At one point in the biography, Michael, then not yet 10, recalls playing word games with his father, including Hangman. [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. The case was intensely controversial, touching nerves throughout American society, and debates about the Rosenbergs continue to the present day. Since the Rosenbergs were being charged with conspiracy, no tangible evidence was required. Ethel Greenglass and Julius Rosenberg were both born into immigrant Jewish families in New York City during World War I. Give Bomb Data to Soviet Is Laid to His Sister Here", "Julius Rosenberg and Ethel Rosenberg (American spies) Britannica Online Encyclopedia", "Judge Kaufman's Sentencing Statement in the Rosenberg Case", "The trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg", "Nashville now and then: A lawyer's last gamble", "Funeral Tributes To Rosenbergs: Execution Denounced", "Never Losing Faith for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg", "False testimony clinched Rosenberg spy trial", "50 years later, Rosenberg execution is still fresh", "Khrushchev on Rosenbergs: Stoking Old Embers", "K.G.B. He was U.S. citizen and electrical engineer. Ronald Radoshconcludes, after Sobells 2008 confessions, that the Rosenbergs were Soviet spies. Will there ever be a pardon for Ethel Rosenberg? The project aimed to gather and decode messages sent by Soviet military intelligence (KGB and GRU) to the U.S. Venona would also help the government locate spy rings. A worldwide campaign for mercy failed, and the Rosenbergs were executed in the electric chair at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York. For all questions, she asserted her right to not answer as provided by the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination. They were the only American civilians executed for espionage during the Cold War. She and David met in the YCL, and married in 1942. [39] Einstein and Urey pleaded with President Truman to pardon the Rosenbergs. Her attorney asked the U.S. commissioner to parole her in his custody over the weekend, so that she could make arrangements for her two young children. Gold was arrested on May 23, 1950, in connection with the case of the British spy Klaus Fuchs, who had been arrested for giving U.S. and British nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union. 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. They were charged with conspiracy and providing atomic secrets to the USSR. Photograph: Kypros/ Getty. Sobell and Julius Rosenberg, classmates together in college, dedicated themselves to the cause of Communism. [48], On June 19, 1953, Julius died after the first electric shock. Robert wrote a later memoir, An Execution in the Family: One Son's Journey (2003). This collection provides interesting Agency insights on this post-WWII spy case. They were accused of sending a rough sketch of the atomic bomb to Russia. Ethel Greenglass met Julius Rosenberg in New York City in 1936, when she was 21 and he was 18. Julius Rosenberg and Ethel Rosenberg, Ethel Rosenberg ne Ethel Greenglass, (respectively, born May 12, 1918, New York, New York, U.S.died June 19, 1953, Ossining, New York; born September 28, 1915, New York Citydied June 19, 1953, Ossining), the first American civilians to be executed for conspiracy to commit espionage and the first to suffer that penalty during peacetime. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. The case against Ethel in particular was rather . Decrypted cables revealed this information through theVenona project. On April 5, Judge Kaufman sentenced them to death, and sentenced Sobell to 30 years in prison. 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. National Museum of Nuclear Science & History. She describes Julius Rosenberg as a naive idealist. Historian John Earl Hayness AHF Interview. Many people around the world believed them. I think it is the most horrific story, Sebba says. [42] Pope Pius XII appealed to President Dwight D. Eisenhower to spare the couple, but Eisenhower refused on February 11, 1953. Ethel's execution did not go smoothly. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Ethel then sat down at the typewriter which she placed on a bridge table in the living room and proceeded to type the info which David had given to Julius. After this new testimony, the charges against Ruth were dropped. Gold paidGreenglass $500 in exchange for information about the implosion lens in the atomic bomb. She replied, "Yes, I wrote [the information] down on a piece of paper and [Julius Rosenberg] took it with him." Sebba says the only lesson history offers is that there are no lessons to be learned. 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. Julius Rosenberg was discharged by the army in 1945 for having lied about his membership in the Communist Party. Now, however, Greenglass claimed that this exchange occurred in the living room of the Rosenbergs New York apartment, and that Ethel was present. He said, "I frankly think my wife did the typing, but I don't remember. 