They were convicted of Conspiracy to Commit Espionage in one of the most hotly-debated trials in U.S. history. [17], On June 15, 1950, David Greenglass was arrested by the FBI for espionage and soon confessed to having passed secret information on to the USSR through Gold. This connection would be necessary as evidence if there was to be a conviction for espionage of the Rosenbergs. For all questions, she asserted her right to not answer as provided by the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination. There are some conflicting assessments among historians regarding the outcome of the Rosenberg trial. Meeropol, Michael, " 'A Spy Who Turned His Family In': Revisiting David Greenglass and the Rosenberg Case,", This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 07:05. In this testimony he named Julius and claimed he was recruited to join the Soviet spy ring by him. But even graver is the thought of the millions of dead whose deaths may be directly attributable to what these spies have done.. The Rosenberg children were permitted to visit their parents during their incarceration. A campaign was started to try to prevent the couple's execution. This declassified information included a trove of decoded Soviet cables (code-name: Venona), which detailed Julius's role as a courier and recruiter for the Soviets, and information about Ethel's role as an accessory who helped recruit her brother David into the spy ring and did clerical tasks such as typing up documents that Julius then passed to the Soviets. She also interviewed both Michael and Robby, the Rosenbergs sons, now in their 70s. The Greenglasses now claimed that Julius, with help from Ethel, recruited David into the atomic spy ring in 1944. His wife, born Ethel Greenglass, also in New York, on September 28, 1915, worked as a secretary. Key to the prosecution's case was testimony by Ethel's . Or my mother or my father, OK? There was no compassion.. Julius Rosenberg was an engineer for the U.S. Army Signal Corps who was born in New York on May 12, 1918. [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. The subsequent trial of the Rosenbergs made news all over the world. [65][63][64], The messages decoded by the Venona project were not made public during the Rosenbergs' trial, which relied instead on testimony from their collaborators. The engineers worked at top electronic firms, and they passed on confidential and useful information to the Soviet Union. In exchange for this new testimony, Ruth was permitted to remain with their children and care for them. [79] In January 2017 Senator Elizabeth Warren sent Obama a letter requesting consideration of the exoneration request. [75], Their sons' current position is that Julius was legally guilty of the conspiracy charge, though not of atomic spying, while Ethel was only generally aware of his activities. That same year, Sobell participated in an interview with theNew York Times. McNutt's employment provided access to secrets about processes for manufacturing weapons-grade uranium. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, American communists, executed after having been found guilty of conspiracy to commit espionage. Some atomic scientists have claimed that the information David and Julius passed along would not have been of great importance to the USSR because it was incomplete and not very detailed. I ask if she can think of a modern equivalent of Ethels predicament: incarceration by association. Documents cover, among many other topics, US intelligence activities, including FBI-CIA cooperation; USSR intelligence activities; the Rosenberg espionage network's collection against the US atomic energy program; their attempts to protect the network as US . In 2014, five historians concluded thatSoviet documents show Ethel was actively involved and attended meetings with Julius and his sources, but that there is no evidence to suggest she typed specific notes. They could not be charged for treason since the U.S. was not at war with the USSR. Important research on electronics, communications, radar and guided missile controls was undertaken at Fort Monmouth during World War II. He confirmed that Julius Rosenberg was "in a conspiracy that delivered to the Soviets classified military and industrial information [on] the atomic bomb," and "He never told me about anything else that he was engaged in. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). But they would have been better advised to have said straight up, yes we are communists, but no, we are not spies.. Now, however, Greenglass claimed that this exchange occurred in the living room of the Rosenbergs New York apartment, and that Ethel was present. "You sat the Rosenbergs in the electric chair for nothing", he said. In 2008, the National Archives of the United States published most of the grand jury testimony related to the prosecution of the Rosenbergs. 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. The storefront theater boasted 96 seats and charged each patron five cents. He stated that he and Julius passed military and industrial information to the Soviet Union, hoping it would help them defeat the Nazis in World War II. [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. 2006. In the following year Julius obtained a job as a civilian engineer with the U.S. Army Signal Corps, and he and Ethel began working together to disclose U.S. military secrets to the Soviet Union. 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. I have spent ages agonising over that. The American pair were . After learning about the trial and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, read about the Lavender Scare, the U.S. government's anti-gay purge. Would they have believed him? Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Timeline of Events Relating to the Rosenberg Trial. Ethel Greenglass, (respectively, born Sept. 28, 1915, New York, N.Y., U.S.died June 19, 1953, Ossining, N.Y.; born May 12, 1918, New York, N.Y., U.S.died June 19, 1953, Ossining, N.Y.), U.S. spies. I think she was clearly innocent of the charges but, on the other hand, I think she was supportive of Julius. All other appeals were also unsuccessful. When she married Julius Rosenberg in 1939, the year he earned a degree in electrical engineering, the two were already active members of the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA). [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). Ronald Radoshconcludes, after Sobells 2008 confessions, that the Rosenbergs were Soviet spies. 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. Fuchs identified his courier as American Harry Gold, who was arrested on May 23, 1950. [18][19], On July 17, 1950, Julius Rosenberg was arrested on suspicion of espionage[20] based on David Greenglass's confession. Opines that mccarthyism caused chaos in america. 