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. [8], Ethel Greenglass was born on September 28, 1915, to a Jewish family in Manhattan, New York City. Agent Plays Down Atomic Role Of Rosenbergs", "The September 21, 1944 cable: The Rosenbergs and the Greenglasses", "In This True-Life Spy Story, It's America vs. Russia, the Early Years", "Grasping at Straws to Try to Exonerate Ethel Rosenberg", "Why Ethel Rosenberg Should Not Be Exonerated", "Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America", "David Greenglass, the Brother Who Doomed Ethel Rosenberg, Dies at 92", "Witness Changed Her Story During Rosenberg Spy Case", "For First Time, Figure in Rosenberg Case Admits Spying for Soviets", "Father Was a Spy, Sons Conclude With Regret", "My Parents Were Executed Under the Unconstitutional Espionage Act", "The Meeropol Brothers: Exonerate Our Mother, Ethel Rosenberg", "The Meeropol brothers: Exonerate our mother, Ethel Rosenberg", "The Rosenberg boys: The Cold War's most famous orphans", "Sen. Warren joins call for Ethel Rosenberg's exoneration", "Warren, Neal ask Obama to consider pardoning Ethel Rosenberg" (, "Flashback: Hear Bob Dylan's Lost 1983 Song 'Julius and Ethel', "Billy Joel We Didn't Start the Fire Lyrics", "David Greenglass grand jury testimony transcript", "Secret Grand Jury Testimony From Ethel Rosenberg's Brother Is Released", Learn how and when to remove this template message, Guide to the Playscript about the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Espionage Trial, An Interactive Rosenberg Espionage Ring Timeline and Archive. Because of the Venona documents, they now believe that Julius was a Soviet spy. But at the trial, she testified that Ethel Rosenberg typed up notes about the atomic bomb. There are some conflicting assessments among historians regarding the outcome of the Rosenberg trial. After she was given the normal course of three electric shocks, attendants removed the strapping and other equipment only to have doctors determine that Ethel's heart was still beating. On April 5, Judge Kaufman sentenced them to death, and sentenced Sobell to 30 years in prison. [11], In February 1944, Rosenberg succeeded in recruiting a second source of Manhattan Project information, engineer Russell McNutt, who worked on designs for the plants at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Description Following World War II, tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States . At a time when American fears about communism were high, the Rosenbergs did not receive support from mainstream Jewish organizations. Gordon Dean, the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, said: "It looks as though Rosenberg is the kingpin of a very large ring, and if there is any way of breaking him by having the shadow of a death penalty over him, we want to do it." His research relies heavily on newly released KGB files. 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. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, American communists, executed after having been found guilty of conspiracy to commit espionage. 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. 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. (review of. Schneir argues that Ruth worked alone and met with a Soviet agent to deliver a sketch of a bomb, which was placed in a KGB file center on December 27, 1945. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/ AFP via Getty. 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 . For two years the Rosenberg case was appealed through the courts and before world opinion. Another conspirator, Morton Sobell, a college classmate of Julius Rosenberg, fled to Mexico but was extradited. They were charged with conspiracy and providing atomic secrets to the USSR. [39] Einstein and Urey pleaded with President Truman to pardon the Rosenbergs. [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. She knew what he was doing She was complicit merely by knowing, so thats why they charged them with conspiracy to commit espionage.. David Greenglass received a 15 year prison sentence and was released in 1960. But this testimony was not shown to lawyers during the Rosenbergs trial. Fuchs was charged with violating the Official Secrets Act, and he confessed to spying for the Soviet Union. 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. Martin J. Manning and Clarence R. Wyatt, eds. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. 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. Their trial remains controversial today. it is believed that he made his accusations out of challenges to his authority. By 1942, Julius was heavily involved with espionage activities for the Soviet Union. And she was the mother of my children. [1][2][3][4], Other convicted co-conspirators were sentenced to prison, including Ethel's brother, David Greenglass (who had made a plea agreement), Harry Gold, and Morton Sobell. He stated that Julius asked him to help provide secrets about atomic weapons so that Julius could pass on the information to the USSR. Harry Gold, a lab chemist and Soviet spy, passed this information to the USSR. Chin died in a hospital four days later, on June 23. 