why were the rosenbergs convicted of espionage

Here's why. Her heart was still beating after three shocks and ittookthe executioner an additional two jolts to kill. Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), Leonard Detrick/NY Daily News/Getty Images, https://www.history.com/news/rosenberg-sons-admit-father-julius-guilty, Why the Rosenbergs Sons Eventually Admitted Their Father Was a Spy. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg | Eisenhower Presidential Library WebOn June 17, 1950, Julius Rosenberg was arrested on suspicion of espionage after having been named by Sgt. Julius became a leader in the Young Communist League USA while at City College of New York during the Great Depression. When Ethel is seated in the electric chair, it was clear it was the wrong size for her. That all changed in 1950 when Julius and Ethel were indicted for 11 acts of espionage. Ethels brother, David Greenglass, was instrumental in her conviction, telling a grand jury that she typed up Julius notes. 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. Greenglass first testified before a grand jury in August 1950 and he claimed that Julius Rosenberg alone had recruited him after they met on a New York street corner. [78] In October 2016, both Michael and Robert Meeropol spoke with Anderson Cooper in an interview which aired on 60 Minutes. Members of the communist party, the Rosenbergs were convicted of passing secret information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union in 1945. Both Ethel and Julius had strong leftist leanings and had been heavily involved in labor and political issues in the United States during the late-1930s and 1940s. The government charged them with spying for the Soviets. As judge Irving Kaufmansaidat the trial, These conspirators stole the most important scientific information and delivered them to the Soviet Union.. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy began publicly making enormous accusations about communist infiltration of the U.S. government. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Demonstrators at Penn Station in New York prepare to travel to Washington in order to march against the Rosenbergs death sentence. Two more electric shocks were applied, and at the conclusion eyewitnesses reported that smoke rose from her head. In court, the Rosenbergs, unlike other atomic spies, clung to their claim of innocence, making matters worse for them. Regardless of the sentences fairness, the question of their guilt remained murky for decades as well. Of course they were, they reassured them. ROSENBERG CASE. A colleague and a friend of many American scientists working on the Manhattan Project, Fuchs was transferring the developments to Moscow. Fellow New York native Julius Rosenberg was born on May 12, 1918 to Jewish immigrants who moved from Soviet Russia to Manhattans Lower East Side when he was 11. He later admitted he lied about his sisters involvement to save his wife. Two prisoners, a 35-year-old American Jew and his 37-year-old wife went to the death chamber one at a time. Du Bois and took them in a week later. Why werent the Rosenbergs executed by the federal government, considering the fact that they were convicted of federal crimes? The sentence was widely decried and those involved even took steps to avoid it but to no avail. Cohn would go on later to work for Senator Joseph McCarthy, appointed as chief counsel to the investigations subcommittee during McCarthy's tenure as chairman of the Senate Government Operations Committee. Sebba said Ethel was also judged by the media for her clothes and her demeanour. [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. And as they grew, they went on a dramatic search for answersa search that opened up even more questions about their parents past. [26] Julius and Ethel were put under pressure to incriminate others involved in the spy ring. Can their sons reveal the truth? Fuchs confessed that American Harry Gold had served as a courier for the Soviet agents to whom Fuchs passed along his information. He claimed that he was kidnapped by members of the Mexican secret police and driven to the U.S. border, where he was arrested by U.S. Erin Blakemore is a journalist from Boulder, Colorado. Get more stories that go beyond the news cycle with our weekly newsletter. "My wife is more important to me than my sister. With the Cold War setting in against the Soviet Union, and a hot war underway in Korea, the Rosenbergs stood little chance ofa fair hearing in the mainstream press, authors Frankie Y. Bailey and Steven Chermaknoted in theirbookCrimes and Trials of the Century. [68], Numerous articles were published in 2008 related to the Rosenberg case. WebJulius and Ethel Rosenberg. And with access to once top-secret documents, the author has discovered how a brother's lie, the FBI's thirst for knowledge and traditional ideas about what makes a good wife led to Ethel's conviction. [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. Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were buried at Wellwood Cemetery, a Jewish cemetery in Pinelawn, New York. After a lengthy legal battle, they got the files and scoured through them for evidence of their parents innocence. CIA officer Aldrich Ames and FBI agent Robert Hanssen were convicted under the Espionage Act for spying for the Kremlin, rare examples of the legitimate use of the legislation. Sons of executed spies Julius, Ethel Rosenberg seek documents to Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. WebCommunist party members Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were found guilty of conspiracy to commit espionage and executed in 1953 for passing intelligence about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union during WWII. He called them traitors who put into the hands of the Russians the A-bomb years before our best scientists predicted Russia would perfect the bomb. The jury had convicted them of conspiracy to commit The cable also makes clear that the sister's husband is involved enough in espionage to have his own codename ("Antenna" and later "Liberal"). [73][24], After Morton Sobell's 2008 confession, they acknowledged their father had been involved in espionage, but said that whatever atomic bomb information he passed to the Russians was, at best, superfluous, that the case was riddled with prosecutorial and judicial misconduct, that their mother was convicted on flimsy evidence to place leverage on her husband, and that neither deserved the death penalty. WebLeonard Detrick/NY Daily News/Getty Images Michael Rosenberg was listening to The Lone Ranger on the radio when his entire world crumbled. Sebba said the prosecution during the trial used traditional ideas about femininity to convince the jury that women like Ethel were dangerous. Espionage Act of 1917. [49], The funeral services were held in Brooklyn on June 21. As for Julius, Feklisov said the information he gave Moscow was almost useless. The family moved to the Lower East Side by the time Julius was 11. Communism in this country and communism throughout the world.. 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. READ MORE:Why Were the Rosenbergs Executed? But as the case became a national phenomenon, she tried to send them to other relativesall of whom refused to take them in. The American pair were executed for smuggling atomic secrets to the USSR. The Soviets also were relentless when it came to their enemies. 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. In 2021 Ethel's sons restarted the campaign to pardon Ethel, as they were more optimistic that President Joe Biden will consider this favorably. But his sons believe that though Julius did steal nuclear secrets, the information wasnt of much value. With his intel, the whole ring quickly collapsed. Finally, they proved Julius Rosenberg was indeed a spy (his codename was LIBERAL). [46] The Times reported that 500 people attended, while some 10,000 stood outside:[50], The bodies had been brought from Sing Sing prison by the national "Rosenberg committee" which undertook the funeral arrangements, and an all-night vigil was held in one of the largest mortuary chapels in Brooklyn. "Communism [is] a discredited mirage of philosophy nowadays but in 1936, communism, apart from being an idealistic way [for] people like Ethel [to improve]the lot of the poor, [it] was also the only way to beat the Fascists and the Nazis, who were really flexing their muscles in that year," Sebba said. 1977. They continue to campaign for Ethel to be posthumously legally exonerated. He said the Soviets had developed their own bomb by trial and error. This is the tangled story that shook a nation. Most U.S. newspapers believed it was fair punishment, while European publications and citizens generally did not. Both countries were hungry for each other's secrets. Many hundreds of people filed past the biers. HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. But 65 years later, questions still linger. In 1939, he graduated with a degree in electrical engineering. After Semyonov was recalled to Moscow in 1944 his duties were taken over by Feklisov. In 1995 American lawyer Alan Dershowitz pointed out in the Los Angeles Times that the Rosenbergs had been guilty and framed. Herecalledconversations with attorneys who had taken part in the trial. Their story didnt end with their parents deaths.
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