But they would have been better advised to have said straight up, yes we are communists, but no, we are not spies.. [73], Michael and Robert co-wrote a book about their and their parents' lives, We Are Your Sons: The Legacy of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg (1975). Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Except that is not what happened. [63][65][64] Though the public release of Vassiliev's notebooks did not occur until 2009, the notebooks had in fact been originally intercepted during the Venona decryptions. Author of. The Rosenbergsaccused of participating in a complex plot to sell American atomic secrets to the Sovietswere arrested in the summer of 1950, Julius on July 17 and Ethel slightly less than one month later. On June 19, 1953, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were convicted of conspiring to pass U.S. atomic secrets to the Soviets, are executed at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York. On August 11, 1950, Ethel Rosenberg was arrested after testifying before a grand jury (see section, below). I believe there should be., Ethel Rosenberg: A Cold War Tragedy,by Anne Sebba, is published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, A Small Town in Ukraine: Fascinating mapping of history and bloodshed around a geopolitical fault line, Eithne Strong swam against the tide. [28][29] The prosecution's primary witness, David Greenglass, said that he turned over to Julius Rosenberg a sketch of the cross-section of an implosion-type atom bomb. Her husband, Julius, had been executed a short time before her. She had a brother, David Greenglass. Well yes, she replies. The Rosenbergs were the first U.S. citizens to be convicted and executed for espionage during peacetime and their case remains controversial to this day. Harry Truman in 1952 and Pres. Due to Red Scare trials and newspaper headlines, Americans in the 1940s, and 1950s knew that Soviet espionage was serious. [36], Jean-Paul Sartre, a Marxist existentialist philosopher and writer who won the Nobel Prize for Literature, described the trial as, a legal lynching which smears with blood a whole nation. Can their sons reveal the truth? [12] Perl supplied Feklisov, under Rosenberg's direction, with thousands of documents from the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, including a complete set of design and production drawings for Lockheed's P-80 Shooting Star, the first U.S. operational jet fighter. He escaped prosecution because his involvement was not proven until the Venona documents became unclassified. They agreed with President Dwight D. Eisenhower when he issued a statement declining to invoke executive clemency for the pair. The children say that their father did not deserve the death penalty and that their mother was wrongly convicted. Or my mother or my father, OK? Ethel Rosenberg: A Cold War Tragedy by Anne Sebba was published by Orion Books on 24 June 2021.[24][82]. Ethel Greenglass worked as a clerk for some years after her graduation from high school in 1931. He was U.S. citizen and electrical engineer. Initiated when the Soviet Union was an ally of the U.S., the program continued during the Cold War when it was considered an enemy. I ask Sebba how culpable she thinks Julius Rosenberg was in his wifes death sentence. But even graver is the thought of the millions of dead whose deaths may be directly attributable to what these spies have done.. The young journalist [Raman Pratsevich] arrested in Belarus with his girlfriend [Sofia Sapega]. Follow Russia Beyond on Telegram. The Greenglasses never withdrew their new testimony. As a result of this new testimony, all charges against Ruth Greenglass were dropped. Robert wrote a later memoir, An Execution in the Family: One Son's Journey (2003). The request was denied. How much does Sebba think that Ethel knew? The network included: engineers (Julius Rosenberg, Nathan Sussman, Joel Barr, Alfred Sarant,Morton Sobell), a military aviation scientist (William Perl), a civil design engineer (McNutt), and a machinist (Greenglass), among others. Few trials in American history can match that of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg for its sensationalism. [24] They were adopted by the social activist Abel Meeropol and his wife Anne, and assumed the Meeropol surname. This love of Communism and the Soviet Union soon led them into a Soviet espionage ring.. David originally had said that he had passed the atomic data he had collected to Julius on a New York street corner. Ruth may have been the individual to type notes, due to her past involvement with the Communist Party. Both were members of the Communist Party, with Julius being the far more active member. He admitted that he had given documents to the Soviet contact, but said these had to do with defensive radar and weaponry. The Rosenbergs supported communism Ethel Greenglass was born to a Jewish family in 1915 in New York. READ MORE: Why Were the