They were both found guilty of the crimes of espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union. Red Resurrection? Greenglass secretly testified before a grand jury in August 1950. Harry Gold, a lab chemist and Soviet spy, passed this information to the USSR. The Rosenbergs were charged with conspiracy to commit espionage and brought to trial on March 6, 1951; Greenglass was the chief witness for the prosecution. Robert and Michael Rosenberg, Julius and Ethels six and 10 year old sons, pictured at the home of Bernard and Sonia Bach, friends of the Rosenbergs, New Jersey, before their parents execution. The subsequent trial of the Rosenbergs made news all over the world. 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. 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. [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 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. Ruth joined the Young Communist League (YCL) after graduating high school. The controversy over their guilt was seemingly resolved in the early 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the release of Soviet intelligence information that confirmed Julius Rosenbergs involvement in espionage. "Injustice", Sutton Publishing. She was viewed as a co-conspirator and never indicted. [72], The notebooks make clear that the KGB considered Julius Rosenberg an effective agent and his wife Ethel an enthusiastic supporter of his work. An American Tragedy By Anne Sebba. [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]. 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. There was proof, which was later produced in court. During the 1940s, the U. S. Army Signal Intelligence Service (SIS) conducted the Venona project. 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 . 2023 A&E Television Networks, LLC. Indeed, by your betrayal you undoubtedly have altered the course of history to the disadvantage of our country. That same year, the FBI arrested both Greenglass and Gold based on information provided by Fuchs. Copyright 2022 by the Atomic Heritage Foundation. [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. Robert wrote a later memoir, An Execution in the Family: One Son's Journey (2003). He stated, "I would not sacrifice my wife and my children for my sister. 2009 Vassiliev notebooks based on KGB archives. Omissions? The boys went on to make successful careers in economics and law, and have families of their own. 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. She became involved in labor disputes and joined the Young Communist League, where she met Julius in 1936. Sobell and Julius Rosenberg, classmates together in college, dedicated themselves to the cause of Communism. [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. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! [79] In January 2017 Senator Elizabeth Warren sent Obama a letter requesting consideration of the exoneration request. Communism in this country and Communism throughout the world. [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. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. This connection would be necessary as evidence if there was to be a conviction for espionage of the Rosenbergs. (review of. [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. Members of the communist party, the Rosenbergs were convicted of passing secret information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union in 1945. J. "[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. Venona Documents from the National Security Archive. "Plain, deliberate, contemplated murder is dwarfed in. According to Rojas, a man named Velasquez had threatened her when she rejected his sexual advances earlier in the day. Julius Rosenbergwas a key Soviet spy who passed along information to the Soviet Union and recruited Manhattan Project spies. [8], Ethel Greenglass was born on September 28, 1915, to a Jewish family in Manhattan, New York City. [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. Timeline of Events Relating to the Rosenberg Trial. 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. Here's the story of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. He was discharged when the U.S. Army discovered his previous membership in the Communist Party. 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. She had a brother, David Greenglass. Key to the prosecution's case was testimony by Ethel's . Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. [48], On June 19, 1953, Julius died after the first electric shock. 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. Many of these decoded messages identified Soviet spies within the Manhattan Project. In 1951, Julius and his wife Ethel were tried and convicted of espionage for providing the Soviet Union with classified information. Photograph: Craig F Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty. They continue to campaign for Ethel to be posthumously legally exonerated. Opines that mccarthyism caused chaos in america. forces. Julius Rosenberg, arrest photograph, 17th of July, 1950. On April 5, Judge Kaufman sentenced them to death, and sentenced Sobell to 30 years in prison. The debate over her involvement is ongoing. Can their sons reveal the truth? The direct evidence of the Rosenbergs involvement came from the confessions and testimonies of David and Ruth Greenglass. McNutt's employment provided access to secrets about processes for manufacturing weapons-grade uranium. In this testimony he named Julius and claimed he was recruited to join the Soviet spy ring by him. [30], On March 29, 1951, the Rosenbergs were convicted of espionage. Well yes, she replies. The son of working-class read more. "[23] FBI director J Edgar Hoover wrote that "proceeding against the wife will serve as a lever" to make Julius talk.[24]. The couple met as members of the Young Communist League, married in 1939 and had two sons. [21][22] The U.S. government claimed Sobell was arrested by the Mexican police for bank robbery on August 16, 1950, and extradited the next day to the United States in Laredo, Texas. 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. Both Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were indicted, as were David Greenglass and Anatoli Yakovlev. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. 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 March 29 they were found guilty, and on April 5 the couple was sentenced to death. 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. Follow Russia Beyond on Telegram. She didnt cry in public, and the media gleefully judged her unfeeling and, by implication, guilty of the accused crime, as a result. Despite these fears, the trial of the Rosenbergs produced mixed reactions among the public. He left the Communist Party to avoid suspicions. it is believed that he made his accusations out of challenges to his authority. (Sobell and Gold received 30-year prison terms, and Greenglass, who was tried separately, was sentenced to 15 years in prison.) He believed the execution of Ethel, a young mother, would reflect negatively on both the FBI and the Justice Department. It was never in doubt that Julius Rosenberg had conducted acts of espionage. [80][81] Ronald Radoshconcludes, after Sobells 2008 confessions, that the Rosenbergs were Soviet spies. I find innocence quite a difficult word to use with Ethel, she says. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg devoted a great deal of time in prison to crafting eloquent protestations of their complete innocence. Klaus Fuchs, a German scientist working in Los Alamos, was convicted in the United Kingdom. [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. 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