FREE ESSAY ON JULIUS AND ETHEL ROSENBERG

JULIUS AND ETHEL ROSENBERG

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
The outcome of the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg trial for espionage in 1951 and their
subsequent execution in 1953 was directly related to the political climate at that time.
The government's evidence against the Rosenbergs was not overwhelming, but due to a
combination of fear and political pressure, the guilty verdict was inevitable. Even
though Julius did not deliver the secrets of the atomic bomb to Moscow, nor did they
cause the Korean War, as Judge Kaufman claimed, the pair were sentenced to death. Their
death confirmed their guilt because America would never kill innocent people. Their
execution also reinforced the heinous nature of their crime and other soviet spys' crimes
as well. The fear of communism and the cold war sealed the fate for Julius and Ethel
Rosenberg.
The cold war was the general term for the post-1945 political, ideological, strategic and
military conflict between the western allies led by the United States and the Soviet
Union and other communist countries. 1 This global confrontation was fuel by mutual fear
and distrust. Both camps defaulted on postwar agreements which, led to further
alienation.2 The end of WWII saw Europe economically devastated and in political turmoil.
3 The defeat of Germany left the European continent vulnerable to outside influence. In
addition to the economic strength shown by the western allies, the United States not only
had nuclear capabilities, but also without hesitation used the power twice. 4
The Soviet Union, in an effort to contract the economic and military might of the United
States and its allies, set about tightening its grasp on the east European countries it
had occupied during WWII. 5 In the years between 1945 and 1948 the Soviet Union gained
control of Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Yugoslavia.
The Soviet Union hoped that by adding these separate governments and militaries, it could
offset the United States nuclear capabilities and provide its western boarder with a
buffer zone. 6 Though the Soviet Union was actively developing its own nuclear
capabilities, the communist power realized that the U.S. had used its atomic bomb with
devastating results. 7
Although the United States was putting much fear into the hearts of many Soviets, the
post WWII conflict was affecting the United States in much the same way. The United
States was worried about the leader of the Soviet Union and his power over many
countries. 5 The United States would come to realize that this would not be an easy fight
to win.
The leader of the Soviet Union at that time was a man named Joseph Stalin. He had much
control over people's ideas and beliefs and he used that to his advantage. 8 The United
States feared his leadership because of his power and his dishonesty. Stalin went back on
his word to create a more democratic government inside the Soviet Union, and took total
control of Poland when he said he would not at the Yalta conference in 1945. 5
Iran became the starting point of East-West confrontation. The United States and the
Soviet Union had occupied parts of Iran during WWII in order to protect allied oil
supplies. Both countries agreed to withdraw at wars' end. But in 1945 the Soviet Union
refused to withdraw its troops. The conflict ended in 1946 when the USSR pulled out its
troops in return for oil rights in Iran. 9 Later in 1946, Stalin gave a speech declaring
ideological war against the West. 10 To counter Stalin's aggressive actions in 1947, the
president proposed the Truman Doctrine. The Truman Doctrine was designed to give military
aid to Greece in its battle against communist-backed rebel forces. 11 It also gave
economic aid to Turkey, whose economy was being stressed by the need to maintain a large
army in order to resist the USSR and its demand for a naval base within its boundaries.
President Truman's pitch to Congress was meant to scare the American people into action.
It succeeded in getting the Greek-Turkish aid bill passed and it also set the tone for
the cold war. Less than a year later the United States pressured Iran to take back the
previously granted oil rights to the USSR, thus creating more suspicion between the two
superpowers. 
After seeing favorable results from the Truman Doctrine, the United States implemented
the Marshall Plan. This $13 billion program was a second part of the overall containment
policy. By restoring Europe's economy, it would make communism less appealing and also
give the United States strong trading partners. Angered by this program, Stalin extended
his control over Eastern Europe. This in turn created possible threats for the West's
position in Germany, and forced Truman to create a military alliance in order restore
confidence in the European countries that were allying with the United States. 12 In an
effort to counter the integration of the Western zones of Germany into a Western block,
the Soviets blockaded access to Berlin by the West. This blockade not only failed in its
attempt to drive the United States, Britain and France from Berlin but it also
strengthened the cooperation among western allies. This strengthened unity among western
allies led to the formation of a military alliance, the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization.
The fight against communism was not only occurring overseas, but in the United States
itself. People started to view communism as the downfall of human civilization thanks in
big part to a senator from Wisconsin named Joseph McCarthy. Joseph McCarthy made
communism a household word and being communist a sin. By using convincing speeches, and
intimidating and threatening accusations, he lit the spark that ignited a series of witch
hunts and caused America to question its own loyalty.