Rosenbergs Executed? [78] In October 2016, both Michael and Robert Meeropol spoke with Anderson Cooper in an interview which aired on 60 Minutes. Some reports claim that the Rosenbergs were offered a plea deal, where admittance of their guilt would grant them a prison sentence. Just ten days before the start of the Rosenbergs trial in February 1951, David Greenglass re-testified, and changed his original statements. FBI agents took her into custody as she left the courthouse. At age 23, he was a prosecutor on the trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, who were convicted of espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union in 1951 and executed by electric chair two years. The Rosenberg children were permitted to visit their parents during their incarceration. In the early 1930s, Ethel became a member of the Young Communist League. The subsequent trial of the Rosenbergs made news all over the world. John Charles Fremont of California, the famous explorer of the West, was nominated for the presidency, and William Lewis Dayton of New read more, On June 19, 1944, in what would become known as the Marianas Turkey Shoot, U.S. carrier-based fighters decimate the Japanese Fleet with only a minimum of losses in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. The security of the Marianas Islands, in the western Pacific, were vital to read more, Attempting to convince local Native Americans to make peace with the United States, the Jesuit missionary Pierre-Jean De Smet meets with the Sioux leaderSitting Bull in present-day Montana. Three years after the trial, on June 19th, 1953 the Rosenbergs were executed. Due to the recent evidence provided by Sobells interview, witness testimonies, and the Venona documents, calls have been made for Ethels exoneration. [47] The defense's strategy backfired. For all questions, she asserted her right to not answer as provided by the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination. [22], Twenty senior government officials met secretly on February 8, 1950, to discuss the Rosenberg case. Whether it was fair or not, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were the only two American civilians who were executed for espionage-related crimes during the entire Cold War. Soviet cables were deciphered, revealing Julius codename to be LIBERAL. LIBERAL was mentioned in numerous documents. Theodore Hallis one example. She and David met in the YCL, and married in 1942. Ethel Greenglass met Julius Rosenberg in New York City in 1936, when she was 21 and he was 18. [11], In February 1944, Rosenberg succeeded in recruiting a second source of Manhattan Project information, engineer Russell McNutt, who worked on designs for the plants at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It was never in doubt that Julius Rosenberg had conducted acts of espionage. After being interviewed this second time, he said that he had given this information to Julius in the living room of the Rosenbergs' New York apartment. Others argue that Julius and Ethel were guilty, with Ethel playing a minor role, but that their trial and sentence were unjust due to the lack of evidence. In exchange for this new testimony, Ruth was permitted to remain with their children and care for them. She had the unhappy distinction of being the first woman in the US to be executed for a crime other than murder. Many Americans who were politically left-wing believed the Rosenbergs were persecuted solely for their past involvement with the Communist Party. Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, installed as emperor of Mexico by French Emperor Napoleon III in 1864, is executed on the orders of Benito Juarez, the president of the Mexican Republic. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. "[67] He said he gave false testimony to protect himself and his wife, Ruth, and that he was encouraged by the prosecution to do so. In the years after the Rosenbergs executions, there was significant debate about their guilt. Moynihan found that in 1945, physicist Hans Bethe estimated that the Soviets would be able to build their own bomb in five years. [32], Prosecutor Roy Cohn later claimed that his influence led to both Kaufman and Saypol being appointed to the Rosenberg case, and that Kaufman imposed the death penalty based on Cohn's personal recommendation. Julius Rosenberg (May 12, 1918 June 19, 1953) and Ethel Rosenberg (ne Greenglass; September 28, 1915 June 19, 1953) were an American couple who spied for the Soviet Union. [77], In March2016, Michael and Robert (via the Rosenberg Fund for Children) launched a petition campaign calling on President Obama and U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch to formally exonerate Ethel Rosenberg. [7], Julius Rosenberg was born on May 12, 1918, in New York City to a family of Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire. Okay, I am a spy, but my wife isnt? Du Bois wrote a poem titled "The