“‘a mean, vengeful and subversive act’”: Cook, “The Remington Tragedy,” p. 498.
“‘Not a thing,’ Bentley said”: May, Un-American Activities, p. 285.
“Bentley ‘conducted herself in a creditable fashion’”: FBI memo, special agent in charge, New York, to director, Jan. 16, 1953, Bentley file No. 134-435-72.
“‘very indiscreet in…having this contact at all’”: May, Un-American Activities, p. 286.
“did not pass her any sensitive information”: It was several years later, in his application for parole, that Remington admitted he “took it on [himself] to discuss information pertaining to war production with unauthorized persons on various occasions” and that he knew Bentley was a “dedicated Communist Party member.” May, Un-American Activities, p. 71.
“The government—and Elizabeth Bentley—had finally prevailed”: Details about Remington’s second trial come from Cook, “The Remington Tragedy,” May, Un-American Activities, pp. 271–92; Caute, The Great Fear, pp. 287–89; Packer, Ex-Communist Witnesses, pp. 78–80. Also see United States v. Remington, 208 F.2d 567 (2d Cir. 1953).
“Lamphere knew all the arguments”: The arguments are well articulated in FBI memo, A. H. Belmont to L. V. Boardman, Feb. 1, 1956, Venona file, pp. 61–72.
“Hoover pulled the plug on the scheme”: Lamphere, KGB-FBI, p. 279; author’s interviews with Robert Lamphere, June 23, 2000, Jan. 5, 2001.
“‘infiltrate the executive and legislative branches’”: SISS, Interlocking Subversion, Part I, April 10, 1953.
“‘a loyal citizen [who] never betrayed the interests of the United States’”: Silvermaster’s testimony begins on p. 101 of SISS, Interlocking Subversion, Part 3, April 16, 1953.
“‘I can’t recall’ and ‘I don’t have the least idea’”: Perlo testimony in SISS, Interlocking Subversion, Part 7, May 12, 1953. 254 “all of whom consistently took the Fifth”: A secret memo from NKVD to the Comintern in 1944—unearthed when the KGB archives were opened briefly to western researchers in 1992—asks for information on Wheeler, Kramer, Fitzgerald, Magdoff, Glasser, and Perlo, an indication that they were of particular interest to the intelligence community in Russia. See Klehr, Secret World, p. 316.
“rat hunts”: SISS, Interlocking Subversion, Part 7, May 12, 1953, p. 397.
“Communists had stolen thousands of diplomatic, political, military, scientific, and economic secrets”: SISS, Interlocking Subversion…Report,” July 30, 1953.
“contact Bentley once a month”: FBI memo, special agent in charge, New York, to director, April 10, 1953, Bentley file No. 134-435-76.
“The series, which began appearing just after Thanksgiving 1953”: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Nov. 30, Dec. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6, 1953.
“her second appearance on Meet the Press”: Meet the Press, Dec. 6, 1953. A videotape of the original kinescope is available through the National Library of Congress. My copy came courtesy of Hayden Peake.
“she had mentioned the Bureau ‘only briefly’”: FBI memo, M. A. Jones to Mr. Nichols, Dec. 7, 1953, Bentley file No. 134-435-89.
“the New York Mirror reprinted the six-part series”: The New York Mirror stories ran Dec. 13–18, 1953.
“send an agent to Grand Coteau”: FBI memo, A. H. Belmont to W. A. Brannigan, Jan. 6, 1954, Bentley file No. 134-435-97.
“Bentley claimed she did not even review them before publication”: FBI letter, New York to director, Jan. 29, 1954, Bentley file No. 65-134436.
CHAPTER 22: UNDER ATTACK
“denied all of Bentley’s accusations”: For a summary of the Taylor case, see Charges made by William Henry Taylor on March 28, 1955, before the International Organizations Employees Loyalty Board, pp. 1–4, William Taylor FBI file No. 100-370362.
“the suit would delay his dismissal from the IMF”: FBI memo, special agent in charge, New Orleans, to director, June 1, 1954, Bentley file No. 134-435-116; FBI memo, Lester Gallaher to special agent in charge, New York, June 17, 1954, Bentley file No. 134-182-50.
“‘…she will not have to appear and give a deposition’”: FBI memo, special agent in charge, New Orleans, to director, May 7, 1954, Bentley file No. 134-435-112. See also FBI memo, special agent in charge, New Orleans, to director, April 14, 1954, Bentley file No. 134-435-105.
“the libel trial would finally provide that opportunity”: “Suit May Force Bentley to Be Cross-Examined,” Daily Worker, Dec. 19, 1955, in Bentley file No. 134-182-128.