McCarthy made his debut on February 9, 1950, when he announced to a women's Republican
club in West Virginia that he had a list of the names of 205 communists in the State
Department. 13 This was the birth of McCarthyism. 14 He continued to travel through out
the West on his campaign for the Republican Party, but when asked about the list his
specifics changed from state to state. 15 He began to change the number of names on his
list when questioned by reporters, telling some it was 57 and then the next day somewhere
else it was 81. 16 His allegations would come to evolve as well from full-fledged
communist to loyalty risks or people with connections to the communist party. 17
Even though McCarthy was the most influential Senator to speak out about communism, he
was not the first. 18 Many Republicans had spoken out in past years. 19 In fact, most of
McCarthy's accusations were made by previous Republicans. Even his speeches were not
original. One reported time, one of McCarthy's speeches contained several paragraphs
taken almost word for word from a speech Nixon made a few days before. 20
Although many of his charges were false or had no evidence, McCarthyism changed the way a
lot of people inside and outside of the government thought about communism. He made a lot
of people scared with his redbaiting and blacklisting. The members of the Truman
administration were constantly trying to defend themselves from the accusations from
McCarthy that they were soft on communism and that they had communists working for their
party. 21 These charges led to the government's loyalty and security programs that would
show just how scared this country was of communism.
Congress was putting pressure on the Truman administration to implement some type of
security program to fight against treason in our government. Truman then implemented the
Temporary Commission on Employee Loyalty. This program was designed to evaluate a
government employee's feelings on communism. The Truman administration got mixed
reactions to this program. Many civil rights activists felt that it was taking away
peoples rights and throwing away due process. On the other hand, many Republicans thought
that this program was still not enough and that more steps needed to be taken to rid the
government of communists. 22
These types of loyalty oaths did not just affect jobs in the government, but others all
over the United States. Many job applications had some type of loyalty oath that had to
be signed. Because of these types of procedures many people were turned down for jobs and
many others who had jobs lost them. 23 An example of this was the Hollywood Ten. The
Hollywood Ten was a group of actors and writers in Hollywood who lost their job and were
eventually jailed for their connections to communism. 24
Another way the government tried to control the subversive activity that was happening in
the United States was the HUAC. The HUAC stood for the House Committee on Un-American
Activities. The main job of the House was to investigate activity that could endanger
American life. It was often criticized for using thoughtless and harmful tactics to
arouse controversy and ideas of treason. Although the Committee did serve its purpose, it
also caused many hardships for people caught up in this massive witch-hunt. Many people
who had been blacklisted either lost their jobs, money, and respect and became homeless
or they killed themselves. 27
A big break came for the HUAC when in 1948 the committee started to investigate Alger
Hiss. Alger Hiss was former State Department official who was accused of giving top
secret documents to the Soviet Union in the past. 26 Because he had committed these acts
more than 20 years before, he could not be charged for spying, but was charged for lying
under oath about his involvement with the Soviet Union. 27 Alger Hiss was the first of
many spies who either confessed or were caught by the government in a domino effect that
eventually led to the capture and final execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.
Twelve days after the Hiss conviction a physicist from England who worked first-hand with
the Manhattan Project confessed to spying for the Soviet Union. 28 The physicist was
Klaus Fuchs and the Manhattan project was America's name for its nuclear experimenting
project. 29 Klaus Fuchs was working for the British on a type of war-related project that
he later found out to be atomic-bomb research. During his research with the British,
Fuchs traveled many times to the United States to work with American scientists on the
problem of the fission bomb. 30 During his travels to the U.S. he was instructed to meet
with an American courier for whom he was supposed to give information about his work and
the status of the United States nuclear power. 31
Only after about four meetings with the secret courier he knew only as Raymond, Fuchs was
transferred to work on the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos. 32 He did not inform Raymond
or his Soviet leaders of this change and left without a trace. 33 He started working on
the Manhattan Project in 1944 and for a nearly a year he worked with other scientists and
physicists on developing the atomic bomb, not once thinking of his previously assigned
duties to the Soviet Union. Not until 1945, when Fuchs came to visit his sister in
Massachusetts, did he talk to Raymond again. 34 
When they met together, Fuchs outlined the new developments that were taking place and
what information he had on the bomb. 35 He told Raymond as much as he could and that he
would keep him informed. Later that year he reported on the test of the bomb and exact
specifications and size of the bomb. 36 He gave the Soviets our most precious secret at
that time to some of the most dangerous people in the world.
