Yes. Which was why it was imperative to do almost anything to get the Rosenbergs to talk. Venona had uncovered "349 citizens, immigrants, and permanent residents of the United States who had had a covert relationship with Soviet intelligence agencies."1 But the our intelligence services had no idea who most of them were. Nearly 200 were tucked away under cover names. They were doing incalculable harm and we knew it. The recently unsealed executive McCarthy transcripts are astounding. The radar lab at Ft. Monmouth, N.J. was a nest of suspected Soviet agents (many of whom had been classmates of Julius Rosenberg at City College). But people were taking the fifth and were lawyered up way beyond their salaries. McCarthy didn't care if someone had been a communist or not. He made that clear during the executive sessions. Those who did admit they had joined and who cooperated were never exposed by the committee until the transcripts were opened this month. No one ever did get to the bottom of the treason at Ft. Monmouth. Too many high paid lawyers telling everyone to shut up. In disgust, Eisenhower shut the facility, let most every go and Goldwater passed legislation opening a new lab in Arizona.
As the Moynihan commission reported, most of the spies were Russian or Central European immigrants or their grown children. As did Rosenberg, many had attended City College and recieved educations which allowed them to prosper. Was it too much to ask them not to try to overthrow the government which gave them shelter? They should have kissed the American flag and told everything they knew about a regime and a party, the CPUSA, which was engaged in the worse atrocities the world had ever seen.
But they didn't. I have zero sympathy for any of them. For 50 years they and their defenders have castigated and demonized the good guys--those trying to end communist terror. If there is justice, there is a hell and those who claim taking the fifth protected civil rights and was the patriotic thing to do are in it.
1Chapter One: Venona and the Cold WarJohn Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr. Yale University Press.
If that's true then a good case can be made for abrogating constitutional protections. I'm not up on the current evidence and can't argue it with you. Sorry.
Date: Tue, 25 Jul 1995 09:26:30 -0700
ROSENBERG FUND FOR CHILDREN 1145 Main Street Suite 408 Springfield, Ma. 01103 (413) 739 - 9020 FAX: (413) 746-5767 RELEASED "VENONA" DOCUMENTS DEMONSTRATE GOVERNMENT DUPLICITY. Nothing in the 49 VENONA documents released by the National Security AGency and the CIA (The Agencies) on July 11 cause us to alter our positions that: 1. our parents Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were not guilty as charged; 2. their conviction was based upon perjured testimony and fabricated evidence; 3. that government agents and agencies orchestrated our parents' frame-up which resulted in their execution. We have sought the release of these documents sicne 1975. The Agencies explanation that they were not used at our parents' trial for national security reasons does not explain why they have refused to release them to us for the last 20 years. It is much more plausible that the documents were only released now becauset htye prove nothing and do not helpt justify our parents' execution. Thew documents' nature and contents explain why They Agencies kept them secret for over 40 years. The Agences have released no physcal evidence to support their claims. The public is asked to accept just upon their say so that the documents really are translations ofr encrypted Soviet diplomatic communications that the translations faithfull reflect those communications, and that the individuals referred to in code n the documents are the people The AGencies say they are. None of this should be taken for granted. The Agencies are some of the major architects of our parents' legally sanctioned murder and so have a tremendous stake in justifying their execution. The booklet The Agences released to "explain" the documents ("Introductory History of VENONA and Guide to the Trnaslations), demonstrates that they have even lied about the contents of these documents in this carefully staged effort to misinform the public. For example the following statements appear on page 10 of the Guide: "These messages disclose some of the clandestine activities of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg ..." and "KGB officer Leonid Kvasnikov ... like the Rosenbergs ... had many other high-tech espionage targets..." (emphasis added) Our mother is barefly metnioned in the 49 documents The Agencies claim are KGB transmissions, and nowhere in them is it stated that she engaged in clandestine activities. TAhe major reference to her states: "Knows about her husband's work and the role of METR and NIL. In view of delicate health does not work. Is characterized positively and as a devote dperson." Our father's name never appears in any of the documents. The Agencies would have us believe that they identified many spies long before our parents' arrests and did nothing about it but give the FBI a few tips while the vast majority of them either disappeared or were never prosecuted. They can not explian why neither the CIA nor the FBI acted as if it had this information prior to our parents' arrests. Therefore, we suspect thyat The Agencies "cooked" whatever information they had after the arrests and trial to bolster the government's scenario. While we can't prove this, The Agencies certainly had the motive, means and opportunity to do so. This helps explain why the "Guide" is so vague about the timing of the "decoding" of thses "transmissions." The Federal Judiciary, the FBI, the Departmnet of Justiec, the CIA and other government agencies ahve engaged in a course of misconduct concerning our parents' case for over 40 years. Unlike the Agencies, we, as private citizens have not had the media access necessary to present our side. FOR MORE INFORMATION, contact: Robert Meeropol: 413 - 739 - 9020.There is a documentary film on the Rosenberg case.
Document URL: http://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/meeropol-on-rosenbergs.html
Last modified: Monday, 22-Mar-1999 10:43:49 EST