“the FBI’s duty to protect those who, like herself, had assisted the government”: FBI memo, special agent in charge, New Orleans, to director, May 7, 1954, Bentley file No. 134-435-110.
“she was under FBI protective custody”: Letter, Assistant Attorney General Warren Olney to director, FBI, April 19, 1954, Bentley file No. 134-435-104; FBI memo, special agent in charge, New Orleans, to director, April 14, 1954, Bentley file No. 134-435-105.
“‘…possible future value as a government witness’”: FBI teletype, Hoover to special agent in charge, New Orleans, April 19, 1954, Bentley file No. 134-435-105. [Different document but same number assigned as April 14 memo for reasons unknown.]
“‘…a demented person’”: FBI teletype, Boswell to director, May 8, 1954, Bentley file No. 134-435-109.
“if the plaintiff in the libel suit was, as she alleged, a communist”: Letter, Assistant Attorney General Warren Olney to director, FBI, May 13, 1954, Bentley file No. 134-435-108.
“‘…the impossibilities of her story’”: “Ex-US Aide Attacks Bentley Story,” New York Post, April 19, 1955.
“‘…she can scarcely be looked at as a credible source’”: “Charges Made by William Henry Taylor,” p. 4, William Taylor FBI file No. 100-370362.
“uncovered a number of discrepancies”: For the complete listing of charges, see “Charges Made by Taylor,” pp. 8–80a; for the FBI’s summary, see FBI memo, L. V. Boardman to A. H. Belmont, June 6, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-153.
“no intent to mislead”: One exception was, I think, her testimony that she had come forth to tell her story to the FBI in August of 1945. This is when she made her initial inquiry about Peter Heller. She mentioned nothing about her espionage activities until November. It is possible that she simply misremembered the dates. But I think it is more likely that she lied to make herself look better and to obscure her affair with Heller.
“the case against Bentley was still weak”: I am indebted to Hayden Peake’s analysis of the Taylor charges in his afterword to the 1988 edition of Out of Bondage, pp. 239–47.
“the government’s failure to make anyone believe Bentley’s story”: Erik Bert, “Why They Shield the Queen Spy,” The Worker, May 22, 1955, p. 7.
“keep Bentley out of the hands of Taylor’s attorneys”: FBI memo, L. V. Boardman to A. H. Belmont, April 21, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-[no number assigned].
“the thirty-seven discrepancies he had uncovered”: FBI memo, W. A. Branigan to A. H. Belmont, Oct. 8, 1954, Bentley file No. 134-435-123.
“‘undone’ by Taylor’s accusations”: “Where Red Spy Queen Tripped Up,” The Worker, May 8, 1955, in Bentley file No. 134-182-94.
“BENTLEY CLAMS UP ran the headline”: New York Post, April 20, 1955, in Bentley file No. 134-182-78.
“Remington had less than nine months left”: May, Un-American Activities, pp. 7–9, 310, on Remington’s murder.
“cast doubt on Bentley’s credibility”: FBI memo, special agent in charge, New Orleans, to director, Jan. 16, 1956, Bentley file No. 134-435-210.
“direct repudiation of the Red Spy Queen”: For example, “Vindication for William Taylor,” The Nation, Jan. 28, 1956, p. 63.
“it had been manufactured”: Byron Scott, “The Letter Nobody Wrote,” The Nation, Jan. 5, 1957, p. 5; See also Packer, Ex-Communist Witnesses, p. 116.
“just the ‘opening barrage of an attack’ on her integrity”: FBI memo, special agent in charge, New Orleans, to director, Jan. 16, 1956, Bentley file No. 134-435-210.
“‘just too happy’ to be in the clear”: “Testimony in Loyalty Case Eyed,” State Times (Baton Rouge, LA), Jan. 7, 1956, p. 1.
“the Library of Congress researcher was ‘off the committee payroll’”: Letter, FBI director to attorney general, Sept. 27, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-195; FBI memo, L. E. Nichols to Mr. Tolson, Oct. [illegible], 1955, Bentley File No. 134-435-[no number assigned].
“gone out on double dates with Roy Cohn”: Fariello, Red Scare, pp. 97–108.
“‘…a remarkable political confession…’”: Quoted on Matusow Web site www.beastofbusiness.com/fats/.
“‘…I was not just another guy’”: Matusow, False Witness, p. 29.
“‘…the pats on the back’”: Matusow, False Witness, p. 46.
“‘I was a national figure’”: Quoted in Yalkowsky, Murder of the Rosenbergs, p. 137.
