[25], On August 11, Ethel Rosenberg testified before a grand jury. Distinguished Professor of History, Baylor University. He stated that Julius asked him to help provide secrets about atomic weapons so that Julius could pass on the information to the USSR. I think she was clearly innocent of the charges but, on the other hand, I think she was supportive of Julius. Dwight Eisenhower in 1953. 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.. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! In early 1953, he wrote a letter to President Eisenhower, requesting that Ethel and Julius sentences be commuted to prison. Julius Rosenberg was an engineer for the U.S. Army Signal Corps who was born in New York on May 12, 1918. [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. Fuchs was charged with violating the Official Secrets Act, and he confessed to spying for the Soviet Union. There were no confessions, no names produced of other Americans spying for the Soviets, and no admission of guilt by either Rosenberg. This April 5, 1951, Universal Newsreel reports on the death penalty for Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. Getty Images. Ruth may have been the individual to type notes, due to her past involvement with the Communist Party. 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. [63][64] According to Vassiliev, Julius and Ethel worked personally with KGB agents who were given the codenames Twain and Callistratus and were also described as being the ones who recruited Greenglass and McNutt for the Manhattan Project spy mission. [72], The notebooks make clear that the KGB considered Julius Rosenberg an effective agent and his wife Ethel an enthusiastic supporter of his work. Well yes, she replies. On July 17, 1950 the FBI arrested Julius, and one month later Ethel was arrested. "[57], The notes allegedly typed by Ethel apparently contained little that was directly used in the Soviet atomic bomb project. He was discharged when the U.S. Army discovered his previous membership in the Communist Party. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, following their arrest by the FBI in New York city for espionage, 1950. The boys went on to make successful careers in economics and law, and have families of their own. 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. [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. Many people around the world believed them. "[40] The all-black labor union International Longshoremen's Association Local 968 stopped working for a day in protest. Julius Rosenberg, arrest photograph, 17th of July, 1950. Theodore Hallis one example. They stated Ethel was present during all meetings, typing notes for Julius. Under Feklisov's supervision, Rosenberg recruited sympathetic individuals into NKVD service, including Joel Barr, Alfred Sarant, William Perl, and Morton Sobell, also an engineer. ", "Plot to Have G.I. 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. [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. Mr. Bloch [their counsel], who delivered one of the main orations, bitterly exclaimed that America was "living under the heel of a military dictator garbed in civilian attire": the Rosenbergs were "Sweet. What could he have said? (Sobell and Gold received 30-year prison terms, and Greenglass, who was tried separately, was sentenced to 15 years in prison.) An exoneration is what the two sons would like, the author says. The documents suggest his involvement was with military and industrial espionage, rather than atomic espionage, as previously believed. In contrast to the American media, European newspapers did not support the ruling, and there were some protests against it throughout Europe. Harry Gold, a lab chemist and Soviet spy, passed this information to the USSR. [70], In a subsequent letter to The New York Times, Sobell denied that he knew anything about Julius Rosenberg's alleged atomic espionage activities, and that the only thing he knew for sure was what he himself did in association with Julius Rosenberg. For this success Rosenberg received a $100 bonus. 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. 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. Ethels execution was botched. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, American communists, executed after having been found guilty of conspiracy to commit espionage. 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 . Copyright 2022 by the Atomic Heritage Foundation. In 2021 Ethel's sons restarted the campaign to pardon Ethel, as they were more optimistic that President Biden will consider this favorably. The case against Ethel in particular was rather . 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. [52][53][54], Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, vice-chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, investigated how much the Soviet spy ring helped the USSR to build their bomb. He said, "I frankly think my wife did the typing, but I don't remember. [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. 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. Due to the recent evidence provided by Sobells interview, witness testimonies, and the Venona documents, calls have been made for Ethels exoneration. 32), executed by the federal government of the United States, National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Deputy Attorney General of the United States, Capital punishment by the United States federal government, List of people executed by the United States federal government, "What the K.G.B. 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. But this testimony was not shown to lawyers during the Rosenbergs trial. Later, Ethels brother, Sgt. In 1939, he graduated with a degree in electrical engineering. Ethel's brother says he trumped up evidence. Since the Rosenbergs were being charged with conspiracy, no tangible evidence was required. (review of. 