Guilty or innocent? The story of Ethyl and Julius Rosenberg
It was shortly after World War Two, and the nation was going through another Red Scare. Being a suspected communist made one as guilty as being a serial murderer in America. Communist North Korea and China had recently invaded South Korea, and the USSR had recently discovered the secret to atomic weapons. When Russia detonated its first atom bomb, Americans were infuriated. They wanted to know how their Communist enemy got the secret to this dangerous weapon, and they wanted to blame someone.
The Rosenbergs had led innocent enough lives. Julius and Ethyl had met at a communist convention, and were married shortly after, in 1939. Julius joined the army signal corps in 1940 as a civilian worker, and left the communist party in 1943. Accusers claim that this was when the Soviet Union first approached him. He was fired in 1945 simply for being a communist, even though he had left the party years ago.
English: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, separated by ...
pitcher
Greenglass's sketch of an implosion-type nuclear w...Without a job, Julius was unsure where to go. Luckily, Ethyl's brother, David Greenglass, owned a machine shop where Julius could work and still support Ethyl and their two sons Michael and Robert.
In 1949 Harry Gold fingered Greenglass, who had formerly worked at Los Alamos lab in New Mexico on an atomic bomb project, for involvement in a spy ring that stretched around the globe. Gold needed a scapegoat to relieve him of the punishment of espionage, and since Greenglass had been involved as well, he was the perfect opportunity. Unfortunately, when Greenglass went down, he dragged Julius and Ethyl down with them.
A long train of spies who continued to point fingers upon being caught had tracked down Gold, and neither Gold nor Greenglass altered the trend. Upon his initial interrogation,