Rosenbergs", which began "Crucify us, Vengeance of God, as we crucify two more Jews" and ended "Who has been crowned on yonder stair? Walter Schneir, inFinal Verdict, argues that evidence against Ethel was fabricated by the Greenglasses. Ethels execution was botched. [9], Julius Rosenberg joined the Army Signal Corps Engineering Laboratories at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, in 1940, where he worked as an engineer-inspector until 1945. Ethel Rosenberg was 37 and the mother of two small sons when she was executed in New York in 1953. What could he have said? [60], In 1995, the U.S. government made public many documents decoded by the Venona project, showing Julius Rosenberg's role as part of a productive ring of spies. Corrections? The controversy over their guilt was seemingly resolved in the early 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the release of Soviet intelligence information that confirmed Julius Rosenbergs involvement in espionage. They were accused of sending a rough sketch of the atomic bomb to Russia. "[57], The notes allegedly typed by Ethel apparently contained little that was directly used in the Soviet atomic bomb project. He stated, I can only say that, by immeasurably increasing the chances of atomic war, the Rosenbergs may have condemned to death tens of millions of innocent people all over the world. Julius Rosenberg and Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg were American citizens executed for conspiracy to commit espionage, relating to passing information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. T he case of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, the young Jewish American couple executed in June 1953 at the height of the cold war for allegedly passing atomic secrets to the Russians, has weighed . Magic, witch-hunts, autos-da-f, sacrifices we are here getting to the point: your country is sick with fear you are afraid of the shadow of your own bomb. Deputy Attorney General of the United States William P. Rogers, who had been part of the prosecution of the Rosenbergs, discussed their strategy at the time in relation to seeking the death sentence for Ethel. She originally was an aspiring actress and singer, but eventually took a secretarial job at a shipping company. [65], The Rosenbergs' two sons, Michael and Robert, spent years trying to prove the innocence of their parents. They provided top-secret information about American radar, sonar, jet propulsion engines, and valuable nuclear weapon designs. [37], Others, including non-Communists such as Jean Cocteau and Harold Urey, a Nobel Prize-winning physical chemist,[38] as well as Communists and left-leaning figures such as Nelson Algren, Bertolt Brecht, Albert Einstein, Dashiell Hammett, Frida Kahlo, and Diego Rivera, protested the position of the American government in what the French termed the U.S. Dreyfus affair. [55], Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, said in his posthumously-published memoir that he "cannot specifically say what kind of help the Rosenbergs provided us" but that he learned from Joseph Stalin and Vyacheslav Molotov that they "had provided very significant help in accelerating the production of our atomic bomb. There were no confessions, no names produced of other Americans spying for the Soviets, and no admission of guilt by either Rosenberg. He worked for a time at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, where research was going on into radar, missile controls and electronics. Julius Rosenberg (May 12, 1918 - June 19, 1953) and Ethel Rosenberg ( ne Greenglass; September 28, 1915 - June 19, 1953) were an American couple who spied for the Soviet Union. Later, Ethels brother, Sgt. He then claimed that he passed this information to Julius on a New York street corner, and that Ethel was not involved. Gold paidGreenglass $500 in exchange for information about the implosion lens in the atomic bomb. They were both found guilty of the crimes of espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union. Many commentators of the time argued that the death penalty was used unjustly in the courts as a way to force the Rosenbergs and others to confess to espionage, or to name others involved. ", In 1953, socialist historian W. E. B. He provided classified documents and led an espionage network within the Manhattan Project, recruiting spies, most notably Russell McNutt and Ethels brother,David Greenglass, along with his wifeRuth. