One of the most controversial cases of the twentieth century was the Rosenberg Case. The sensational case left all of America in great shock. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were charged with conspiracy to commit espionage in the year of 1951. Julius Rosenberg was providing top secret information to the Soviet Union. His wife, Ethel Rosenberg, was primarily arrested to lay in the possibility of threatening her with prosecution as a means of convincing Julius to talk (Linder 3). David Greenglass, the brother of Ethel Rosenberg, prepared handwritten notes and sketches relating to a high-explosive lens mold being developed in a Los Alamos laboratory. According to Greenglass, those notes were either passed directly to Rosenberg while he was on furlough in New York, or to a courier, Harry Gold, sent to New Mexico to collect the information (Linder 3). David Greenglass, his wife Ruth, and Harry Gold were the only three to testify against Rosenberg.
Police photograph of Ethel Rosenberg.
English: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, separated by ...
Greenglass's sketch of an implosion-type nuclear w...The case against the Rosenbergs was weak, but even then they were still sentenced the death penalty for espionage and they were declared guilty. The Rosenbergs were executed inside the Sing-Sing prison in New York. They were executed from an electric chair in June 19, 1953. The courts also made it clear that if either of the Rosenbergs would admit to their espionage, they too could avoid execution, but the couple, loyal to their cause and riding a wave of public support, continued to adamantly state their innocence until their death on the day of June 19, 1953 (Casalapi 2). The Rosenbergs were wrongfully convicted and found guilty of espionage because of the paranoia of the United States, lack of evidence, and unreliable testimonies.
The United States were involved in the Cold War and were against the idea of communism. The Rosenbergs...