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. 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. He believed the execution of Ethel, a young mother, would reflect negatively on both the FBI and the Justice Department. 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. Or Black Despair? Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. They married in 1939. [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. Copyright 2022 by the Atomic Heritage Foundation. Trial and Execution. 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. She also interviewed both Michael and Robby, the Rosenbergs sons, now in their 70s. Fuchs was charged with violating the Official Secrets Act, and he confessed to spying for the Soviet Union. They were convicted of Conspiracy to Commit Espionage in one of the most hotly-debated trials in U.S. history. 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Photograph: Kypros/ Getty. Here's the story of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. ", Deborah Friedell, "How Utterly Depreaved!" Case Summary. Nevertheless, these decryptions formed the background of U.S. government investigation and prosecutions of American communists during the Cold War period. 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. Through her activism with the Communist Party, she met Julius Rosenberg in 1936. 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. 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. On June 19, 1968, a long-term anti-poverty demonstration known as Resurrection City reaches its high-water mark. [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. In 2015 an independent lawsuit secured the release of grand jury testimony in 1950 by Greenglass, which indicated that he might have lied at trial by exaggerating his sisters role in the espionage ring in order to obscure the more extensive involvement of his wife Ruth, who was not prosecuted. Due to the recent evidence provided by Sobells interview, witness testimonies, and the Venona documents, calls have been made for Ethels exoneration. The American Civil Liberties Union refused to acknowledge any violations of civil liberties in the case. Now, however, Greenglass claimed that this exchange occurred in the living room of the Rosenbergs New York apartment, and that Ethel was present. In August of 1950, a grand jury indicted the Rosenbergs for espionage. Ethel then sat down at the typewriter which she placed on a bridge table in the living room and proceeded to type the info which David had given to Julius. After this new testimony, the charges against Ruth were dropped. 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. They claim:The Greenglasses lies were necessary to obtain Ethels conviction; the K.G.B. "use strict";(function(){var insertion=document.getElementById("citation-access-date");var date=new Date().toLocaleDateString(undefined,{month:"long",day:"numeric",year:"numeric"});insertion.parentElement.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(date),insertion)})(); FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. 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. McNutt was an engineer who worked at theKellexdesign bureau in New York City. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). did not give her a code name, and evidently did not consider her a spy; and the prosecutions strategy was to use Ethel to coerce her husband to confession.. Despite some public outrage and failed appeals, the Rosenbergs were executed by electric chair at Sing Sing Prison on June 19, 1953. How much does Sebba think that Ethel knew? "[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". In exchange for this new testimony, Ruth was permitted to remain with their children and care for them. Getty Images. The trial continues to be controversial today. [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. [71], In 2009, extensive notes collected from KGB archives were made public in a book published by Yale University Press: Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America, written by John Earl Haynes, Harvey Klehr, and Alexander Vassiliev; Vassiliev's notebooks included KGB comments concerning Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. "[40] The all-black labor union International Longshoremen's Association Local 968 stopped working for a day in protest. Three years after the trial, on June 19th, 1953 the Rosenbergs were executed. 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. He also explains that Rosenberg was fired from the Army Corps of Engineers in January of 1945, and that KGB files state his espionage activities ended by 1945, so the meeting David Greenglass mentioned could neverhave occurred. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg executed for espionage, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/rosenbergs-executed. I think he believed there was no evidence against him, which was not the case.. Ethel Rosenberg: A Cold War Tragedy by Anne Sebba, W&N 20, 304 pages/St Martin's Press $28.99, 304 pages Rebecca Abrams is the author of 'The Jewish Journey: 4,000 Years in 22 Objects . "Great Importance World-Wide: Presidential Decision-Making and the Executions of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. His research relies heavily on newly released KGB files. [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. Gold paidGreenglass $500 in exchange for information about the implosion lens in the atomic bomb. They were accused of sending a rough sketch of the atomic bomb to Russia. On March 6, 1951 their trial began in New Yorks Southern District federal court. [46] Bloch asked for more time, filing a complaint that execution on the Sabbath offended the defendants' Jewish heritage. 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. Ethel Greenglass worked as a clerk for some years after her graduation from high school in 1931. Robert and his brother, Michael, asked president Obama to pardon their mother. The minutes count. [78] In October 2016, both Michael and Robert Meeropol spoke with Anderson Cooper in an interview which aired on 60 Minutes. In early 1953, he wrote a letter to President Eisenhower, requesting that Ethel and Julius sentences be commuted to prison. The case against Ethel in particular was rather . They were executed in 1953. 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. 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. Ethels execution was botched. At a time when American fears about communism were high, the Rosenbergs did not receive support from mainstream Jewish organizations. He escaped prosecution because his involvement was not proven until the Venona documents became unclassified. He does, however, believe that the prosecutors worked to guarantee a conviction and abused the legal system. Rosenberg had been introduced to Semyonov by Bernard Schuster, a high-ranking member of the Communist Party USA and NKVD liaison for Earl Browder. Key to the prosecution's case was testimony by Ethel's . They were both found guilty of the crimes of espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union. ", In 1953, socialist historian W. E. B. David Greenglass received a 15 year prison sentence and was released in 1960. 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. There was proof, which was later produced in court. That same year, Sobell participated in an interview with theNew York Times. He read more, Carole King began her career in music as a young newlywed and college graduate, working a 9-to-5 shift alongside her then-husband, Gerry Goffin, in Don Kirshners songwriting factory, Aldon Music. Harris, Brian. 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. Or he could have thought, if I admit I am a spy, I will have to name names? Julius and Ethels children, Michael and Robert, maintain that their mother was innocent and have created anonline petitionto exonerate her. The trial and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg was certainly dramatic. "You sat the Rosenbergs in the electric chair for nothing", he said. Description Following World War II, tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States . Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were American Communists who captured and maintained world attention after being accused and convicted of spying for the Soviet Union.. Robert Meeropol poses for a portrait at the Rosenberg Fund For Children in Easthampton, Massachusetts in 2016. Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were buried at Wellwood Cemetery, a Jewish cemetery in Pinelawn, New York. Both Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were indicted, as were David Greenglass and Anatoli Yakovlev. Ethel and Julius Rosenberg sitting in police van after being convicted of espionage. Her children were shunted around and then went into care. [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). 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. Both refused to admit any wrongdoing and proclaimed their innocence right up to the time of their deaths, by the electric chair. He was a physicist at Los Alamos, and a valuable source to the Soviets. Important research on electronics, communications, radar and guided missile controls was undertaken at Fort Monmouth during World War II. Some reports claim that the Rosenbergs were offered a plea deal, where admittance of their guilt would grant them a prison sentence. ", "Plot to Have G.I. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/ AFP via Getty. [47] The defense's strategy backfired. 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. 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