Julius Rosenbergwas a key Soviet spy who passed along information to the Soviet Union and recruited Manhattan Project spies. The second son of read more. Corrections? [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. During the 1940s, the U. S. Army Signal Intelligence Service (SIS) conducted the Venona project. The couple met as members of the Young Communist League, married in 1939 and had two sons. A campaign was started to try to prevent the couple's execution. Ethel Greenglass worked as a clerk for some years after her graduation from high school in 1931. [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. In August of 1950, a grand jury indicted the Rosenbergs for espionage. He admitted that he had given documents to the Soviet contact, but said these had to do with defensive radar and weaponry. On July 17, 1950 the FBI arrested Julius, and one month later Ethel was arrested. FBI agents took her into custody as she left the courthouse. 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. 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. As a result of this new testimony, all charges against Ruth Greenglass were dropped. They stated Ethel was present during all meetings, typing notes for Julius. 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. [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. Their legal team worked to have the verdict overturned, but their efforts failed. 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. He later served 10 years in prison. That same year, the FBI arrested both Greenglass and Gold based on information provided by Fuchs. 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 . [26] Julius and Ethel were put under pressure to incriminate others involved in the spy ring. Harry Gold, a lab chemist and Soviet spy, passed this information to the USSR. Rhoda Laks, another attorney on the Rosenbergs' defense team, also made this argument before Judge Kaufman. 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. 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. A worldwide campaign for mercy failed, and the Rosenbergs were executed in the electric chair at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York. [41] Cinema artists such as Fritz Lang registered their protest. Ethel was arrested two months later. Her mother disowned her. McNutt was an engineer who worked at theKellexdesign bureau in New York City. There was proof, which was later produced in court. His arrest began a chain of investigations, which ultimately led to the arrest of Julius and Ethel. [16], In January 1950, the U.S. discovered that Klaus Fuchs, a German refugee theoretical physicist working for the British mission in the Manhattan Project, had given key documents to the Soviets throughout the war. Tender. A member of the Young Communist League in the early 1930s, it was through her activism with the Communist Party that she met Julius Rosenberg in 1936. His wife, born Ethel Greenglass, also in New York, on September 28, 1915, worked as a secretary. [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. They were executed in 1953. In 1933, in his early teens, he became politically inflamed after hearing a street corner orator talk about Tom Mooney, a San Francisco labor leader who, said the speaker, had been unjustly . "[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. ", "Plot to Have G.I. Her husband, Julius, had been executed a short time before her. "[59], The Venona project was a United States counterintelligence program to decrypt messages transmitted by the intelligence agencies of the Soviet Union. [11], Rosenberg provided thousands of classified reports from Emerson Radio, including a complete proximity fuse. The documents also suggest the Ethel acted as an accessory to her husbands activity, but that she did not play a principal role. Ethels own brother, David Greenglass, testified against her, in a blatant act of perjury. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. "[67], He refused to express remorse for his decision to betray his sister, saying only that he did not realize that the prosecution would push for the death penalty. They were married in 1939, by which time they were already active in the Communist Party. I find innocence quite a difficult word to use with Ethel, she says. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. 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. A letter from Michael and Robert Rosenberg pleading for the life of their parents. He believed the execution of Ethel, a young mother, would reflect negatively on both the FBI and the Justice Department. They agreed with President Dwight D. Eisenhower when he issued a statement declining to invoke executive clemency for the pair. READ MORE: Why Were the Rosenbergs Executed? "[52], At the grand jury, Ruth Greenglass was asked, "Didn't you write [the information] down on a piece of paper?" Some scholars believe thatRuth may have been the individual to type notes, due to her past involvement with the Communist Party, and conflicting statements made by David. The Rosenbergs were small fry, but the government or the FBI or both were absolutely determined to make an example of them. Neither offered any further information. Members of the communist party, the Rosenbergs were convicted of passing secret information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union in 1945. Harvard Law professorAlan Dershowitzstated that the Rosenbergs were guilty and framed, suggesting that they were spies, but that evidence was still fabricated against them, causing them to have an unjust trial and punishment. Lawyers Emanuel Bloch and Alexander Bloch defended the Rosenbergs. By 1944, Julius had recruited him to spy for the Soviets. David Greenglass, who was assigned as a machinist to the Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb, provided the Rosenbergs with data on nuclear weapons. This collection provides interesting Agency insights on this post-WWII spy case. The trial lasted for nearly one month. Ethel was arrested to put pressure on Julius and they didnt want to kill her. 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. She replied, "Yes, I wrote [the information] down on a piece of paper and [Julius Rosenberg] took it with him." Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/ AFP via Getty. [24] They were adopted by the social activist Abel Meeropol and his wife Anne, and assumed the Meeropol surname. The young couple were arrested in 1950 for . [33], In imposing the death penalty, Kaufman noted that he held the Rosenbergs responsible not only for espionage but also for American deaths in the Korean War:[34]. An American Tragedy By Anne Sebba. [30], On March 29, 1951, the Rosenbergs were convicted of espionage. I believe your conduct in putting into the hands of the Russians the A-bomb years before our best scientists predicted Russia would perfect the bomb has already caused, in my opinion, the Communist aggression in Korea, with the resultant casualties exceeding fifty thousand and who knows how many millions more of innocent people may pay the price of your treason.. Photograph: Craig F Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty. [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. 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. He was U.S. citizen and electrical engineer. Moynihan found that in 1945, physicist Hans Bethe estimated that the Soviets would be able to build their own bomb in five years. 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). Distinguished Professor of History, Baylor University. Through her activism with the Communist Party, she met Julius Rosenberg in 1936. Ethel and Julius denied all allegations of espionage, and refused to provide any names. She was absolutely judged for her appearance, Sebba says. What could he have said? 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. 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. Ethel's brother says he trumped up evidence. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were the only spies executed during the Cold War and some question whether their sentence was fair. "[70], He said that he thought the hand-drawn diagrams and other atomic-bomb details that were acquired by David Greenglass and passed to Julius were of "little value" to the Soviet Union, and were used only to corroborate what they had already learned from the other atomic spies. 8/7/1950 David Greenglass witness testimony. 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. [66], In 2001, David Greenglass recanted his testimony about his sister having typed the notes. [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. Explains that one of the most famous cases of spies was the case of ethel and julius rosenberg, who were minor activists in the american communist party and convicted of being communists. 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. 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. I think there could be some kind of exoneration, in that she was convicted on the basis of perjury, and for someone convicted on the basis of perjury, there should be a form of pardon. Many Americans, however, believed that the Rosenbergs had been dealt with justly. The case was intensely controversial, touching nerves throughout American society, and debates about the Rosenbergs continue to the present day. Robert wrote a later memoir, An Execution in the Family: One Son's Journey (2003). He then claimed that he passed this information to Julius on a New York street corner, and that Ethel was not involved. At a time when American fears about communism were high, the Rosenbergs did not receive support from mainstream Jewish organizations. And, in fact, the Rosenbergs themselves essentially believed that they had done nothing wrong in the grand scheme of things. The Soviet Union secretly conducted its first atomic weapons test on August 29, 1949. He also named Julius and Ethel Rosenberg as contacts and denied that his wife, Ruth Greenglass, was involved with any espionage activities. In 2021 Ethel's sons restarted the campaign to pardon Ethel, as they were more optimistic that President Biden will consider this favorably. Since the Rosenbergs were being charged with conspiracy, no tangible evidence was required. They were sentenced to death on April 5 under Section 2 of the Espionage Act of 1917,[31] which provides that anyone convicted of transmitting or attempting to transmit to a foreign government "information relating to the national defense" may be imprisoned for life or put to death. Sebba, who lives in Surrey, dug into archives containing Ethels letters written during the three years she spent in prison, and grand jury testimony papers of the trial. Do not let this crime against humanity take place. [43][44], The execution was delayed from the originally scheduled date of June 18, because Supreme Court Associate Justice William O. Douglas had granted a stay of execution on the previous day. I believe your conduct in putting into the hands of the Russians the A-bomb years before our best scientists predicted Russia would perfect the bomb has already caused, in my opinion, the Communist aggression in Korea, with the resultant casualties exceeding 50,000 and who knows but that millions more of innocent people may pay the price of your treason. They were persuaded to change their original stories. 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. His research relies heavily on newly released KGB files. But even graver is the thought of the millions of dead whose deaths may be directly attributable to what these spies have done.. [11] By this time, following the invasion by Nazi Germany in June 1941, the Soviet Union had become an ally of the Western powers, which included the United States after Pearl Harbor. Some people believed that the Rosenbergs were the victims of a surge of hysterical anti-communist feeling in the United States, and protested that the death sentence handed down was cruel and unusual punishment. Anne Sebbas biography of Ethel Rosenberg, a book five years in the research and writing, has just been published. [7], Julius Rosenberg was born on May 12, 1918, in New York City to a family of Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire. Nickelodeons (named for a read more, Francesca Rojas two young children are killed in their home in the small town of Necochea, Argentina. "Thanks to information provided by their agents", Moynihan wrote in his book Secrecy, "they did it in four". Case Summary. 