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There was genuine fear that the Russians and Stalin would launch an atom bomb on America. Can their sons reveal the truth? Both refused to admit any wrongdoing and proclaimed their innocence right up to the time of their deaths, by the electric chair. The Rosenbergs were the first American civilians to die for spying. 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? They agreed with President Dwight D. Eisenhower when he issued a statement declining to invoke executive clemency for the pair. Trial and Execution. Julius and Ethels children, Michael and Robert, maintain that their mother was innocent and have created anonline petitionto exonerate her. A country prepared to flout the law, to instil fear, and to also arrest his girlfriend: does that not strike you as terrifying?, She was removed from the electric chair after three charges, only for it to be discovered her heart was still beating. An American Tragedy By Anne Sebba. [10], According to a 2001 book by his former handler Alexander Feklisov, Rosenberg was originally recruited to spy for the interior ministry of the Soviet Union, NKVD, on Labor Day 1942 by former spymaster Semyon Semyonov. 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. She was impassive in court, and poorly turned out, due to the fact they had very little money: Julius Rosenberg embarked upon espionage for his ideals, not for monetary reward. Some reports claim that the Rosenbergs were offered a plea deal, where admittance of their guilt would grant them a prison sentence. Lawyers Emanuel Bloch and Alexander Bloch defended the Rosenbergs. [48], On June 19, 1953, Julius died after the first electric shock. In February 1950, Fuchs was arrested in the United Kingdom. He also said that he believed Ethel Rosenberg was aware of her husband's deeds, but took no part in them. All Rights Reserved. "We got nothing from the Rosenbergs. 8/7/1950 David Greenglass witness testimony. The US government offered to spare the lives of both Julius and Ethel if Julius provided the names of other spies and they admitted their guilt. [78] In October 2016, both Michael and Robert Meeropol spoke with Anderson Cooper in an interview which aired on 60 Minutes. Files Show About Ethel Rosenberg", "The New York Times Gets Greenglass Wrong", "Greenglass, in Prison, Vows to Kin He Told Truth about Rosenbergs", "National Archives of the United States of America", "Rosenberg Atomic Espionage Spy Case Chronology", "The Rosenbergs were executed for spying in 1953. They were orphaned by the executions and were not adopted by their many aunts or uncles, although they initially spent time under the care of their grandmothers and in a children's home. They took assumed names and he tried to figure out a way to reach Europe without a passport. 2023 A&E Television Networks, LLC. Here's the story of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Two weeks after abdicating the Spanish throne amidst sagging approval ratings, Juan Carlos symbolically removed his red sashsignifying his status as leader of the read more, On June 19, 2013, James Gandolfini, the actor best known for his role as New Jersey crime boss Tony Soprano on the TV series The Sopranos, which debuted in 1999 and ran for six seasons, dies of a heart attack while vacationing in Rome, Italy. The Venona project documents were still highly classified at the time of the trial and therefore could not be used as evidence. And she was the mother of my children. Robert wrote a later memoir, An Execution in the Family: One Son's Journey (2003). 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. [62] Ethel did not have a codename,[24] however, KGB messages which were contained in the Venona project's Vassiliev files, and which were not made public until 2009,[63][64] revealed that both Ethel and Julius had regular contact with at least two KGB agents and were active in recruiting not only Ethel's brother David Greenglass, but also another Manhattan Project spy named Russell McNutt. In 2008, the transcripts of 43 out of 46 witness testimonies before the grand jury were released, including Ruths testimony. On July 17, 1950 the FBI arrested Julius, and one month later Ethel was arrested. The Soviet Union secretly conducted its first atomic weapons test on August 29, 1949. (. At this time, Greenglass worked at Los Alamos. 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. They were married in 1939, by which time they were already active in the Communist Party. Members of the communist party, the Rosenbergs were convicted of passing secret information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union in 1945. Indeed, by your betrayal you undoubtedly have altered the course of history to the disadvantage of our country. And the newspapers reported that because she was tougher, she needed more of a jolt. Due to Red Scare trials and newspaper headlines, Americans in the 1940s, and 1950s knew that Soviet espionage was serious. President Eisenhower, supported by public opinion and the media at home, ignored the overseas demands. Many Americans, however, believed that the Rosenbergs had been dealt with justly. Neither President Truman nor President Eisenhower granted requests to remove the death sentence. This new testimony, now against Julius and Ethel, was part of a deal granted to the Greenglasses. Many of these decoded messages identified Soviet spies within the Manhattan Project. The couple were the only two American civilians to be executed for the crime of espionage during the Cold War.. Their case has been at the center of the controversy over communism in the United States ever since, with supporters . Ruth joined the Young Communist League (YCL) after graduating high school. He later served 10 years in prison. In June 1953, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for conspiracy to commit espionage under the U.S. Updates? The trial and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg was certainly dramatic. [13][14], The USSR and the U.S. were allies during World War II, but the Americans did not share information with, or seek assistance from, the Soviet Union regarding the Manhattan Project. She had the unhappy distinction of being the first woman in the US to be executed for a crime other than murder. "Plain, deliberate, contemplated murder is dwarfed in. [49], The funeral services were held in Brooklyn on June 21. The direct evidence of the Rosenbergs involvement came from the confessions and testimonies of David and Ruth Greenglass. Julius Rosenberg was arrested on suspicion of espionage on June 17, 1950, and accused of heading a spy ring that passed top-secret information concerning the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. Login ) January 2017 Senator Elizabeth Warren sent Obama a letter requesting consideration of millions... The Family: one Son 's Journey ( 2003 ) June 1953, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed a. 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