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. Greenglass passed information to Julius, including information about the high explosive lenses being developed at Los Alamos for the implosion bomb. By 1942, Julius was heavily involved with espionage activities for the Soviet Union. The trial of the Rosenbergs became a political event of greater importance than any damage they may have done to the United States. In the intervening decades, it has since been conclusively proved that David Greenglass committed perjury against his own sister. 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. [47] The defense's strategy backfired. 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. [7], Julius Rosenberg was born on May 12, 1918, in New York City to a family of Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire. [48], On June 19, 1953, Julius died after the first electric shock. Ethel Rosenberg was 37 and the mother of two small sons when she was executed in New York in 1953. [49], The funeral services were held in Brooklyn on June 21. Much has been written of Julius Rosenberg, but little about his doomed wife. According to Rojas, a man named Velasquez had threatened her when she rejected his sexual advances earlier in the day. Venona documentsproved that Julius Rosenberg helped lead a productive ring of Soviet spies. Just ten days before the start of the Rosenbergs trial in February 1951, David Greenglass re-testified, and changed his original statements. Okay, I am a spy, but my wife isnt? In June 1953, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for conspiracy to commit espionage under the U.S. They hoped merely by arresting her on these trumped-up charges, surely Julius would talk, because thats what everyone else had done.. The Rosenberg Case. All Rights Reserved. [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. 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. He said Julius had passed secrets and thus linked him to the Soviet contact agent Anatoli Yakovlev. The cable also makes clear that the sister's husband is involved enough in espionage to have his own codename ("Antenna" and later "Liberal"). Timeline of Events Relating to the Rosenberg Trial. I ask if she can think of a modern equivalent of Ethels predicament: incarceration by association. Ethel Rosenberg: A Cold War Tragedy by Anne Sebba was published by Orion Books on 24 June 2021.[24][82]. Do not let this crime against humanity take place. 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. Sebba says the only lesson history offers is that there are no lessons to be learned. The minutes count. She didnt cry in public, and the media gleefully judged her unfeeling and, by implication, guilty of the accused crime, as a result. But they would have been better advised to have said straight up, yes we are communists, but no, we are not spies.. 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. They married in 1939. They were both found guilty of the crimes of espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union. [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. Many hundreds of people filed past the biers. The FBI arrested Greenglass for espionage in June of 1950. Soviet cables were deciphered, revealing Julius codename to be LIBERAL. LIBERAL was mentioned in numerous documents. Would they have believed him? The documents also suggest the Ethel acted as an accessory to her husbands activity, but that she did not play a principal role. Venona Documents from the National Security Archive. Despite these fears, the trial of the Rosenbergs produced mixed reactions among the public. [8], Ethel Greenglass was born on September 28, 1915, to a Jewish family in Manhattan, New York City. The Venona project documents were still highly classified at the time of the trial and therefore could not be used as evidence. "[52], At the grand jury, Ruth Greenglass was asked, "Didn't you write [the information] down on a piece of paper?" But when he was arrested, his wifes arrest also followed soon after, although there was no proof of any active espionage involvement on her part. 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. They took assumed names and he tried to figure out a way to reach Europe without a passport. Due to the Greenglass August 1950 testimony, and no tangible evidence, there was a weak case against Ethel for her alleged involvement. 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. READ MORE: Why Were the Rosenbergs Executed? Anne Sebbas biography of Ethel Rosenberg, a book five years in the research and writing, has just been published. The Greenglasses never withdrew their new testimony. Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, orig. In the early 1930s, Ethel became a member of the Young Communist League. 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. 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. 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. These transcripts revealed the contradictions between the Greenglasses testimony before the grand jury and during the trial. 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 . [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. In 1949, the U.S. Army Signal Intelligence Service (SIS) discovered that Fuchs was a Soviet spy. In his viewpoint, Ethel was only minimally involved and therefore her execution was unjust. Julius and Ethels children, Michael and Robert, maintain that their mother was innocent and have created anonline petitionto exonerate her. All other appeals were also unsuccessful. The request was denied. He admitted that he had given documents to the Soviet contact, but said these had to do with defensive radar and weaponry. 8/7/1950 David Greenglass witness testimony. President Eisenhower, supported by public opinion and the media at home, ignored the overseas demands. [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. Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox. 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. 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. Robert and his brother, Michael, asked president Obama to pardon their mother. For two years the Rosenberg case was appealed through the courts and before world opinion. 