“Miss Bentley, I believe, gave false testimony”: Matusow testified before SISS, Strategy and Tactics, Feb. 22, 23, and 28, 1955, pp. 3–288; see also “Harvey Matusow Tells Senators: You Turned Me Into a Stoolpigeon,” The Daily Worker, March 1, 1955, p. 3, Bentley file No. 134-182-71.
“willing to testify and deny the allegations”: FBI teletype, director to special agent in charge, New Orleans, Feb. 2, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-129.
“An attack on Bentley was an attack on the director”: FBI memo, A.H. Belmont to L. V. Boardman, Feb. 23, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-[no number assigned]. 269–70 “refute Matusow’s charges”: FBI teletype, New Orleans to director, Feb. 22, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-130.
“jeopardizing her job at the college”: FBI memo, Lester Gallaher to special agent in charge, New York, Feb. 25, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-182-59.
“to help establish her whereabouts”: FBI memo, L. B. Nichols to Mr. Tolson, Feb. 24, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-135.
“‘…serious embarrassment to the Bureau’”: FBI letter, special agent in charge, New York, to director, March 24, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-182-66.
“lunched with Matusow earlier that day”: FBI memo, John Meade to special agent in charge, New York, Feb. 25, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-182-60.
“It turned out that three people could confirm”: A 7,000-word report was sent on to Washington. See FBI report, March 9, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-182-74.
“the uncommon names of Midwest towns”: FBI teletype, New York to New Orleans, March 3, 1933, Bentley file No. 134-182-61.
“Matusow monopolized the conversation”: FBI letter, James Kelly to U.S. Attorney J. Edward Lumbard, March 2, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-182-64.
“‘Matusow was continuously interrupting to tell about his’”: FBI teletype, New York to New Orleans, March 3, 1933, Bentley file No. 134-182-61.
“nine of them to the same woman”: For Matusow’s unusual life, see www.ibiblio.org/mal/MO/matusow/. Matusow claimed later to be Bentley’s lover, according to Olmstead, Red Spy Queen, p. 184. There’s no reason to assume that this story is any less fanciful than the others he told.
CHAPTER 23: AN UNSETTLED WOMAN
“in excess of her usual annual salary”: Using the 1929 tax rate, which was not raised until 1951, and figuring backward based on how much money the IRS said she owed, it appears that Bentley earned just over $40,000 that year.
“Morris took up the matter with Deputy Attorney General William Rogers”: FBI memo, L. B. Nichols to Mr. Tolson, May 20, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-140.
“now the IRS was zeroing in”: FBI letter, director to attorney general, June 9, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-148.
“by those who didn’t like what she had done”: Letter, Bentley to Louis Nichols, Dec. 4, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-209.
“‘many adverse criticisms’”: FBI memo, special agent in charge, New Haven, to director, June 24, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-163.
“some powerful Senate allies”: FBI letter, director to attorney general, Aug. 25, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-183.
“‘blow up the works’”: FBI memo, special agent in charge, New Haven, to director, June 24, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-163; also August 4, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-176.
“a full, public apology from the IRS”: FBI memo, special agent in charge, New Haven, to director, June 27, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-169.
“the IRS hadn’t raised a stink about that”: FBI letter, director to attorney general, June 9, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-148.
“the IRS would be ‘reasonable’”: FBI memo, L. B. Nichols to Mr. Tolson, June 14, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-155.
“considering her problem ‘sympathetically’”: FBI memo, A. H. Belmont to L. V. Boardman, June 24, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-157.
“the FBI was helping her out of a tight spot”: FBI memo, A. H. Belmont to L. V. Boardman, June 24, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-157; FBI memo, special agent in charge, New Haven, to director, July 9, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-168.
“would not authorize any public apology or retraction”: FBI teletype, New Haven to director, Aug. 10, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-179.
“Fitzgerald was not taking this turn of events quietly”: FBI memo, Special Agent Thomas McAndrews (New Haven) to special agent in charge, New York, Aug. 8, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-104.
“‘…put up or shut up’”: “Elizabeth Bentley, FBI Spy Queen, Subpoenaed [sic] at Behest of Fitzgerald,” Daily Worker, Aug. 15, 1955, p. 3.
“publicly commented on the value and veracity of her testimony”: FBI teletype, New Haven to director, Aug. 11, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-182-110.
“germane to the case”: FBI letter, Thomas J. McAndrews to special agent in charge, New York, Aug. 18, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-182-107.
“increasingly difficult to deal with”: FBI memo, New Haven to director, July 2, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-162.
