Free Republic

50 Years Later: Rosenberg ReduxBy Greg YardleyFrontPageMagazine.com | June 20, 2003 Fifty years ago last night, the government of the United States executed two of the most contemptible figures of the Cold War, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.  And exactly fifty years later - that is, last night - the leftovers of the Cold War's losing side gathered, to wage the latest round of a decades-long struggle to exonerate their dead.  A 'major cultural program' to commemorate the Rosenbergs was held in New York City's City Center.  Michael and Robert Meeropol, the Rosenbergs' two sons, were the star attraction; an array...

OSSINING, N.Y. (AP)--Pete Seeger was in New York City's Union Square in 1953 along with 5,000 other supporters of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg as the hour of the couple's execution drew near. ``We were waiting and hoping Eisenhower would give a last-minute reprieve,'' says Seeger, now 84. ``We learned that wouldn't happen, and then a great sigh, a great wail went up from the crowd when the time came and we knew they'd been executed.'' On the 50th anniversary of the execution Thursday, Seeger, Susan Sarandon, Harry Belafonte and other show business activists will appear at a benefit for the...