Scope and Content Note
The papers of Byron Nicholson Scott (1903-1991) consist of a case file of correspondence, memoranda, an abridged court brief, newspaper clippings, and magazine articles, all dated 1957. His papers concern his defense of William Taylor, Treasury Department and International Monetary Fund specialist, accused of espionage by former Soviet spy turned defector Elizabeth Bentley. Taylor's position and the effect of Bentley's accusations on his employment are described in "for the record" and personal memoranda by him. Details of Scott's defense strategy, pursued primarily before the International Organizations Employee Loyalty Board, are described in newspaper clippings and articles, especially in an article Scott published in the January 1957 issue of The Nation titled "The Letter That Nobody Wrote."
The papers are from one of fifteen binders that constituted Scott's file on the Taylor case. Scott placed one binder with the Library of Congress in 1973. The remaining fourteen binders were never sent.