“a revenue agent who had ‘tact and diplomacy’ to talk to Bentley”: FBI memo, L. V. Boardman to A. H. Belmont, June 24, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-156. 278 “slapping a lien on Bentley’s bank account had been a mistake”: FBI memo, L. B. Nichols to Mr. Tolson, June 27, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-161.
“pay a personal visit to the mother superior”: FBI memo, L. B. Nichols to Mr. Tolson, July 5, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-165. 278 “‘indicative of the gross lack of cooperation upon the part of the Treasury Department’”: FBI memo, John Edgar Hoover to Mr. Tolson, Mr. Boardman, Mr. Belmont, Mr. Nichols, Sept. 12, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-192. See also FBI memo, Hoover to special agent in charge, New Haven, Aug. 8, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-176.
“an agreement was reached”: FBI memo, Mr. Tolson to L. B. Nichols, Sept. 1, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-186. Letter, Louis Nichols to Elizabeth Bentley, Dec. 9, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-209.
“thinking about pursuing her Ph.D.”: FBI memo, special agent in charge, New Orleans, to director, May 22, 1954, Bentley file No. 134-435-113.
“‘constantly beset’ and under ‘considerable mental strain’”: FBI memo, special agent in charge, New Orleans, to director, Feb. 18, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-128.
“cooperative and forthcoming”: FBI memo, special agent in charge, New Orleans, to director, Jan. 29, 1954, Bentley file No. 134-435-[no number assigned]; FBI letter, special agent in charge, New Orleans, to director, Jan. 14, 1954, Bentley file No. 134-182-38.
“supply names or pertinent facts”: FBI memo, special agent in charge, New Haven, to director, June 23, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-152.
“conversations Bentley may have had with Lovestone”: FBI memo, director to special agent in charge, New Orleans, Nov. 9, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-204; FBI memo, special agent in charge, New Orleans, to director, Nov. 23, 1955, Bentley file No. 134-435-205.
“a past that followed her and made it difficult to find work”: FBI memo, special agent in charge, New Orleans, to director, June 6, 1956, Bentley file No. 134-435-213.
“her autobiography has some real ‘moments’ in it”: Letter [name obscur
ed] to Mrs. Erb, May 13, 1957, in Bentley FBI file with no identifying number assigned.
“‘become a stool-pigeon to save her neck’”: Letter [name obscured] to Mrs. Erb, May 13, 1957, in Bentley FBI file with no number assigned.
“‘not entirely satisfied’ with her as a teacher”: FBI memo, special agent in charge, New York, to director, July 8, 1957, Bentley file No. 134-435-218.
“things were still not going well”: Report on the blackout, hospitalization, and subsequent visit to New Haven field office in FBI memo, special agent in charge, New Haven, to director, March 3, 1958, Bentley file No. 134-435-220.
“room and board in exchange for help with the children”: FBI memo, special agent in charge, New Haven, to director, May 15, 1958, Bentley file No. 134-435-221.
“‘when the occasion arose’”: FBI memo, special agent in charge, New Haven, to director, May 29, 1958, Bentley file No. 134-435-222.
“stay out of her life”: FBI memo, special agent in charge, New Haven, to director, Feb. 25, 1958, Bentley file No. 134-435-224, and May 18, 1959, Bentley file No. 134-435-226.
CHAPTER 24: THE WAYWARD GIRL COMES HOME
“‘…in the minds of the general public as well’”: Letter, Elizabeth Bentley to J. Edgar Hoover, Aug. 10, 1959, Bentley file No. 134-435-22[final number illegible].
“‘…has proven to be correct’”: Letter, J. Edgar Hoover to Elizabeth Bentley, Aug. 13, 1959, Bentley file No. 134-435-229.
“secured a position for the fall”: Letter, Elizabeth Bentley to J. Edgar Hoover, Nov. 11, 1959, Bentley file, no number assigned.
“‘poor family relationships’”: “Long Lane School,” reprinted from the 1963–1964 Digest of Connecticut Administrative Reports to the Governor.
“‘build up good citizens in the coming generation,’ she wrote”: Letter, Elizabeth Bentley to J. Edgar Hoover, Nov. 11, 1959, Bentley file, no number assigned.
“teaching writing and literature, and serving as the adviser”: Letter, Elizabeth Bentley to J. Edgar Hoover, May 31, 1961, Bentley file No. 134-435-232.
“did her job and went back to her quarters”: Author’s interview with Shirley Coddington, Long Lane social worker, 1959–91, Oct. 24, 2000; Roeker interview with Ethel Mecum, the woman who hired Bentley, in Roeker, “Communist Agent,” p. 58.
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