ATOMIC ESPIONAGE DEFINITION TRIAL
Ethel's refusal to fulfill a stereotypical feminine role by breaking into tears during the trial was thought to show that she was unwomanly and more attached to Communism than to her children. On March 29, 1951, following a high-profile trial, the Rosenbergs were convicted of treason, in the form of passing atomic secrets to Russia. Evidence suggests that Ethel was held mainly in an effort to force her husband to reveal further names and information. The pair were turned in by Ethel's youngest brother, David Greenglass, apparently to protect his own wife from prosecution.
ATOMIC ESPIONAGE DEFINITION SERIES
atomic bomb, a series of revelations led, in June 1950, to the arrest of Julius Rosenberg as an atomic spy. After their marriage, Julius remained active in the Communist Party, but Ethel left both politics and music behind to focus on raising their two sons.įollowing the arrest of a German-born physicist who had worked on the Manhattan Project to develop the U.S. She continued to sing, however, and it was at a performance at a Seaman's Union benefit that she met Julius Rosenberg. When the workers in her union called a strike in 1935, she was one of four members of the strike committee. Exploring radical political philosophy through music and theatre as well as evening discussions, she came to agree with many of the Communist Party's goals, such as fighting fascism and racism and supporting unions. Even as she maintained the dream of a musical career, her work in a shipping company was leading her in a new direction.Īt work, Ethel Rosenberg was introduced for the first time to union organizers and Communist Party members. She joined the Schola Cantorum, a vocal group that performed at Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Opera House. Although she went to work instead of to college after her 1931 graduation from high school, she studied experimental theatre at the Clark Settlement House and also studied music. Born to Russian immigrants on New York's Lower East Side in 1915, the young Ethel hoped for a career in theater or music. Fifty-four years after her death, Ethel Rosenberg's role remains one of the most contested aspects of the whole affair.ĭespite her sensational death, Ethel Rosenberg was not a lifelong political activist. Put to death on June 19, 1953, after their conviction for conspiracy to commit treason, the Rosenbergs were at the center of one of the most famous and controversial espionage cases of the twentieth century.
Although they were tried and executed more than half a century ago, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg's names remain familiar to most Americans.
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