Posted on 07/12/2006 1:56:44 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
IN TUESDAY'S newspaper, one of the voices in "Voice of the People" - the letters section - came from Michael Meeropol, who in 1973 earned a Ph.D. in economic history from UW-Madison.
Meeropol, who today is chairman of the department of economics at Western New England College, wrote in defense of UW-Madison retaining instructor Kevin Barrett in the wake of Barrett's controversial views of the 9/11 attacks being publicized.
"I do not agree with UW instructor Kevin Barrett's assertions about the 9/11 atrocity," Meeropol wrote. "However, I think it is crazy and counterproductive to attempt to have him fired. In fact, what I believe ought to happen is that his views should be subjected to very detailed serious examination. ... I have always believed that the best way to develop and even solidify one's views on any controversial topic - whether it be history, economics, literature, philosophy or politics - is to subject your position to the strongest possible counter argument."
Meeropol concluded: "The idea that the best way to deal with a faulty interpretation is to suppress it is unbecoming for a great university in a great state."
Many readers of Tuesday's paper may not have realized it, but Meeropol knows more than most about "controversial topics."
More than 50 years ago, as a boy, Michael Meeropol found himself in the middle of one of the most explosive American controversies of the last century - the execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union.
Michael Meeropol's name in June 1953, when the Rosenbergs died in the electric chair in Sing Sing prison, was Michael Rosenberg. He was 10 years old and the older son of Julius and Ethel.
Asked Tuesday if he sees any comparison in the U.S. political climate today with that of 1953, Meeropol replied, "No question about it."
Meeropol learned about the Barrett controversy in Madison while checking a favored Web site, http://www.freeexchangeoncampus.org
Meeropol is represented on the site by an essay he wrote last spring after David Horowitz, who insists America's universities are in the hands of the far left wing,spoke at Western New England College. "Mr. Horowitz is a fraud," Meeropol wrote. "He is not interested in free inquiry; he is interested in stifling the arguments that present points of view that he doesn't like."
Of course, the free speech issues revolving around Barrett and Horowitz and the nation's universities pale a bit in comparison to the life and death struggle of his parents that Michael Meeropol witnessed as a boy.
He was 7 when the FBI knocked on the door of the family's apartment on Manhattan's lower east side and took his father away. A short time later, his mother was arrested as well.
"Do you have a recollection of that?" Meeropol was asked.
"I remember it very well," he said. It was July 1950. For three years Michael and his younger brother, Robert, were shuffled between relatives, friends and shelters as their parents were tried and convicted as spies.
Michael said that a few years ago, his daughter, Ivy Meeropol, arranged for them to revisit that apartment, for the first time in half a century.
"Quite an experience," Michael said. The visit became part of Ivy's documentary, "Heir to an Execution: A Granddaughter's Story."
Back in the 1950s, Robert and Michael were adopted by a family named Meeropol. Their real identities were shielded for years, but eventually they began speaking out on their belief in their parents' innocence, and in 1975 the brothers co-authored a book, "We Are Your Sons: The Legacy of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg."
The Rosenberg case continues to resonate. Even at this distant date any new revelations spark news coverage and heated debates. The so-called Venona cables, made public in 1995, seemed to indicate beyond dispute that Julius Rosenberg was a spy (though not that he passed atomic secrets), while arguably exonerating Ethel Rosenberg. Sam Roberts' 2001 book, "The Brother," about Ethel's brother David Greenglass, who admitted to Roberts he perjured himself in testimony that greatly harmed the Rosenbergs' case, shed further light, but as in most complicated and controversial cases, people often see what they want to see.
Michael Meeropol said that in the wake of the new information, he's "a little less certain" about the complete innocence of his father than he was three decades ago. But he continues to believe in his mother's innocence and believes that neither of his parents passed atomic secrets. Meeropol says he and his brother have never been allowed to see the original Venona material, only transcriptions revised by the government.
On Tuesday, he said he was glad to hear the UW had decided against firing Barrett. "It would have been terrible," said Michael Meeropol, a man who knows something about what can happen in a rush to judgment.
Interesting add-on to your article of the other day about the looney tunes "9/11 Conspiracy Perfesser." ;)
Except, of course, when a conservative idea is expressed.
The original "red diaper baby".I wonder what,if anything,David Horowitz might have to say about the piece of excrement.
But no, with lefties and commies it's always "Free speech for me, but not for thee." Why does the hypocrisy and irony of these situations always escape the notice of these idiots?
bttt
The Rosenbergs' sons should have been adopted by childless Orthodox Jewish couples, not by their parents' old CPUSA chums.
I would have to agree with this point. When this is done, liberalism just doesn't survive. Of course, his attitude about Horowitz shows where he really stands. It was sad to read about his parents again. I mean from the standpoint that I have a son about that age and can only imagine the trauma for him at that time.
My problem is when fiction is presented as fact in a university setting. Those young skulls full of mush will believe anything that they hear in a college classroom. I saw Barrett interviewed (O'Reilly? or Hannity and Colmes?) and he couldn't prove any of his assertions. Universities need to get back to teaching FACTS not assertions from the far left. And I really couldn't care less what Michael Meeropol thinks. Apparently he, for years, was sure his father was innocent but now he is reconsidering his opinion. I absolutely believe that tenure was created so that those far lefty Profs would be able to spew all their ideology and not have to worry about their jobs. Do away with tenure and they would actually have to be held accountable and subjected to the possibility of firing. Like most of the people who work for a living.
Ethel and Julius were guilty as sin of treason. The Venona decrypts confirmed the trial jury finding. Sorry about it Dr. Meeropol, but your folks got no more than they deserved.
Dear Mr. Meerpool,
Your parents were treasonous vermin and my only regret with regard to them is that we have not yet created the "Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Memorial Electric Chair" to fry a lot more of your kind.
For three years Michael and his younger brother, Robert,
http://www.discoverthenetwork.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=1509
Rosenberg Descendant Sues NSA Over Spying
One "plaintiff" in the nuisance lawsuits being filed against the Director of the NSA et al is none other than the granddaughter of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg — Rachel Meeropol.
Lest we forget, the Rosenbergs were executed in 1953 — for spying. Under the direction of the KGB, the Rosenbergs helped pass US atom bomb secrets to the Soviet Union. (Most fittingly, Julius’s KGB nom de guerre was "Liberal.")
True to her roots, Rachel is a Vice President of the New York City chapter of the communist National Lawyers Guild. She is also a fixture in some of the most ultra left organizations out there, such as The Children Of Resistance.
Of course you’d never know any of this from our watchdog media who are promoting the story, such as the Associated Press:
http://www.sweetness-light.com/archive/rosenbergs-granddaughter-sues-nsa-over-spying
Idiot. But I suppose it would be hard to come to grips with the fact your parent's were Commie traitors putting the future of Civilization at risk.
Also, having been a college freshman and associating with other college freshmen, rare is it to find a single one of them that will stand up to a professor about ANYTHING let alone something that teacher personally accepts as fact. Nope, there will not be a single challenge from a student, be they freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors or grad students.
Commendable, in theory. In practice...this is precisely the kind of openness and willingness to debate that the Wisconsin Professor discouraged.
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