The Rosenberg Spy Trial
...n May 12, 1918 in New York City. He was the son of Polish immigrants named Harry and Sophie Rosenberg. He went to the City college in New York and studied electrical engineering. While there, he met Ethel Greenglass and they were later married. Ethel Greenglass was born on September 28, 1915 in New York City. She was the daughter of Barnet and Tessie Greenglass. She was graduated by the age of 15. She met Julius while waiting to sing at a New Year's Eve Benefit. David Greenglass, Ethel's brother, named Julius and Ethel the couple who were spying for the Soviet's and giving them information on the atomic bomb. They were found guilty and sentenced to death. Some rumors were going around saying that if the Rosenberg's confessed and gave evidence about other Communist Party spies that their lives will be spared. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg remained on death row for twenty-six months. They both refused to confess and provide evidence against others and they were eventually executed on June 19, 1953. They died because they refused to confess and name others involved. Later, everyone found out that David Greenglass had lied at the trial just to save himself and his wife from going through that same pain. He also admitted to giving the Russians atomic secrets and information about a newly invented detonator. Before the death of Julius and Ethel came the long trial. On their first reunion in a conference room at Sing-Sing, they embraced each other so tightly that the guards had to separate them. They were never able to embrace again. Ethel, an actress and singer, was disparaged by her mother, Tessie Greenglass, all through her childhood and young adulthood. Right up to her execution, Tessie was always criticizing her for getting her younger brother, David, "in trouble." Tessie was not only unloving, but she was psychologically abusive. After her execution, Bernie wrote his brother David, reassuring him that he should not feel guilty about Ethel's death, that she had brought it on herself. Hard times came upon the Rosenberg family. Having a son, Michael, born in 1943, and a second son, Robert, born in 1947 made things more tough then it had ever been. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to die in the electric chair sometime during the week of May 21, 1951. Morton Sobell received a sentence of thirty years in prison, with the judge's recommendation that he serve the full term. David Greenglass, whose sentencing had been put off until after the Rosenberg trial, received fifteen years. He had expected only five years. The Rosenberg's, tried under the Espionage Act of 1917, should not have been sentenced to death by Judge Kaufman, since the later law, the Atomic Secrets Act of 1946, held that only the jury could pronounce the death penalty. A tearful farewell was held between the children and their parents, and between the lawyer and his clients. The Attorney General, Herbert Brownell, challenged the stay. Then, in an unprecedented act, Chief Justice Fred Vinson called the entire court back in session for June 19th, in order to rule on the Attorney General's challenge to Justice Douglas's stay. Douglas heard the news on his car radio, already on the road toward his vacation destination. Justice Hugo Black, in the hospital for minor surgery, left the hospital for the session. Julius went to his death pale, shaken, but quietly. Ethel's execution was to follow, and she walked calmly to the electric chair, gently kissed one of the prison matrons on the cheek, and was electrocuted. However, Ethel was not dead after the first jolt. She had to be electrocuted a second time. The execution of the Rosenberg's did not end the Rosenberg Case. For years many argued for their innocence, while others brought forth evidence of their guilt. At the least, it was ...