On April 5, 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced...

[whistle]

... to death for conspiring to commit espionage for the Soviet Union. Or was this case about misplaced justice based on the McCarthy era of anti-communist/anti-semitic hysteria in the country?

<snip #1>

Rosenberg Case

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were a husband and wife executed in 1953 for allegedly providing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union at the height of the cold war. The case began with the arrest of Klaus Fuchs, a British atomic scientist who confessed to providing secrets about the atomic and hydrogen bombs to the Soviet Union. The FBI soon arrested Harry Gold, a Philadelphia chemist, as an accomplice. Further investigation found that David Greenglass, who had been stationed near the atomic testing site at Los Alamos, New Mexico, during World War II, had provided Gold with information about the atomic bomb.

On July 17, 1950, federal authorities arrested Greenglass's brother-in-law, Julius Rosenberg, a thirty-two-year-old machine shop owner who was accused of serving as a go-between. His wife, Ethel Rosenberg, Greenglass's sister, was also arrested. The Rosenbergs were indicted, along with a former Soviet consular official, for conspiring with Gold, Greenglass, and his wife to obtain national defense information for the Soviet Union because of their communist leanings. The Rosenbergs pleaded innocent, but the Greenglasses testified against them, and a U.S. Court of Appeals jury found them guilty. Greenglass was sentenced to fifteen years in prison and served ten of them. Justice Irving Kaufman sentenced the Rosenbergs to die.

The Rosenbergs and their attorneys appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, which declined their appeal. But in June 1953, Justice William O. Douglas, doubtful of Kaufman's power to issue a death sentence, granted a stay of execution. The Supreme Court held a special session and voted 6-3 (Justices Douglas, Hugo Black, and Felix Frankfurter dissented) to allow the Rosenbergs to be executed. They were, on June 19, 1953. But the executions did not stop the questions and arguments about the case, which critics have attributed to hysteria surrounding the cold war and McCarthyism. The sentence is now viewed as a miscarriage of justice even by many who believe they were guilty.

<more>
<link> http://www.answers.com/topic/ethel-and-julius-rosenberg

<snip #2>

Washington, D.C. December 16, 1982

STATEMENT OF MARSHALL PERLIN

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE

OF THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY

(provided by Arlene Tyner)

As a person who has always been vigorously opposed to capital punishment on legal, moral and ethical grounds, I submit this statement in particular in my capacity as an attorney who has been engaged in the Rosenberg-Sobell case since June of 1953. This case epitomized the evils that necessarily flow when the state resorts to the cruel, obscene and indecent instrument of execution in its administration of the criminal justice system. The punishment of death has been imposed upon the innocent as well as the guilty. Such sentences are imposed and carried out all too often for "reasons of state", transitory political objectives in periods of hysteria and social turmoil and indeed in the majority of cases, disproportionately upon those members of minority groups -- the Blacks, the Hispanics, the aliens, the poor as well as the "radical", the "communist", the "anarchist".

On June 17, 1953 Justice Douglas stayed the execution of the death sentence against the Rosenbergs on the grounds that there were substantial questions of law which if sustained would preclude the imposition of the death sentence. Even while Justice Douglas was considering the application for a stay of execution, a secret meeting was called on the initiative of Justice Jackson which was attended by the Attorney General, Herbert Brownell, and Chief Justice Vinson in anticipation of the issuance of a stay, and to plan to vacate the stay which Justice Douglas or Justice Frankfurter might issue so that the execution could be promptly carried out without any further delay. Justice Vinson immediately issued an order reconvening the Supreme Court for the first time in its history for the sole purpose of vacating the stay of execution. Anticipating the result, Emanuel Bloch, attorney for the Rosenbergs, communicated with my office and requested that we attempt to make a new habeas corpus application and in particular that we apply to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit for a stay of execution immediately after Judge Kaufman would deny it. Along with two other attorneys, I went to New Haven, Connecticut where the judges of the Court of Appeals were then located, and sought a stay either from an individual judge or from a panel of three Circuit Court judges. We first met in the early afternoon with Chief Judge Thomas W. Swan who, after lengthy argument agreed to sit on a panel of three to consider the application for a stay. (1) Judge Swan then made his automobile available so that we might be driven to the home of Judge Frank.