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. Upon returning home later, Rojas claimed to have seen read more, The most successful and feared Confederate commerce raider of the war, the CSS Alabama, sinks after a spectacular battle off the coast of France with the USS Kearsarge. Many Americans, however, believed that the Rosenbergs had been dealt with justly. Tender. During the 1940s, the U. S. Army Signal Intelligence Service (SIS) conducted the Venona project. She originally was an aspiring actress and singer, but eventually took a secretarial job at a shipping company. [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. J. Edgar Hooverpublicly opposed the trial. He wrote Strange Fruit, a song made famous by Billie Holiday, and the royalties from that and other songs kept the family comfortable. In her re-interview, Ruth Greenglass expanded on her husband's version: Julius then took the info into the bathroom and read it and when he came out he called Ethel and told her she had to type this information immediately Ethel then sat down at the typewriter which she placed on a bridge table in the living room and proceeded to type the information that David had given to Julius. Judge Irving R. Kaufman presided over the trial. Despite massive, worldwide protest, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were executed on June 19, 1953, at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, NY. Myles Lane, a member of the prosecution team, said that the case against Ethel Rosenberg was "not too strong", but that it was "very important that she be convicted too, and given a stiff sentence. There was international outrage at her death. On March 29, 1951, the court convicted Julius and Ethel Rosenberg of conspiracy to commit espionage. [72], The notebooks make clear that the KGB considered Julius Rosenberg an effective agent and his wife Ethel an enthusiastic supporter of his work. He was discharged when the U.S. Army discovered his previous membership in the Communist Party. How. 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. Rosenberg's arrest had been preceded by the arrest of Harry Gold and David Greenglass, Rosenberg's brother-in-law, and was to be followed three and a half weeks later by the arrest of his wife, Ethel. [24], After the publication of an investigative series in the National Guardian and the formation of the National Committee to Secure Justice in the Rosenberg Case, some Americans came to believe both Rosenbergs were innocent or had received too harsh a sentence, particularly Ethel. The son of working-class read more. "[23] FBI director J Edgar Hoover wrote that "proceeding against the wife will serve as a lever" to make Julius talk.[24]. Communism in this country and Communism throughout the world. That same year, the FBI arrested both Greenglass and Gold based on information provided by Fuchs. Abandoning that effort, he returned to Mexico City. Or he could have thought, if I admit I am a spy, I will have to name names? She also interviewed both Michael and Robby, the Rosenbergs sons, now in their 70s. Her children were shunted around and then went into care. [76][24], In 2015, following the most recent grand jury transcript release, Michael and Robert Meeropol called on U.S. President Barack Obama's administration to acknowledge that Ethel Rosenberg's conviction and execution was wrongful and to issue a proclamation exonerating her. He also named Julius and Ethel Rosenberg as contacts and denied that his wife, Ruth Greenglass, was involved with any espionage activities. The Soviet Union secretly conducted its first atomic weapons test on August 29, 1949. Harry Truman in 1952 and Pres. As a result of this new testimony, all charges against Ruth Greenglass were dropped. 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. He also claimed that his sister Ethel's husband Julius Rosenberg had convinced David's wife Ruth to recruit him while visiting him in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1944. During the next two years, the couple became the subject of both national and international debate. John Earl Haynes, Harvey Klehr, and Alexander Vassiliev. An exoneration is what the two sons would like, the author says. 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. [22], Twenty senior government officials met secretly on February 8, 1950, to discuss the Rosenberg case. Can their sons reveal the truth? The couple met as members of the Young Communist League, married in 1939 and had two sons. The West was shocked by the speed with which the Soviets were able to stage their first nuclear test, "Joe 1", on August 29, 1949. Rhoda Laks, another attorney on the Rosenbergs' defense team, also made this argument before Judge Kaufman. Three years after the trial, on June 19th, 1953 the Rosenbergs were executed. They were persuaded to change their original stories. The cable also makes clear that the sister's husband is involved enough in espionage to have his own codename ("Antenna" and later "Liberal"). A campaign was started to try to prevent the couple's execution. Julius Rosenberg was a key Soviet spy who passed along information to the Soviet Union and recruited Manhattan Project spies. The debate over her involvement is ongoing. "Great Importance World-Wide: Presidential Decision-Making and the Executions of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. In 2021 Ethel's sons restarted the campaign to pardon Ethel, as they were more optimistic that President Biden will consider this favorably. 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. By the Army in 1945 for having lied about his membership in the biography, Michael, then yet! 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