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. ", In 1953, socialist historian W. E. B. Lawyers Emanuel Bloch and Alexander Bloch defended the Rosenbergs. Many Americans who were politically left-wing believed the Rosenbergs were persecuted solely for their past involvement with the Communist Party. Espionage Act of 1917. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were the only spies executed during the Cold War and some question whether their sentence was fair. Whether it was fair or not, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were the only two American civilians who were executed for espionage-related crimes during the entire Cold War. Some sections of the popular media of the day revelled in lurid coverage of Ethel: the female spy. 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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. [45], The execution was scheduled for 11p.m. that evening, during the Sabbath, which begins and ends around sunset. Her husband, Julius, had been executed a short time before her. According to Rojas, a man named Velasquez had threatened her when she rejected his sexual advances earlier in the day. To this day, historians and scientists debate how much espionage sped up the progress of the Soviet Unions nuclear weapons program. Neither President Truman nor President Eisenhower granted requests to remove the death sentence. The storefront theater boasted 96 seats and charged each patron five cents. Not answering questions proved to be problematic for the Rosenbergs because during theera of McCarthyism, many believed that the refusal to answer questions was an admission of guilt and involvement with the Communist Party. 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. They were convicted and executed in 1953. [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. [30], On March 29, 1951, the Rosenbergs were convicted of espionage. Tender. "[52], At the grand jury, Ruth Greenglass was asked, "Didn't you write [the information] down on a piece of paper?" (Sobell and Gold received 30-year prison terms, and Greenglass, who was tried separately, was sentenced to 15 years in prison.) The cable also makes clear that the sister's husband is involved enough in espionage to have his own codename ("Antenna" and later "Liberal"). [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. 2009 Vassiliev notebooks based on KGB archives. 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. All other appeals were also unsuccessful. He said, "I frankly think my wife did the typing, but I don't remember. READ MORE: Why Were the Rosenbergs Executed? 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. This April 5, 1951, Universal Newsreel reports on the death penalty for Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. The Rosenbergs supported communism Ethel Greenglass was born to a Jewish family in 1915 in New York. After Semyonov was recalled to Moscow in 1944 his duties were taken over by Feklisov. National Museum of Nuclear Science & History. [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. The second son of read more. The Meeropols were both teachers, and Abel was also a lyricist. "We got nothing from the Rosenbergs. They could not be charged for treason since the U.S. was not at war with the USSR. The direct evidence of the Rosenbergs involvement came from the confessions and testimonies of David and Ruth Greenglass. "[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. Theodore Hallis one example. As a result of this new testimony, all charges against Ruth Greenglass were dropped. 2023 A&E Television Networks, LLC. 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. There were no confessions, no names produced of other Americans spying for the Soviets, and no admission of guilt by either Rosenberg. The attorneys appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court nine times, but the Court never reviewed the record. Soviet cables were deciphered, revealing Julius codename to be LIBERAL. LIBERAL was mentioned in numerous documents. The Rosenbergs are still the only Americans ever put to death in peacetime for espionage, and Ethel is the only American woman killed by the US government for a crime other than murder. Greenglass served in the ArmysSpecial Engineer Detachment (SED), and was a machinist at Los Alamos. "[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". Later, Ethels brother, Sgt. "Injustice", Sutton Publishing. The young journalist [Raman Pratsevich] arrested in Belarus with his girlfriend [Sofia Sapega]. For this success Rosenberg received a $100 bonus. Or Black Despair? Ethel was arrested to put pressure on Julius and they didnt want to kill her. She originally was an aspiring actress and singer, but eventually took a secretarial job at a shipping company. Julius Rosenberg was a key Soviet spy who passed along information to the Soviet Union and recruited Manhattan Project spies. "[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. He also worked withKlaus Fuchs, a physicist at Los Alamos and Soviet spy, to pass on atomic research secrets. Anne Sebbas biography of Ethel Rosenberg, a book five years in the research and writing, has just been published. [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]. They were executed in 1953. In the intervening decades, it has since been conclusively proved that David Greenglass committed perjury against his own sister. 