138. The Defection of a Communist Spy Queen with Kathryn Olmsted

SPYCRAFT 101

Mar 11 2024 • 50 mins

This week Justin sits down with Dr. Kathryn Olmsted.  Kathryn is a professor of history at the University of California, Davis, where she has taught since 2001. She's published five books and many journal articles focusing on the political and cultural history of the United States since World War I. Today she discusses the story of Elizabeth Bentley, a spy and agent handler for the Communist Party of the United States and for the Soviet Union from the late 1930s through World War II.  But in 1945, she broke ties with both organizations and walked into an FBI field office to alert them to the presence of a massive and almost completely unknown espionage ring that had penetrated the U.S. government at many different levels.  She became a media sensation and helped to alert Congress and the American public to the new Cold War that they found themselves in with the USSR.

Connect with Kathryn:
Check out her book, Red Spy Queen, here.

https://www.amazon.com/Red-Spy-Queen-Biography-Elizabeth/dp/0807827398

Connect with Spycraft 101:
Check out Justin's latest release, Covert Arms, here.
spycraft101.com
IG: @spycraft101
Shop: spycraft-101.myshopify.com
Patreon: Spycraft 101

Find Justin's first book, Spyshots: Volume One, here.
Download the free eBook, The Clandestine Operative's Sidearm of Choice, here.

Support the Show.

You Might Like

History Daily
History Daily
Airship | Noiser | Wondery
Dark History
Dark History
Audioboom Studios
Lore
Lore
Aaron Mahnke
The Ancients
The Ancients
History Hit
History That Doesn't Suck
History That Doesn't Suck
Prof. Greg Jackson
The Rest Is History
The Rest Is History
Goalhanger Podcasts
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities
iHeartPodcasts and Grim & Mild
Tides of History
Tides of History
Wondery / Patrick Wyman
Ridiculous History
Ridiculous History
iHeartPodcasts
Noble Blood
Noble Blood
iHeartPodcasts and Grim & Mild
BADLANDS
BADLANDS
Double Elvis
You're Wrong About
You're Wrong About
Sarah Marshall