The Rosenberg Trial :: essays research papers

The Rosenberg trial, which ended in adouble act in 1953, was one of the centurys mostcontroversial trials. It was sometimes referred to as, "thebest publicized spy hunt of all times" as it came to the public plaza in the time of atom-spy hysteria. Husband and wife,Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were charged with conspiracy tocommit espionage. almost of the controversy surrounding thiscase came from mass speculation that there were influences beingness reinforced by behind-the-scenes pressure, mainly fromthe government, which was detected through with(predicate) ofttimesinconsistencies in testimonies and other misconduct in thecourt. Many shared the precept that Ethel Rosenbergexpressed best as she wrote in one of her last letter beforebeing executed, "-knowing my husband and I must be vindicated by history...We are the first victims of AmericanFascism." Some people believed that the Rosenbergs had avulnerable background which made these innocent peoplefall victim t o the government. In September 1940 JuliusRosenberg was hired by US army indicate Corps as a juniorengineer, but fired defect 1945 because he was found to bea member of the communist party. He was employed in1945 with Emerson Radio. Finally, in 1946 BernardGreenglass, his brother-in-law, asked him to a join war bare business called Pitt Machine Products Company.Ethel Rosenberg supported herself as a teenager throughpageant prize money she won as a singer and dancer. Lateron she was employed as a clerk for subject area Shipping butlost her job for union activities. They lived a happily marriedlife with two sons until June 15, 1950 when brother-in-law,David Greenglass named Julius and Ethel as people whorecruited him to spy for the Soviet Union. The case judgedby Irving R. Kaufman began on March 6,1957. TheRosenbergs, as well as Morton Sobell, were accused ofdelivering information, documents, sketches and othermaterial vital to the national defense of our country, to aforeign power , namely, to Soviet Russia. Greenglass testifiedthat it was he who turned over most of these materials to theRosenbergs because of pressure. On March 29, after amuch publicized court case, the oppose were found guilty andsentenced to be executed in the week of whitethorn 21, and theiraccused co-conspirator, Sobell, got 30 years in jail becausehe was not explicitly connected to the atom bomb. Manypeople were against this decision and the chair tried tojustify such rash actions "The execution of two valet de chambre beingsis a grave matter. But even graver is the thought of themillions of out of work whose death may be directly attributable towhat these spies have done." by and by many failed appeals,Julius and Ethel were electrocuted minutes apart on June 19,