Butler has discovered however that Westcott delayed his report to Washington until November 28, 1924-just after the American elections-and instead told a prominent Philadelphia attorney, Dillworth P. Hibberd, about the minutes in August, 1924.

Had Hibberd released the secret minutes to the public, America might also have become involved in its own political scandal like Britain's.

Hibberd wrote Westcott in September asking for confirmation of the authenticity of the secret minutes. He explained that a United States senator had expressed interest in "the matter of the support of one of the three candidates (LaFollette) by a foreign organization, and the amount of money said to have been paid in the said candidate's support."

When Westcott could not find confirmation. Hibberd apparently dropped the idea of revealing the forged secret minutes.

Reilly, the alleged forger, might have had dealings with Westcott, Hibberd, and even Walter R. Batsell, the noted Harvard Sovietologist who acquired the Zinoviev photo-negatives and left them in the back vault of the Law School library.

Westcott reported to the U.S. in November that an anti-Bolshevik secret agent had given him a copy of the secret minutes in the first week of June, and a copy of the forged Zinoviev letter in October, Reilly, however, was on business in the United States from the spring of 1924 until July-a full month after Westcott said he got the minutes.

Reilly was also known to have extensive contacts in the East, where Hibberd lived and Batsell was working.

It is possible, Butler contends, that Westcott received the letter and the minutes together and simply fabricated the story of how he got them-slipping in the detail of timing.

"This implicates Westcott to the extent that he clearly didn't report this at a time when he should have," Butler said. "He tried to play politics with the letter."

Batsell fits into the picture only indirectly. He acquired the photo-negative plates in Europe late in the twenties. He also had strong connections in Poland where the letter was originally passed on to the British Little is known of Batsell's work in Europe, although he published several books an international law and Soviet politics.

Even his acquisition of the photo-negative plates is shroudel in uncertainty. Was Batsell doing intelligence work on his buying tours in Europe? How did he come in contact with the rare photo-negative plates of the Zinoviev forgery? Did he know Reilly?

Butler admits there is only the slimmest evidence that Batsell was involved in the forgery, but says that people seriously interested in the Zinoviev affair should look into the American angle more closely.