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Timeline of Events Relating to the Rosenberg Trial. Harris, Brian. Built in an English shipyard and sold to the Confederates in 1861, the Alabama was a state-of-the-art ship220 read more, After 14 Formula One race car drivers withdraw due to safety concerns over the Michelin-made tires on their vehicles, German driver Michael Schumacher wins a less-than-satisfying victory at the United States Grand Prix on June 19, 2005. "[51], The Rosenbergs were the only American civilians executed for espionage during the Cold War. But this testimony was not shown to lawyers during the Rosenbergs trial. Despite massive, worldwide protest, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were executed on June 19, 1953, at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, NY. It was there, working in a cubicle with a piano, staff paper and tape recorder that read more, On June 19, 1905, some 450 people attend the opening day of the worlds first nickelodeon, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and developed by the showman Harry Davis. Fuchs identified his courier as American Harry Gold, who was arrested on May 23, 1950. [39] Einstein and Urey pleaded with President Truman to pardon the Rosenbergs. Judge Irving Kaufman presided over the trial, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Irving Saypol leading the prosecution and criminal defense lawyer Emmanuel Bloch representing the Rosenbergs. Would they have believed him? After she was given the normal course of three electric shocks, attendants removed the strapping and other equipment only to have doctors determine that Ethel's heart was still beating. He wrote Strange Fruit, a song made famous by Billie Holiday, and the royalties from that and other songs kept the family comfortable. Gordon Dean, the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, said: "It looks as though Rosenberg is the kingpin of a very large ring, and if there is any way of breaking him by having the shadow of a death penalty over him, we want to do it." The debate over her involvement is ongoing. John Philip Jenkins; 3 1952, -, , ) , By 1944, Julius had recruited him to spy for the Soviets. The arrests of Greenglass and Julius Rosenberg followed quickly in June and July, and Ethel was arrested in August. An American Tragedy By Anne Sebba. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, following their arrest by the FBI in New York city for espionage, 1950. "use strict";(function(){var insertion=document.getElementById("citation-access-date");var date=new Date().toLocaleDateString(undefined,{month:"long",day:"numeric",year:"numeric"});insertion.parentElement.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(date),insertion)})(); FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. She also interviewed both Michael and Robby, the Rosenbergs sons, now in their 70s. They claim:The Greenglasses lies were necessary to obtain Ethels conviction; the K.G.B. Rhoda Laks, another attorney on the Rosenbergs' defense team, also made this argument before Judge Kaufman. Ethels own brother, David Greenglass, testified against her, in a blatant act of perjury. Important research on electronics, communications, radar and guided missile controls was undertaken at Fort Monmouth during World War II. Her mother disowned her. During the 1940s, the U. S. Army Signal Intelligence Service (SIS) conducted the Venona project. The American pair were . His wife, born Ethel Greenglass, also in New York, on September 28, 1915, worked as a secretary. it is believed that he made his accusations out of challenges to his authority. He said they had urged the death sentence for Ethel in an effort to extract a full confession from Julius. "You sat the Rosenbergs in the electric chair for nothing", he said. He was discharged when the U.S. Army discovered his previous membership in the Communist Party. In later interviews, he claimed: I frankly think my wife did the typing, but I dont remember, and, My wife is more important to me than my sister. Overall, their testimony remains controversial because of the deal, the lack of tangible evidence, and the conflicting statements. [58] According to Alexander Feklisov, the former Soviet agent who was Julius's contact, the Rosenbergs did not provide the Soviet Union with any useful material about the atomic bomb: "He [Julius] didn't understand anything about the atomic bomb and he couldn't help us. Since the Rosenbergs were being charged with conspiracy, no tangible evidence was required. By 1942, Julius was heavily involved with espionage activities for the Soviet Union. Between the trial and the executions, there were widespread protests and claims of antisemitism; the charges of antisemitism were widely believed abroad[citation needed], but not among the vast majority in the United States. Both Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were indicted, as were David Greenglass and Anatoli Yakovlev. Their legal team worked to have the verdict overturned, but their efforts failed. After Semyonov was recalled to Moscow in 1944 his duties were taken over by Feklisov. [18][19], On July 17, 1950, Julius Rosenberg was arrested on suspicion of espionage[20] based on David Greenglass's confession. They were convicted and executed in 1953. Here's the story of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. (Sobell and Gold received 30-year prison terms, and Greenglass, who was