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. He was 51. In this testimony he named Julius and claimed he was recruited to join the Soviet spy ring by him. It was never in doubt that Julius Rosenberg had conducted acts of espionage. During his bachelor party at a club on the night of June 19, Chin and three friends were read more, On June 15, 2006, on the remote island of Spitsbergen halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole, the prime ministers of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland lay the ceremonial first stone of the Global Seed Vault. [80][81] 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. "[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. There was no compassion.. Can their sons reveal the truth? And she was the mother of my children. Neither offered any further information. The subsequent trial of the Rosenbergs made news all over the world. Some scholars suggest that the chances of Ethel being executed would have been less likely had Venona documents been unclassified and used in the trial. Espionage Act of 1917. [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. 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. Browse pg9767.kgb resources on Teachers Pay Teachers, a marketplace trusted by millions of teachers for original educational resources. "[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. Communism in this country and Communism throughout the world. 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. Both were members of the Communist Party, with Julius being the far more active member. Klaus Fuchs, a German scientist working in Los Alamos, was convicted in the United Kingdom. The direct evidence of the Rosenbergs involvement came from the confessions and testimonies of David and Ruth Greenglass. She replied, "Yes, I wrote [the information] down on a piece of paper and [Julius Rosenberg] took it with him." Because of the Venona documents, they now believe that Julius was a Soviet spy. Many individuals still question whether or not there was enough valid evidence used during the trial to convict and execute the Rosenbergs. Ethel and Julius Rosenberg sitting in police van after being convicted of espionage. [45], The execution was scheduled for 11p.m. that evening, during the Sabbath, which begins and ends around sunset. Some of the individuals who worked on the Manhattan Project were spies and provided valuable information on the design of the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. The attorneys appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court nine times, but the Court never reviewed the record. ", In 1953, socialist historian W. E. B. 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. Lawyers Emanuel Bloch and Alexander Bloch defended the Rosenbergs. It was the wrong advice to them to go on pleading the Fifth Amendment because it made it seem as if they were on trial for being communists, which at some subliminal level, of course they were. In the years after the Rosenbergs executions, there was significant debate about their guilt. Ethel and Julius denied all allegations of espionage, and refused to provide any names. The family moved to the Lower East Side by the time Julius was 11. He had been recruited to spy for the Soviet Union which was far from uncommon in those days and he subsequently passed on information about what was happening at Fort Monmouth. [18][19], On July 17, 1950, Julius Rosenberg was arrested on suspicion of espionage[20] based on David Greenglass's confession. This connection would be necessary as evidence if there was to be a conviction for espionage of the Rosenbergs. O n June 19, 1953, Ethel Rosenberg was electrocuted, having been found guilty of conspiracy to commit espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union. McNutt's employment provided access to secrets about processes for manufacturing weapons-grade uranium. 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. Some scholars argue that if it would have been possible to use Venona documents in court, both Hall and McNutt would have been revealed as spies and prosecuted, along with Greenglass and Fuchs. They could not be charged for treason since the U.S. was not at war with the USSR. Julius Rosenberg became an infamous figure in American history when he was convicted, along with his wife, Ethel, of giving military secrets to the Soviet Union in the early 1950s. Through her activism with the Communist Party, she met Julius Rosenberg in 1936. read more, When the clock struck midnight on June 19, 2014, King Juan Carlos I of Spains nearly 40-year reign came to an end. Their time at high school intersected briefly - Ethel was nearly. In 1940, Julius joined the U.S. Army Signal Corps as a civilian engineer. 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. They were convicted of Conspiracy to Commit Espionage in one of the most hotly-debated trials in U.S. history. The children say that their father did not deserve the death penalty and that their mother was wrongly convicted. They married in 1939. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. The son of working-class read more. [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. They provided top-secret information about American radar, sonar, jet propulsion engines, and valuable nuclear weapon designs. He was U.S. citizen and electrical engineer. How much does Sebba think that Ethel knew? They agreed with President Dwight D. Eisenhower when he issued a statement declining to invoke executive clemency for the pair. John Seven Sep 19, 2018 Julius and Ethel Rosenberg who. In 2008, the National Archives of the United States published most of the grand jury testimony related to the prosecution of the Rosenbergs. Her mother disowned her. Nevertheless, these decryptions formed the background of U.S. government investigation and prosecutions of American communists during the Cold War period. Or my mother or my father, OK? 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. Julius Rosenbergwas a key Soviet spy who passed along information to the Soviet Union and recruited Manhattan Project spies. 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