Julius and Ethel Rosenberg’s Trial Resurfaces Nearly 55 Years Later
Courtroom 14D in the Federal Courthouse in lower Manhattan is large and well-lit, modern but grand with high ceilings and walls of dark wood with crown molding and decorative arches over the doors.
I’m sitting on a bench seat in the back of the room with a couple dozen reporters, lawyers and other interested parties.
The jury box is empty.
An assistant U.S. District Attorney sits in the center, next to a lawyer from Georgetown University representing the National Archives, one of several plaintiffs fighting for the release of Grand Jury testimony of 44 witnesses called for the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Espionage case in 1950.
Judge Hellerstein sits facing us in a high back leather chair on the bench next to a large American flag. His words and those of the lawyers are well-amplified and clear.
It’s an impressive setting for a historic ruling on the release of evidence 55 years after this nation’s only execution ever of American civilians for spying.
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted in a sensational espionage trial of passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union during World War II. They were Communist sympathizers, executed at Sing-Sing prison in 1953.
Sam Roberts, a New York Times writer, author and expert on the case told me, “Communism looked a little more appealing after the depression when a lot of people were not benefiting from Capitalism, when there was anti-Semitism in this country and there was a perception, certainly not a reality, that there was a lot less of it in the Soviet Union.”
But Roberts and others have long suggested the evidence against Ethel was weak and her execution may have been a mistake.
“Ethel Rosenberg was an actress…,” Sam reminded me. “At some point she realized this was her greatest role. Whatever loyalty she had to Communism and towards the Soviet Union she could perform a lot more as a Martyr than she ever could as a spy.”
There is little doubt Ethel’s husband Julius passed atomic secrets to the Soviets, notes and sketches of the atomic bomb he got from Ethel’s brother David Greenglass, another communist sympathizer who worked at the Los Alamos lab in New Mexico.
David gave Julius notes and sketches of the bomb and Ethel allegedly typed them up before the materials were handed off to the Soviets.
But decades later David told reporters he lied at trial. It was his wife, not Ethel, who typed up the stolen secrets. He helped prosecutors win a death sentence for his sister to keep his wife out of trouble.
Some call it a Shakespearean tragedy and the Rosenberg’s descendants are among those hoping for answers, including how the Government was able to win its case with what may be faulty testimony.
But while the Judge ruled testimony from 39 of the 46 witnesses can be released, he decided some still can’t be because of it’s sensitive nature, inability to determine if the witnesses are still alive, or in Greenglass’s case because he wants to maintain the privacy guaranteed him by the Feds before he walked into the Grand Jury room in August of 1950.
“He may be a scoundrel, a hypocrite and a liar and may have violated the 2nd and 7th Commandments…” the judge said, “…but that doesn’t override the value of Grand Jury secrecy.”
Greenglass’s words remain hidden at least until he dies. The National Archives will now work on releasing the testimony from 39 others, probably sometime within the next couple weeks.
Rick Leventhal is a correspondent in the New York bureau, but has
covered stories in more than 30 states and 20 countries, from Aruba to
Afghanistan. He has also reported from the field for dozens of World
Series games! 
“maintain the privacy guaranteed him by the Feds before he walked into the Grand Jury room in August of 1950.”
That is what the law is for.
The word “it’s” is a contraction for “it is”. The correct possessive of “it” is “its” without the apostrophe. The journalist (no doubt a bright English major from one of our leading American universities) should be aware of this, and if not, your editors and proof readers should have caught it. The mistake is made at least twice in the course of this article. No wonder the Rosenbergs were disenchanted with the American system..
Interesting stuff. Justice for the Rosenbergs, not just yet.
Except that the Venona Reports named Ethel along with her husband as working for the Soviets.
Did Mr. Leventhal ask Mr. Roberts about key evidence pointing to the Rosenbergs’ guilt that was not revealed in court…..specifically the US Army Signal Corps operation Venona cable intercepts from the Soviets that subsequent decryption identified both Julius and Ethel as Soviet spies AND prime players in Soviet atomic espionage? After all there is no dispute that Juliuus recruited David Greenglass.
It appears to me that Mr. Roberts remains skeptical if not hostile to declassified Soviet archives that identify the Rosenbergs as the linchpins in soviet atomic spying effort in the post WWII era.
Frankly in the face of recent release and analysis of the NKVD ( WW II fore runner of KGB) documents render any of Greenglass testimony as irrelevant.
May I also remind Mr. Roberts that the people proposing the anti-semitism narrative regarding the Rosenbergs at the time were Communist Party USA.
Except that both Ethel and her husband were named as spies in the Venona Report. The Soviet considered her one of theirs, I assume they would know.
This is interesting to me. As someone who was not even born when the Rosenberg’s were executed. Thier one son Michael (Merepool) sp? was my economics professor for two semesters when I was an undergraduate in 1985 at Western New England College in Springfield MA. He was an impressive man and passionate about teaching. I remember that there were rumors about Professor Merepool being Ethel and Julius’ son, but in 1985 it really did not resonate with me.
As an adult I am always curious when items regarding the Rosenberg’s show up in the news, on TV Angels in America, HBO special. I am sure Professor Merepool was in the courtroom today.
The Venona transcripts are the peak in a of mountain of evidence on which rests an unassailable conclusion - both Rosenbergs were guilty of giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Never was the penalty of death for treason more deserved and appropriately administered. Ethel could not hide behind her skirt then, nor should her children be permitted to spin away the evidence of her guilt now. The history of the fellow-travelling left is a shameful record of support for a murderous totalitarian regieme. Let there be sympathy for its victims and not its supporters.
