Presidents and the Law: Dwight Eisenhower and the Rosenbergs
On February 11, 1953 President Dwight D. Eisenhower refused to grant clemency to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. The Rosenbergs were a New Jersey couple who were arrested and tried for spying on behalf the Soviet Union. Specifically they were charged under Section 2 of the Espionage Act of 1917 which prohibits transmitting or attempting to transmit to a foreign government information "relating to the national defense." They were convicted and given death sentences. After exhausting their appeals, pleas were made to President Eisenhower to commute their sentences. Eisenhower elected not to do so.
The trial of the Rosenbergs began on March 6, 1951 before Jude Irving Kaufman. The prosecutor was Irving Saypol and the attorney for the Rosenbergs was Emanuel Hirsch Bloch. The prosecution's primary witness was David Greenglass, Ethel Rosenberg's brother. He stated that his sister had typed notes containing U.S. nuclear secrets in the Rosenberg apartment in September 1945. He also testified that he turned over to Julius Rosenberg a sketch of the cross-section of an implosion-type atom bomb (the "Fat Man" bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.) The notes allegedly typed by Ethel apparently contained little that was relevant to the Soviet atomic bomb project and some suggest Ethel was indicted along with Julius so that the prosecution could use her to pressure Julius into giving up the names of others who were involved. However, neither Julius nor Ethel Rosenberg named anyone else and during testimony each asserted their right under the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment to not incriminate themselves whenever they were asked about involvement in the Communist Party or with its members.
David Greenglass testified that he passed the atomic data he'd collected to Julius in the living room of the Rosenberg's New York apartment and that at Julius's request, Ethel typed the notes up. Ruth Greenglass (Ethel's sister) said "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. 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." Originally the prosecution was contemplating charges against Ruth Greenglass, but charges were not proceeded with against her in return for her testimony.
David Greenglass confessed to having passed secret information on to the Russians through a courier named Harry Gold. He claimed that Julius Rosenberg had convinced his sister-in-law Ruth Greenglass to recruit David while on a visit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1944. He said Julius had passed secrets, and linked him and Ethel to the Soviet contact agent Anatoli Yakovlev.
The Rosenbergs were convicted on March 29, 1951, and on April 5 were sentenced to death by Judge Irving Kaufman. The conviction helped to fuel Senator Joseph McCarthy's investigations into anti-American activities by U.S. citizens. While their devotion to the Communist cause was well-documented, the Rosenbergs denied the espionage charges even as they faced the electric chair.
After the publication of an investigative series in The National Guardian and the formation of the National Committee to Secure Justice in the Rosenberg Case, some Americans came to believe both Rosenbergs were innocent or at least that they had received too harsh a punishment. A grassroots campaign was started to try to stop the couple's execution. Between the trial and the executions there were widespread protests and claims of anti-semitism. Despite the charges of anti-semitism, the Rosenbergs did not receive any support from mainstream Jewish organizations in the United States, nor from the American Civil Liberties Union.
Many famous people of the time protested the proposed execution of the Rosenbergs, including Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Einstein Nobel-Prize-winning physical chemist Harold Urey, Jean Cocteau, Dashiell Hammett, Frida Kahlo, Pablo Picasso and Diego Rivera. The African-American membered labor union International Longshoremen’s Association Local 968 stopped working for a day in protest. Pope Pius XII appealed to President Eisenhower to spare the couple, but Eisenhower refused on February 11, 1953. All other appeals were also unsuccessful.
The Rosenbergs were executed at Sing-Sing Prison on June 19, 1953. The grand jury transcripts of this case were unsealed and released in 2008. They can be found at this link.
The trial of the Rosenbergs began on March 6, 1951 before Jude Irving Kaufman. The prosecutor was Irving Saypol and the attorney for the Rosenbergs was Emanuel Hirsch Bloch. The prosecution's primary witness was David Greenglass, Ethel Rosenberg's brother. He stated that his sister had typed notes containing U.S. nuclear secrets in the Rosenberg apartment in September 1945. He also testified that he turned over to Julius Rosenberg a sketch of the cross-section of an implosion-type atom bomb (the "Fat Man" bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.) The notes allegedly typed by Ethel apparently contained little that was relevant to the Soviet atomic bomb project and some suggest Ethel was indicted along with Julius so that the prosecution could use her to pressure Julius into giving up the names of others who were involved. However, neither Julius nor Ethel Rosenberg named anyone else and during testimony each asserted their right under the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment to not incriminate themselves whenever they were asked about involvement in the Communist Party or with its members.
David Greenglass testified that he passed the atomic data he'd collected to Julius in the living room of the Rosenberg's New York apartment and that at Julius's request, Ethel typed the notes up. Ruth Greenglass (Ethel's sister) said "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. 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." Originally the prosecution was contemplating charges against Ruth Greenglass, but charges were not proceeded with against her in return for her testimony.
David Greenglass confessed to having passed secret information on to the Russians through a courier named Harry Gold. He claimed that Julius Rosenberg had convinced his sister-in-law Ruth Greenglass to recruit David while on a visit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1944. He said Julius had passed secrets, and linked him and Ethel to the Soviet contact agent Anatoli Yakovlev.
The Rosenbergs were convicted on March 29, 1951, and on April 5 were sentenced to death by Judge Irving Kaufman. The conviction helped to fuel Senator Joseph McCarthy's investigations into anti-American activities by U.S. citizens. While their devotion to the Communist cause was well-documented, the Rosenbergs denied the espionage charges even as they faced the electric chair.
After the publication of an investigative series in The National Guardian and the formation of the National Committee to Secure Justice in the Rosenberg Case, some Americans came to believe both Rosenbergs were innocent or at least that they had received too harsh a punishment. A grassroots campaign was started to try to stop the couple's execution. Between the trial and the executions there were widespread protests and claims of anti-semitism. Despite the charges of anti-semitism, the Rosenbergs did not receive any support from mainstream Jewish organizations in the United States, nor from the American Civil Liberties Union.
Many famous people of the time protested the proposed execution of the Rosenbergs, including Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Einstein Nobel-Prize-winning physical chemist Harold Urey, Jean Cocteau, Dashiell Hammett, Frida Kahlo, Pablo Picasso and Diego Rivera. The African-American membered labor union International Longshoremen’s Association Local 968 stopped working for a day in protest. Pope Pius XII appealed to President Eisenhower to spare the couple, but Eisenhower refused on February 11, 1953. All other appeals were also unsuccessful.
The Rosenbergs were executed at Sing-Sing Prison on June 19, 1953. The grand jury transcripts of this case were unsealed and released in 2008. They can be found at this link.