<more>
<link> http://www.webcom.com/~lpease/collections/disputes/r-perlin.htm

[Magrittes Pipe]

1. Ethel was greatly wronged.

It's clear from declassified KGB documents that, if Julius wasn't providing material espionage to the Soviets, they sure thought he was. Still, I don't think his actions warranted execution, but he certainly should have been imprisoned.

Ethel, on the other hand, most likely had nothing to do with anything, and went to her grave for the crime of refusing to turn against her husband.

[LostinVA]

4. He brother, David Greenglass

Was also guilty, but he turned State's witness. Also, something usually forgotten is that this was industrial (not military, etc.) espionage, technically not a treasonable offense, although definitely one which would give you major time in a Federal prison.

Anyone here NOT think the fact that their last name was "Rosenberg" instead of "Andrews" or "Johnson" didn't affect the outcome?

[Magrittes Pipe]

5. Anti-semetism assuredly affected the harshness of their treatment.

So did the hysterical climate of the day.

From what I understand, the death sentence was imposed in the hopes that Julius would turn in other spies, or that Ethel would squeal about her husband's activities and friends. In exchange, the sentence would be likely to be commuted. Of course, neither Rosenberg turned.

[kskiska]

9. There's an excellent book on Greenglass

"The Brother," by Sam Roberts. Greenglass was on 60 Minutes a while back and admitted he lied in court as to Ethel's involvement, and has no regrets. He lied to protect his wife, who was most definitely actively involved in passing material along Russian agents.

The Rosenberg sons, Robert and Michael, have also written books on their parents. They've come around to realizing they were most likely guilty, but that no significant "secrets" were passed to the Russians, who were our allies at the time.

[demnan]

2. Thank you for this valuable post

It points out that right wing fanaticism did not start with the beginning of the Reagan years.

We've been fighting these bastards since before I was born, and we beat them back a few times but they've been in charge for the majority of it.

[whistle]

8. Since the early 1920's actually....

...if you can catch the History Channel, there is an entire series on the rise of Nazis and white supremacy that was broadcast earlier today. I'm sure it will be repeated later tonight.

[Yupster]

11. Back then it was Sacco and Vanzetti

The prosecutor's name in that case was if my memory is serving me correctly, Norman Schwartzkopf's dad.

Hope I'm remembering that right. I haven't taught in 15 years.

[havocmom]

3. Every time the subject of the outing of Ms Plame and the subsequent

destruction of her very important network, I think of the Rosenbergs. Makes me very sad.

Such a heinous miscarriage of justice, and outright derliction of law enforcement, that Novak and the party who give him (and others) the info on Plame have not been slapped in irons and waiting their trials.

The world is a more dangerous place due to the outing of Plame and the destruction of the intelligence gathering network she ran. It is criminal that this is not being addressed.

[American Tragedy]

6. The VENONA project suggests that he actually was a spy.

I object to the death penalty on principle, but he almost certainly deserved to be imprisoned at least.

On the other hand, the case against Ethel Rosenberg was profoundly flawed and fairly hard for me to understand.

[jsw_81]

7. Boo hoo

Face it: the Rosenbergs and Alger Hiss were guilty as hell. They deserved what they got.

[gratuitous]

10. What was Hiss guilty of?

Odd statement. When Hiss invited Nixon to repeat his defamatory statements outside the hearing room where Nixon enjoyed immunity as a Congressman, Richard the Brave suddenly turned chicken and wouldn't do it. Hiss was convicted of perjury for not recognizing Whittaker Chambers, a man he'd put up at his house for a few days over a decade previous to seeing him in a hearing room for less than 15 seconds. A man who had lost a considerable amount of weight, had his teeth fixed and otherwise did not bear much of a resemblance to the hulking, shambling vagrant who imposed on the Hisses all those years ago.

And what specifically did Ethel Rosenberg do that merited the death penalty? Who did she kill? Who died as a direct result of her actions? What specific information did she pass to the Soviet Union?

I'd really like to hear your evidence that these people were "guilty as hell" and "deserved what they got."