Posted on 01/16/2009 9:12:39 AM PST by Welcome2thejungle
That Julius Rosenberg was one the worst traitors in American history who deserved what he received there can be no doubt. Even his sons now concede that their father participated in a major spy network passing along information to the Soviets. Morton Sobell, who was convicted the Rosenbergs now confirms Julius Rosenberg's guilt as did Rosenberg's Soviet contact, Alexandre Feklisov. Interestingly enough, according to the Venona cables, Rosenberg's secret code name to the Soviets was "LIBERAL". Very befitting considering who is defenders were.
If Julius Rosenberg was one the most despicable figures in American history, his wife, Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg, surely must be considered one of the most tragic figures in history. At worst she was a minor participant in her husband's espionage activities. Her guilt has never been clearly established. According to Wikipedia.com:
"...there is little evidence that...Ethel...participated in espionage."
Truth be told, Ethel Rosenberg was executed for one simple reason: Her refusal to testify against her husband. It seems to me that considering the flimsy evidence against her, that she should have received no worse a prison sentence than her brother, David Greenglass, or Morton Sobell, who were much bigger participants in the spy ring than she ever was.
Mrs. Rosenberg suffered a particularly gruesome and excruciating fate in the electric chair. It took no less than three electrical charges to destroy this young mother of two small children. Ethel Rosenberg is indeed a victim of history who would have never suffered such a terrible fate if weren't for the circumstances she found herself in.
I’m expecting a cameo by Rosa Luxemburg any day now.
It’s easy for us to say we would not testify against our own spouses, but would we? It’s not an easy call. And anyone familiar with this case knows full damn well that the government was playing a cat and mouse game with the Rosenbergs. Ethel was only arrested because the government hoped to use her to get Julius to talk. In the larger scheme of things, the Rosenbergs were small potatoes. What the government really wanted was for Julius to reveal his Soviet spy contacts in the U.S.
Ethel Rosenberg was both a willing and active participant in her husband's espionage ring.
Might I suggest The VENONA Secrets by Romerstein and Breindel as a starting point for learning the details of her perfidy?
If this was any ordinary crime you might have a point. This was not an ordinary crime. It was a crime against every citizen in this country including her own children that put us all in even greater peril than we were already in at the time. Even if she didn't actively participate, doubtful, she at the very least knew what was going on. That all adds up to one thing. Treason.
I was being a little sarcastic. That said the times were different then.
She got what she deserved, same as the getaway driver in a bank holdup where a teller is shot dead.
I once wrote a long paper about the Rosenbergs for a college class many years ago. Before the internet. I sat in the library and pulled up every article I could find, and I think I concluded they and Hiss might have been set up. I no longer have that paper nor the research, but now I realize my mistake: I did all my research using articles in the NY Times. Given the same research, I’m not sure I’d reach the same conclusion today as I did in those days when college professors were a big influence.
Rosenberg had two codenames [at different times]. The first was “Engineer”. The second was “Liberal”.
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Even if your spouse is a traitor, and by your silence you are dooming your country and jeopardizing the lives of your fellow citizens?
“Prehaps she couldn’t be convicted nowadays.”
Precisely my point. Certainly not of a capital offense.
But even today heinous traitors and terrorists are tried,convicted, and executed such as Timothy McVeigh. I have no problem with this. I am a strong and forceful advocate of the death penalty. There isn’t a freaking liberal bone in my body. This doesn’t mean I think every person executed deserved it. I would like to add Mary Surratt of the Lincoln conspiracy to this list.
BTW IMHO Sen. Joseph McCarthy go the biggest bum rap in U.S. History. Our government was crawling with traitors, spies, and espionage agents working for the USSR during the FDR and HST administrations.
Let’s see. Greenglass rolled, and didn’t Sobel take a plea? So why should Mrs. “We’re Totally Innocent” Rosenberg get the same deal? Oh yeah, her brother-in -law and her sister [I believe] flipped her in.
Yes, the poor dear.
Had she been born any other time in history, up to about 60 years before her actual birth, the could have just been cleanly hung or shot for treason.
No, Sobell, didn’t roll or a take a plea. He was convicted with the Rosenbergs and served time in Alcatraz. He has only talked recently and is still alive as far as I know.
BTW—ladies and gentlemen, David Greenglass is alive as well and has admitted to saying incriminating things against his sister, Ethel Rosenberg, to protect his own wife who was much deeper involved in the conspiracy than Ethel ever was.
How about the gruesome and excruciating fate suffered by millions of victims of Stalin, whom she so faithfully served? To use an expression from the 1960's, my heart bleeds purple peanut butter for her.
To the best of knowledge, there is absolutely no mention of Ethel Rosenberg in the Venona cables, although Julius Rosenberg is mentioned frequently and was known to the Soviets by his code name: LIBERAL. BTW, Alger Hiss’s code name was supposedly ALES.
So what? Yawwwn,,,, So her brother was the Los Alamos worker who was their man on the inside,,, her Husband was the guy who passed it on the the USSR,, and SHE was the innocent one? Hell, she was the pivot-man!
And you know what? I don’t feel sorry for her all. *All* she had to do to save her skin was talk. But it was more important to her to protect a communist spy ring, than to not orphan her own kids? Screw her i say.
Comitted communist bitch. And the evidence was flimsy only so we couldnt reveal how much we could read of the soviets cables.
Second point. Are we better off that so few executions take place today? Not in my opinion. There are plenty who should be executed that aren't. Murderers are commonly sentenced to a few years or even probation. Rapists aren't executed at all.
So, if you want to argue that she was innocent of spying, or knowledge of spying, be my guest. If you want to argue that her trial was unfair by the laws of the time, be my guest.
Mary Surrat is another matter entirely. While I am not overly knowledgeable about the subject, from what I've read, she was most probably innocent of knowledge of the conspiracy. May be wrong on that point, though.
Reminds me of Frank Rizzo's (Philadelphia's last real mayor) attempt to placate the liberals.
He announced that he would come out against the electric chair.
At the press conference he said ;
"Yes, it's true, I'm now against the electric chair, I'm now in favor of the electric bench!"
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