This is a true libleft bunch of propaganda. Are you sure Hillary Clinton didn’t write this? I read Feksilov’s book. He was their Russian handler. They were both guilty as H______.
With all the truly important issues of the day, why drag this one out again. The Rosenbergs, unfortunately, were traitors. They helped advance the most evil empire in the history of mankind. Whatever romance Communism held and, still holds for some cannot ever be offset by its body count. 60 million. Thats 60 million human beings, people who had wives, husbands, mothers, fathers, children, hopes and dreams, the desire to get on with their lives and be they Russians, Hungarians, Chinese, Cambodians, Laotians Vietnamese, Cubans, or Americans, they were people whose lives were tragically cut down by this sick pestilence. Mao, Ho, Joe, Lenin and Fidel even made Hitler look like a piker.
Let the Rosenbergs lie. They don’t deserve the attention.
So he lied under oath, and his lie led to an innocent woman being executed in the electric chair? I’m no legal expert, but that looks to me like a very serious crime. That David Greenglass guy needs to be arrested and prosecuted for this.
They would never have been convicted today. God forbid that we accuse a jew of treason. We would be labeled anti-semites. Remember AIPAC.
In the grand scheme of things, there are infinitely more important issues than the one spelling and three grammatical errors in this story. On the other hand, should such mistakes be acceptable in a national news story created by a professional writer and published by a national news service?
Two of the grammatical errors appear in paragraphs 14 and 15 (”…win it’s [sic] case …” and “…because of it’s [sic] sensitive nature…,” respectively). “It’s” is a contraction of “it is” — not a possessive. The possessive form of “it” is simply “its” — with no apostrophe.
The third grammatical error appears in paragraph 14 (”…the Rosenberg’s [sic] descendants …”). A singular possessive has been errantly used instead of the appropriate plural possessive (”Rosenbergs’”).
The spelling error appears in the final paragraph (”…within thew [sic] next couple weeks.”).
Yes, I’m being nitpicky, but I believe only as much as the writer and editor should have been.
Is Roberts going to pick up the tab for all of this? There’s plenty of historians that question Julius’s guilt as well. Frankly, other than wasting a lot of tax dollars to satisfy Roberts’ curiosity, I don’t see what’s to be gained here. Certainly nothing will be proved one way or another. -USAPatriot
There should never have been a Trial..All of the People involved in passing Secrets of any kind should be summarily shot in Secret by a Firing Squad..That includes the CIA Agents and Government employees that fed the Soviets our Military Codes..There are People working in the Press today that pass Secret Info. to our Enemies using the First Ammendment as their cover..All should be rendered by our Government and then taken for a flight 200 miles out to sea and kicked out..No publicity,just like what would happen to them if their Al Queda friends got hold of them…
Declassified materials from the former KGB show that the Rosenbergs were Communist spies. What’s the controversy?
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were not communist sympathizers. They were long time, hard core members of Stalin’s CPUSA (Communist Party USA). They joined the party in order to help the COMINTERN make the USA part of Stalin’s communist “worker’s paradise”. Check out “The Venona Secrets” by Romerstein and Breindel.
Thanks for the news. I never knew a lot about what you wrote about. I just learned something new
So what happened to David Greenglass back in the 1950s? Any prison time for espionage? If not, why not?
Resurfacing this trial may be a good thing, as over time the impression has been slowly growing that both of the Greenbergs were scapegoats for Cold War hysteria and “McCarthysim”. Our government, as was also the case in Great Britain, was heavily infiltrated with Communist sympathizers who were potential recuits for Soviet spying. The release of testimony from this period should serve as additional proof, along with the Venona Papers.
As the old saying goes, “Just because you’re paranoid, that doesn’t mean there isn’t someone trying to kill you.” Lenin, Stalin and their descendants were ruthless and dedicated enemies of the West, and people like the Rosenbergs did incalculabe damage in their role as “useful idiots” (Lenin’s phrase).
Let it rest - it won’t do anyting but feed the tin foil hat, conspiracy theory extremist crowd. Before long we’ll have two camps fighting over what might havve been opening long healed scars along the way.
It’s over and done and we can’t do anything about the result. They are long since returned to dust and there is nothing to reverse that.
REALITY: The Soviet Union was the most murderous regime in history..BAR NONE. As many as 40 MILLION people died in the Gulags for crimes such as having an opinion different than the governments, or for being Jewish (yes, the Soviets did it too) or homosexual. So the Rosenbergs, having access to the one thing that guaranteed OUR freedom decided, based upon their own opinion as to what was correct, to deliver this capability to the one nation who was worse than Hitlers Germany. Apparently, ‘poor’ Ethel was not AS guilty as we thought as her own brother lied to protect his wife. WHY IS THIS THE GOVERNMENTS FAULT?
The Rosenbergs, by providing this technology to the Soviet Union, pretty much sentenced MILLIONS to Eastern Europeans to life under the Soviet, SOCIALIST, yoke. Many thousands died under that yoke while trying to escape it or or overthrow it. Had the US had the ONLY Atomic Capability, perhaps we could have freed those millions sooner. And cheaper. Why cannot our media report THIS ANGLE? Are they stupid or biased to the left?
The Rosenberg trial was proof our country was evil. Nonsense, they betrayed our country. Their family should move on and stop trying to perpetuate the myth these two traitors were victims.
Sam, write a story about how a reporter can cling to a lie for half a century. Tragic.