1938 she obtained
a secretarial job in the Italian Library of Information in New York.
While there, she discovered that it was also a front for the Fascist
Italian government's Propaganda Ministry. Bentley used her position
to gather information on Mussolini's government and then passed it
on to the Italian Communist Party.
Bentley's work for the Italian Communist Party brought her into contact
with Jacob Golos, a member of the American
Communist Party and the Soviet secret police. The couple became
lovers and Bentley became involved in the spy ring that included Klaus
Fuchs, Harry Gold, Whittaker
Chambers and David Greenglass.
In 1944 Bentley left the Communist Party
and the following year went to the FBI. On
8th November, 1945, J. Edgar Hoover,
sent a message to Harry S. Truman confirming
that an espionage ring was operating in the United States government.
For the next two years FBI agents investigated
the 80 individuals she named. However, they were unable to find enough
evidence to arrest any of these people.
In July 1948 Bentley appeared before the House
of Un-American Activities Committee and during her testimony named
several people she believed had been Soviet spies while working for
the United States government.
Doubts about Bentley's testimony began to emerge when it was discovered
that when checked, much of it was clearly untrue. This evidence was
also undermined when it became known that she was being paid by
World
Telegram
for this material. However, information provided
by Bentley eventually led to the arrest and conviction of Harry
Gold, David Greenglass, Ethel
Rosenberg and Julius Rosenberg
for spying. Bentley's autobiography, Out
of Bondage, was published in 1952.
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