Remembering the Rosenbergs -- 50 years on

AFP ^ | Wed, Jun 18, 2003

[Joee]

I was stationed at Quantico, Va. at the time and on a number of occasions went up to DC. The Communist Party brought a number of their people down from NY to picket the Justice Dept. They handed out pro Commie literature. At the same time, I knew of several Marine Officers, in civilian clothes, that drove their cars around the demonstrators with signs on them i.e. "FRY the SPIES. etc, which is just what happened. I do recall, some tense times in DC with actions taken against the Commie dupes.

[headsonpikes]

"In my book that qualifies for execution."

Mine, too.

But the Government has reasons of state to consider, as well.

These reasons do not always 'translate' well to the general public - some thing's must be secret.

World politics is not a board game.

[headsonpikes]

Dang!

Drop the apostrophe in 'things'.

Aggghhh...!

[sticker]

If anyone reads "The Sword and The Shield" they can see that both the Rosenbergs deserved what they got.

[Constantine XIII]

Yeah, that book will give you nighmares. The Communists were real, they were here, if they had their way anyone to the right of Barbra Striesand would have been shot.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

You are correct. Ames and Pollard can be useful to clearify the damage they did.
There was little doubt about the Rosenbergs.

[Rushian]

Jane Fonda is today's Rosenbergs, and she is feted a s a Woman of the Century!

[blau993]

Ethel typed her husband's notes and was the ideologically more committed of the couple. Ethel also recruited her brother.

That was the Government's argument with respect to Ethel, but even people on the Government side have expressed some doubt about Ethel's actual participation. The proof against her was thin, and there is no doubt, as the article notes, that the Government was using her as a bargaining chip to get Julius to open up. All of which does not mean she was innocent. It just casts doubt on whether the Government really proved her guilt.

[Snickersnee]

I remember walking home in front of the White House with my father on the evening the Rosenbergs were executed. It was a cool and drizzly day. A bunch of CPUSA members had been bused down from NYC to walk a long, oval picket-line in front of the WH carrying "Save the Rosenbergs" signs, chanting, etc.

As we drew near the gate on West Exec. Ave, a tall, well-dressed black man broke out of the pack and attempted to press a leaflet on my father. "Save the Rosenbergs, Sir? Save the Rosenbergs?" My USMC-vet father gave him a wicked Gunny-sergeant glare, and the guy sheepishly spun around and tried to hit some other passers-by.

We got up to the corner of 17th St. and my father stopped and looked back. "Mm. That was Paul Robeson," he said.

"Who?" I asked.

"Never mind," he explained.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I think serious (as opposed to ideologically blinded) historians agree with the facts in my sentence you cited. Proof is in the eye of the beholder. Ethel Rosenberg died of arrogance. She could have asked for mercy and she did not. She cared more for her ideological reputation than her children. Her children will never accept this fact.

A lot of people in the 1950's were certain that Communism was the wave of the future. She saw herself as the very avatar of that future and would do nothing that might diminish that stature.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Who are today's Rosenbergs and why are they not on death row?

I nominate Bill Clinton & Al Gore for the technology passed to the Chinese Communists.

[y2k_free_radical]

They should have

[blau993]

I don't quarrel with your characterization of Ethel (and Julius) as arrogant. They surely saw themselves as martyrs for a cause they believed in.

I do think the judgment of history has been that they did not "deliver the Atom Bomb to Stalin." That may be a fair charge to make against Klaus Fuchs, but it overstates the importance of the Rosenbergs. Nevertheless, it was not for want of trying.

[Inkie]

I don't believe WHL at all. Everyone I know who works at Los Alamos and other such government labs say he downloaded a whole lot of stuff he shouldn't have and there is no reason for it. He wasn't cleared for that security level yet somehow he had access to it. Also, the feds wanted to tap his phone and Janet Reno (now there's a candidate for imprisonment) said no. The government was cowed into apologizing because as usual the demagogues started screaming about racism (sounds like you buy that). Since that is the worst thing you can call someone, they always turn somersaults to disprove you, in this case by just not following through with Wen.

[crazykatz]

I was a young girl in Atlanta at the time. My grandfather worked in the office at the Fischer Body plant across the street from the Federal Pen, as we all called it, where the traitors were executed.

On the day, after they were executed my grandfather, who was not the type to swear, said a friend of his, in my presence,

" I stood across the street from the gates at the Pen and said I was glad the BASTURDS were dead."

I have remembered this comment all my life. That was the only time I had ever heard him swear... and, I never heard it again. He passed away in 1965.