Spies: Chapter 1

The world's first nuclear attack stunned the Soviet leader, but not out of pity for the Japanese victims. Rather, the shrewd and ruthless dictator immediately grasped the implications of such a powerful weapon.

The world's first nuclear attack stunned the Soviet leader, but not out of pity for the Japanese victims. Rather, the shrewd and ruthless dictator immediately grasped the implications of such a powerful weapon.

It took several meetings for her to get up the courage to reveal her whole story—but when she was ready, Elizabeth Bentley unfurled an almost unbelievable account of a massive Soviet espionage ring operating inside the United States.

It took several meetings for her to get up the courage to reveal her whole story—but when she was ready, Elizabeth Bentley unfurled an almost unbelievable account of a massive Soviet espionage ring operating inside the United States.

For someone who would eventually become so completely tangled in a web of espionage intrigue, Bentley entered her adult years alone, a solitary figure looking for companionship and community.

To these people, capitalism had failed, and ordinary Americans were bearing the brunt of its collapse.

To these people, capitalism had failed, and ordinary Americans were bearing the brunt of its collapse.

In their eyes, the Soviet Union seemed to be a new, more equitable model, a beacon for a more hopeful future.

At Golos's urging, Bentley embarked on a new odyssey, away from the CPUSA and into the Soviet underground secretly operating in the United States.

Golos spent months instructing her in the basic elements of spycraft: She learned how to notice when she was being followed by the police, how to elude capture, how to make secret phone calls, and how to handle clandestine correspondence.

Golos spent months instructing her in the basic elements of spycraft: She learned how to notice when she was being followed by the police, how to elude capture, how to make secret phone calls, and how to handle clandestine correspondence.

As Golos's lover and his main espionage protégée, Elizabeth Bentley quickly became indispensable to Stalin's underground operation in the United States.

As Golos's lover and his main espionage protégée, Elizabeth Bentley quickly became indispensable to Stalin's underground operation in the United States.

Communism's heyday in America lasted only a few years.

When the United States entered World War II in 1941, its law-enforcement agencies began keeping an eye on all foreign agents operating inside America's borders, and the FBI soon caught Golos in one of its dragnets.

Hoover's FBI men stealthily scoured the nation for Soviet spies; the FBI director was not eager to risk tipping off his suspects by exposing Bentley as a defector.

In what became known as the "Long Telegram," Kennan argued that Soviet leadership had no choice but to paint the United States as their sworn nemesis, because it needed an external enemy to justify the Communist Party's rigid control over its society.

Likening communism to a disease, Kennan contended that it would respond only to force, or what he called "containment."

Likening communism to a disease, Kennan contended that it would respond only to force, or what he called "containment."

"Behind that line," he intoned, "lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe...all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and in many cases increasing measure of control from Moscow."

The Republican Party, eager to score points against President Truman, a Democrat, accused him of being "soft on communism" and willing to turn a blind eye to subversives in his own administration.

Truman tried to mollify his critics by instituting a new loyalty program for the federal government.

All two million federal employees would be screened individually for "membership in, affiliation with or sympathetic association with any foreign or domestic organization, association, movement, group or combination of persons designated by the Attorney General as totalitarian, fascist, communist or subversive."

All two million federal employees would be screened individually for "membership in, affiliation with or sympathetic association with any foreign or domestic organization, association, movement, group or combination of persons designated by the Attorney General as totalitarian, fascist, communist or subversive."

An accusation was enough to ruin a person's reputation; in the shadow of a looming Soviet menace, many Americans jettisoned the most basic standards of due process, fairness, or the presumption of innocence.

An accusation was enough to ruin a person's reputation; in the shadow of a looming Soviet menace, many Americans jettisoned the most basic standards of due process, fairness, or the presumption of innocence.

Later that year, in the fall of 1947, a previously obscure committee of the US House of Representatives took the hunt to a new level.

The committee sent subpoenas to dozens of well-known actors, directors, screenwriters, and other professionals suspected of being affiliated with communism.

The ten directors and screenwriters were thrown in prison for contempt of Congress.

Following their release, they were "blacklisted," prevented from working in Hollywood ever again.

HUAC's hearings riveted the nation—and ratcheted up J. Edgar Hoover's frustration with the FBI's increasingly fruitless investigation into Elizabeth Bentley's allegations.

HUAC's hearings riveted the nation—and ratcheted up J. Edgar Hoover's frustration with the FBI's increasingly fruitless investigation into Elizabeth Bentley's allegations.

But not even Hoover had any inkling about the mole—or secret Soviet agent—hiding in the top ranks of Great Britain's spy agency, MI6.

But not even Hoover had any inkling about the mole—or secret Soviet agent—hiding in the top ranks of Great Britain's spy agency, MI6.

Thanks to Philby, word of Bentley's defection ricocheted back to the highest levels of the Soviet government, which ordered its agents in the United States to "cease immediately their connection with all persons known to Bentley in our work [and] to warn the agents about Bentley's betrayal."

"Because of the successful delivery of that message," wrote one historian, "the FBI's massive undercover effort over the next eighteen months would be in vain. Thanks to Philby, Elizabeth would become the least successful double agent in FBI history."

That Bentley was native born, from an old Massachusetts family, and educated at one of America's top colleges made her seem more threatening; anybody, it seemed, could succumb to the lure of the communist menace.

President Truman called the trial a "red herring," and Secretary of State Dean Acheson declared, "I do not intend to turn my back on Alger Hiss."

Fears of communism had smoldered for much of the decade; Elizabeth Bentley's testimony was the fuel that this fire needed to explode.

And the truth was that the NKVD operated inside the United States with near impunity throughout the 1930s and '40s.