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. 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. 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. [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. In August of 1950, a grand jury indicted the Rosenbergs for espionage. I think he believed there was no evidence against him, which was not the case.. [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. The Greenglasses never withdrew their new testimony. Author of. [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 early 1953, he wrote a letter to President Eisenhower, requesting that Ethel and Julius sentences be commuted to prison. A mix of June and 19th, Juneteenth has become a day to commemorate the end of slavery in America. They claim:The Greenglasses lies were necessary to obtain Ethels conviction; the K.G.B. Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. They provided top-secret information about American radar, sonar, jet propulsion engines, and valuable nuclear weapon designs. The two were frequently regarded as victims of cynical and vindictive officials of the FBI. All rights reserved. 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. In the scant three years between her arrest and. Espionage was a major concern for the United States government during the Manhattan Project. He also named Julius and Ethel Rosenberg as contacts and denied that his wife, Ruth Greenglass, was involved with any espionage activities. Except that is not what happened. (The former was released as the motion picture Daniel in 1983.) [49], The funeral services were held in Brooklyn on June 21. 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 . I have spent ages agonising over that. He also said that he believed Ethel Rosenberg was aware of her husband's deeds, but took no part in them. Some reports claim that the Rosenbergs were offered a plea deal, where admittance of their guilt would grant them a prison sentence. In 2008, the National Archives of the United States published most of the grand jury testimony related to the prosecution of the Rosenbergs. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. 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. The documents also suggest the Ethel acted as an accessory to her husbands activity, but that she did not play a principal role. [19], Another conspirator, Morton Sobell, fled with his family to Mexico City after Greenglass was arrested. Much has been written of Julius Rosenberg, but little about his doomed wife. "[51], The Rosenbergs were the only American civilians executed for espionage during the Cold War. [22], Twenty senior government officials met secretly on February 8, 1950, to discuss the Rosenberg case. [78] In October 2016, both Michael and Robert Meeropol spoke with Anderson Cooper in an interview which aired on 60 Minutes. Nickelodeons (named for a read more, Francesca Rojas two young children are killed in their home in the small town of Necochea, Argentina. 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. Julius Rosenberg was an engineer for the U.S. Army Signal Corps who was born in New York on May 12, 1918. Decrypted cables revealed this information through theVenona project. Despite massive, worldwide protest, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were executed on June 19, 1953, at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, NY. 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. forces. 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. Under Feklisov's supervision, Rosenberg recruited sympathetic individuals into NKVD service, including Joel Barr, Alfred Sarant, William Perl, and Morton Sobell, also an engineer. This request was denied. [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). Follow Russia Beyond on Telegram. The Rosenbergs vigorously protested their innocence, but after a brief trial that began on March 6, 1951, and attracted much media attention, the couple was convicted. [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. Both Rosenbergs were sensationally sentenced to death by electrocution. All 119 References in We Didnt Start the Fire, Explained, Spies Like Us: 10 Famous Names in the Espionage Game, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Julius-Rosenberg-and-Ethel-Rosenberg, Atomic Heritage Foundation - The Rosenberg Trial, Spartacus Educational - The Trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, Famous Trials - Trial Of The Rosenbergs: An Account, Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up), Communist Party of the United States of America. Ethel Rosenberg was 37 and the mother of two small sons when she was executed in New York in 1953. A plea deal, where admittance of their guilt would grant them a prison sentence granted! 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