A Celebration of Our History April 22 -- October 29, 2000
"Always remember that we were innocent..." --written in a final
letter to her sons Rosenberg and her husband Julius, a former
engineer for the Army Signal Corps, were convicted of providing
atomic information to the Soviet Union--a case that incited
controversy among Americans who believed that the 1950s Cold War
made a fair trial impossible. During sentencing, the trial judge
noted that Julius was "the prime mover in this conspiracy," but
that Ethel also was guilty: "Instead of deterring him from
pursuing his ignoble cause, she encouraged and assisted
[him].She was a full-fledged partner in his crime." Numerous
appeals--including those from Ethel herself, from the Pope and
from the Rosenbergs' two sons--were written to President
Eisenhower to commute their death sentence. Yet the President
wrote "application denied" on February 11, 1953, and four months
later, Ethel and Julius were executed in the electric chair at
Sing Sing Prison. According to a Spe