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. Themajority of newspapersat the time in the U.S. did, however, support the death sentence, arguing that the punishment was fair. Follow Russia Beyond on Telegram. Greenglass, who himself had confessed to providing nuclear secrets to the Soviets through an intermediary, testified against his sister and brother-in-law in court. Communism in this country and Communism throughout the world. There were protest marches held around the world at their sentence, including in Ireland. [78] In October 2016, both Michael and Robert Meeropol spoke with Anderson Cooper in an interview which aired on 60 Minutes. By 1945, the Soviets considered Rosenberg and his espionage network to be providing valuable information. Nevertheless, these decryptions formed the background of U.S. government investigation and prosecutions of American communists during the Cold War period. Ethel Rosenberg was 37 and the mother of two small sons when she was executed in New York in 1953. [5][6], For decades many people including the Rosenbergs' sons (Michael and Robert Meeropol) maintained that Julius and Ethel were innocent of spying on their country and were victims of Cold War paranoia. The Rosenbergs turned over this information to Harry Gold, a Swiss-born courier for the espionage ring, who then passed it to Anatoly A. Yakovlev, the Soviet Unions vice-consul in New York City. An exoneration is what the two sons would like, the author says. 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. [74], Michael's daughter, Ivy Meeropol, directed a 2004 documentary about her grandparents, Heir to an Execution, which was featured at the Sundance Film Festival. I have spent ages agonising over that. The constitutionality and applicability of the Espionage Act of 1917, under which the Rosenbergs were tried, as well as the impartiality of the trial judge, Irving R. Kaufmanwho in pronouncing sentence had accused them of a crime worse than murderwere key issues during the appeals process. That same year, Sobell participated in an interview with theNew York Times. 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. David Greenglass received a 15 year prison sentence and was released in 1960. Feklisov learned through Rosenberg that Ethel's brother David Greenglass was working on the top-secret Manhattan Project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory; he directed Julius to recruit Greenglass. [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). Copyright 2022 by the Atomic Heritage Foundation. This request was denied. The two were frequently regarded as victims of cynical and vindictive officials of the FBI. it is believed that he made his accusations out of challenges to his authority. [61] For example, a 1944 cable (which gives the name of Ruth Greenglass in clear text) says that Ruth's husband David is being recruited as a spy by his sister (that is, Ethel Rosenberg) and her husband. She was removed from the electric chair after three charges, only for it to be discovered her heart was still beating, so, gruesomely, she had to be strapped back into it. Soviet cables were deciphered, revealing Julius codename to be LIBERAL. LIBERAL was mentioned in numerous documents. The Rosenbergs were the first American civilians to die for spying. Well yes, she replies. 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 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. He wrote Strange Fruit, a song made famous by Billie Holiday, and the royalties from that and other songs kept the family comfortable. Others question if the punishment was just for their crimes. They were executed in 1953. She describes Julius Rosenberg as a naive idealist. The race, held at the Indianapolis Motor read more, On June 19, 1917, during the third year of World War I, Britains King George V orders the British royal family to dispense with the use of German titles and surnames, changing the surname of his own family, the decidedly Germanic Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, to Windsor. The Greenglasses now claimed that Julius, with help from Ethel, recruited David into the atomic spy ring in 1944. The storefront theater boasted 96 seats and charged each patron five cents. Gold paidGreenglass $500 in exchange for information about the implosion lens in the atomic bomb. Seven different appeals reached the Supreme Court of the United States and were denied, and pleas for executive clemency were dismissed by Pres. To this day, historians and scientists debate how much espionage sped up the progress of the Soviet Unions nuclear weapons program. Ruth statedin her witness testimony: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 info immediately. The three-year Rosenberg case culminated in their execution on Friday, 19 June, 1953, just minutes before the onset of the Jewish Sabbath. The execution of New York City couple Ethel and Julius Rosenberg after their conviction for being Soviet spies was a major news event of the early 1950s. By 1942, Julius was heavily involved with espionage activities for the Soviet Union. During the trial, both Ethel and Julius pleaded the Fifth Amendment when asked repeated questions related to espionage, and when questioned about being members of the Communist Party. John Philip Jenkins; 3 1952, -, , ) , Three years after the trial, on June 19th, 1953 the Rosenbergs were executed. In 2008, the transcripts of 43 out of 46 witness testimonies before the grand jury were released, including Ruths testimony. The family moved to the Lower East Side by the time Julius was 11. Julius (1918-1953) and Ethel (1915-1953) Rosenberg were a nondescript couple accused in 1950 by the United States government of operating a Soviet spy network and giving the Soviet Union plans for the atomic bomb. Sebba says the only lesson history offers is that there are no lessons to be learned. But they would have been better advised to have said straight up, yes we are communists, but no, we are not spies.. He left the Communist Party to avoid suspicions. [35], Across the world, especially in Western European capitals, there were numerous protests with picketing and demonstrations in favor of the Rosenbergs, along with editorials in otherwise pro-American newspapers, and a plea for clemency from the Pope. It was known that some communists, such as Fuchs, had spied for the Soviets. "[56], Boris V. Brokhovich, the engineer who later became director of Chelyabinsk-40, the plutonium production reactor and extraction facility that the Soviet Union used to create its first bomb material, alleged that Khrushchev was a "silly fool". [19], Another conspirator, Morton Sobell, fled with his family to Mexico City after Greenglass was arrested. But at the trial, she testified that Ethel Rosenberg typed up notes about the atomic bomb. The documents suggest his involvement was with military and industrial espionage, rather than atomic espionage, as previously believed. Updates? On March 29 they were found guilty, and on April 5 the couple was sentenced to death. David originally had said that he had passed the atomic data he had collected to Julius on a New York street corner. [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. 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. 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