Elizabeth Bentley

Elizabeth Terrill Bentley (January 1, 1908 – December 3, 1963) was an American NKVD spymaster, who was recruited from within the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). She served the Soviet Union as the primary handler of multiple highly placed moles within both the United States Federal Government and the Office of Strategic Services from 1938 to 1945. After being rendered bereft by the 1943 death of her lover, NKVD New York City station chief Jacob Golos, a heartbroken Bentley defected by contacting the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and debriefing about her own espionage activities. Bentley became widely known after testifying as a prosecution witness in a number of trials and before the United States Congress' House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Bentley was subsequently paid by the FBI for both her assistance in counterespionage investigations and her testimony before Congressional subcommittees. Bentley exposed two spy networks and ultimately accused more than 80 American citizens of both treason and espionage for a foreign power. Early life Elizabeth Terrill Bentley was born in New Milford, Connecticut, the daughter of dry-goods merchant Charles Prentiss Bentley and schoolteacher May Charlotte Turrill. Her parents moved to Ithaca, New York in 1915 and, by 1920, the family had relocated to McKeesport, Pennsylvania. Later that year, they returned to New York, settling in Rochester. Bentley's parents were described as straight-laced Episcopalians from New England.