Elizabeth Terrill Bentley (January 1, 1908 – December 3, 1963) was an American spy and member of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). She served the Soviet Union from 1938 to 1945 until she defected from the Communist Party and Soviet intelligence by contacting the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and admitting her own activities. She became widely known after testifying in a number of trials and before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). In 1952, Bentley became a US informant and was paid by the FBI for her participation in investigations and frequent appearances before Congressional committees. She exposed two spy networks, ultimately naming more than 80 Americans who she said had engaged in espionage. 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. She attended Vassar College, graduating in 1930 with degrees in English, Italian, and French. In 1933, as a graduate student at Columbia University, Bentley won a fellowship to the University of Florence. While in Italy, she briefly joined the Gruppo Universitario Fascista, a local fascist student group, in Italy. She was influenced by Mario Casella, her anti-fascist faculty advisor with whom she had an affair at Columbia. During work for her master's degree, Bentley attended meetings of the American League Against War and Fascism. Although she would later say that she found Communist literature unreadable and "dry as dust", she was attracted to the sense of community and social conscience she found among her friends in the league. After Bentley learned that most were members of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), she joined the party in March 1935. Espionage activity Bentley became active in espionage in 1935, when she obtained a job at the Italian Library of Information in New York City; the library was Fascist Italy's propaganda bureau in the United States. She reported her employment to CPUSA headquarters, informing them about her willingness to spy on the fascists. Juliet Stuart Poyntz, who also worked at the library, approached and recruited Bentley. The Communists were interested in the information Bentley could provide, so NKVD officer Jacob Golos was assigned as