Now that Fuchs was under arrest the FBI wanted to know the identity of the secret
American courier known only as Raymond. Unfortunately Fuchs had no idea what Raymond's
real name was and could only provide a vague description. 37 Through various background
checks, the FBI came up with the name Harry Gold. 38 Harry Gold was later questioned and
soon after confessed to being Raymond. 39 
He confessed to passing the information he received from Fuchs about the atomic bomb and
other information concerning the activities that had taken place while Fuchs worked
there. He confessed to giving it to the Soviet Union. 40 In one of his confessions he
named David Greenglass as one of contacts. He confessed that he met with David Greenglass
in Albuquerque, New Mexico. There he received information from David concerning the
atomic bomb and other vital information. 41 
David was then brought in for questioning not less than a week later. He was told that
Gold had already confessed and that he should do the same. He said that he would as long
as his wife was left out of it. He confessed to talking to Gold in New Mexico about his
job. He confessed to having talked to Julius Rosenberg about his job at Los Alamos. They
talked about the progress that was being made specific information on how that bomb
worked and several drawings and sketches of the bomb itself. 42
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were very active in the communist party. 43 They became
members of the Young Communist League as teenagers and grew up in the party ever since.
44 They read the newspapers that were printed for the communist party and held meetings
for their party's branch in their own living room. 45
On July 17, 1950, Julius Rosenberg was arrested for conspiracy to commit espionage and 25
days later Ethel Rosenberg was also arrested for the same charge. They were brought to
the attention of the FBI after David Greenglass accused Julius in his statement to the
FBI. They were both taken down to jail and were placed at 100,000 dollars bail. There
they waited for half a year before they got their day in court.
Prior to the opening of the trial a jury had to be selected. The judge presiding over
this case was Judge Irving R. Kaufman. He made it a point to decide who was on the jury
and who was not. Judge Kaufman had a long list of requirements each person had to meet in
order to stay on the jury. Some of his questions dealt with being familiar with any
organizations on the attorney general's list, having any personal contacts with the FBI
or HUAC, and finally if they were against capital punishment. If any of the perspective
jurors answered unsatisfactory to any of these questions they were dismissed. 
On March 6, 1951 Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and Morton Sobell were put on trial. Morton
Sobell was a friend of Julius who was employed by the Navy's Bureau of Ordinance. The
opening statement by Saypol, the prosecuting attorney, was aimed at putting the
Rosenberg's and Sobell's loyalty toward the United States at question and communism on
trial. Even though their participation in the communist party was not of concern in this
trial, Saypol insisted that the fact that they were active in the communist party show
motivation for what they were accused of. 
In order to charge a person with conspiracy to commit anything, very little hard evidence
is needed. Hearsay and rumors constitute enough evidence for a conviction. Because the
prosecuting team did not have enough hard evidence to convict the Rosenbergs of treason
they decided to try for a conviction of conspiracy to commit espionage, something for
which they could easily gather enough evidence, seeing as how they only needed one strong
witness.
One of the key witnesses for the prosecution, and probably the only man who had enough
evidence against the Rosenbergs was David Greenglass. He testified that Julius had on
many occasions accepted atomic bomb information from himself. He also testified that
Julius had by himself stolen a proximity fuse. He also talked about an entire spy ring
headed by Julius that had stolen information and material concerning an atomic airplane
and space platform.
The biggest question that was on everybody's mind during the trial was whether or not the
Rosenbergs, if found guilty, would have to face the death penalty. Judge Kaufman made it
very clear during the jury selection that if anyone was against using capital punishment
they should not be on the jury. Even though at that time being found guilty of conspiracy
against the government did not call for the death penalty, many people were worried that
because of the situation with the Soviet Union and communism the death penalty could be
used. Inevitably Judge Kaufman had the final say in whether the death penalty would be
implemented or not.
When it came time for the trial, the prosecutors had close to 120 witnesses that would
all testify that Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were involved with espionage. 46 They had
testimony from David and Ruth Greenglass and many people they had worked with or
associated with in the past. 47 When the verdict came, it was very shocking not that they
were found guilty, but that they were going to receive the death penalty. On June 19,
1953, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed at Sing Sing prison. 48
Because of widely spread fear and hatred for the communist party and its beliefs, and the
pain and turmoil the cold war put us through, the United States government was extra hard
on the Rosenbergs. Although the government will never say they did not give the
Rosenbergs a fair trial, they might admit that because of the situation at the time they
were given a harsher penalty for their mistakes. In the past five years, two United
States citizens, one a CIA agent and the other a navy officer, were found guilty of
espionage and treason. In their cases Americans actually lost their lives because of
their acts, but neither of them received the death penalty. The reason they got off
without the death penalty was because we were not fighting a war at that time. Because
the United States was in a cold war with the Soviet Union at the time of their trial,
Julius and Ethel were executed for their crimes that should have only got them long
prison terms.