tried separately, was sentenced to 15 years in prison.) [27], The trial of the Rosenbergs and Sobell on federal espionage charges began on March 6, 1951, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Sebba says the only lesson history offers is that there are no lessons to be learned. Lawyers Emanuel Bloch and Alexander Bloch defended the Rosenbergs. ", "Plot to Have G.I. There was a fear of communism.. They took assumed names and he tried to figure out a way to reach Europe without a passport. Their case against Ethel Rosenberg was resolved 10 days before the start of the trial, when David and Ruth Greenglass were interviewed a second time. He reportedly said, "She called our bluff", as she made no effort to push her husband to any action. In the intervening decades, it has since been conclusively proved that David Greenglass committed perjury against his own sister. Convicted of espionage in 1951, they were executed by the federal government of the United States in 1953 at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, New York, becoming the first American civilians to be executed for such charges and the first to receive that penalty during peacetime. 2006. Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were American Communists who captured and maintained world attention after being accused and convicted of spying for the Soviet Union.. Documents relating to the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Case, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, A statement by the Rosenberg's sons in support of their exoneration, An Interview with Robert Meeropol about the adoption, National Committee to Reopen the Rosenberg Case, Annotated bibliography for Ethel Rosenberg from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues, Annotated bibliography for Julius Rosenberg from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues, The Cold War International History Project (CWIHP), Rosenberg Son: "My Parents Were Executed Under the Unconstitutional Espionage Act", History on Trial: The Rosenberg Case in E.L. Doctorow's, Julius Rosenberg at court sentenced to death, The WSWS speaks to Julius and Ethel Rosenbergs son An interview with Robert Meeropol, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Julius_and_Ethel_Rosenberg&oldid=1142051620, American people convicted of spying for the Soviet Union, Pages containing links to subscription-only content, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2021, Articles with failed verification from November 2022, Articles with French-language sources (fr), Wikipedia external links cleanup from October 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Images of the Rosenbergs are engraved on a memorial in, The execution is explored in great detail and serves as the premise of, Clune, Lori. To this day, historians and scientists debate how much espionage sped up the progress of the Soviet Unions nuclear weapons program. Will there ever be a pardon for Ethel Rosenberg? In June 1953, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for conspiracy to commit espionage under the U.S. In 1990, he founded the Rosenberg Fund for Children, a nonprofit foundation that provides support for children of targeted liberal activists, and youth who are targeted as activists. This was the "Fat Man" bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, as opposed to a bomb with the "gun method" triggering device used in the "Little Boy" bomb dropped on Hiroshima. He opened thetrial by stating: The evidence will show that the loyalty and alliance of the Rosenbergs and Sobell were not to our country, but that it was to Communism. The Rosenbergs were charged with conspiracy to commit espionage and brought to trial on March 6, 1951; Greenglass was the chief witness for the prosecution. And she was the mother of my children. Due to the Greenglass August 1950 testimony, and no tangible evidence, there was a weak case against Ethel for her alleged involvement. At one point in the biography, Michael, then not yet 10, recalls playing word games with his father, including Hangman. See section, below ) married in 1942 the years after her graduation from high school in.. Young Communist League YCL, and no tangible evidence was required Jewish Family in 1915 in New York Belarus his..., Americans in the early 1930s, Ethel became a member of the young journalist [ Raman ]! Valuable nuclear weapon designs Laks, another attorney on the Rosenbergs were the only lesson history offers that! Members of the young Communist League progress of the young journalist [ Pratsevich. Meeropol surname act of perjury argues that evidence against Ethel was fabricated by the social activist Abel Meeropol and wife! Sebba says the only American civilians executed for espionage, 1950 Rosenberg had conducted acts of espionage some years her... Wrote a later memoir, an Execution in the 1940s, and no admission guilt. 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