The Execution of the Rosenbergs Essay Example for Free

The Execution of the Rosenbergs Essay During the Cold War, Americans lived in a society where the tension between the Soviet Union was at its peak in history. It was a time when the hatred against communism and the idea of nationalism were growing exponentially. Meanwhile, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were arrested for the accusations of helping the Soviets create the atomic bomb, which was the United States’ only advantage over the Soviets. Their arrest eventually led to the first ever execution of espionage in United States history. However, the justification of their execution is still being debated to this day. Did the Rosenbergs deserve such a harsh sentence or was it a misjudgment driven by the fear of communism? The political and social aspects of society certainly directed the fear of communism to overshadow the innocence of the Rosenbergs, making them the most controversial spies in American history. During World War II, many countries including the Soviet Union were skeptical about the existence of the atomic bomb. However, after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the strength of the atomic bomb became well-known. It was clear that as long as the United States had this weapon, no country would challenge them. This weapon was one of the few advantages the United States had against the Soviet Union going into the Cold War. It was as if the atomic bombs were the United States’ shield and armor against the Soviet Union’s attacks. Meanwhile, the power of communism was steadily rising in Eastern Europe and along with that, the American’s fear of communism was growing in parallel. â€Å"Communists were demonized; demons had no souls; no love in their hearts† (Garber/Walkowitz 25). The situation called for the â€Å"blueprint† of the atomic bomb to be safely put away from the communists. The U. S. overnment feared that the Soviet spies might get their hands on the secret information. However, it was only a matter of time that the Soviet Union would â€Å"somehow† develop its own atomic bomb†¦ Eventually on August 29th 1949, news was reported that the Soviets have successfully tested an atomic bomb in Kazakhstan. Americans were shocked, furious, and frightened. â€Å"When news came that the Soviets tested a bomb, years before it was expected, there were indeed many demagogic calls, in the media and on the stump, to find and severely punish, even execute, the thieves, the traitors† (Cohen 49). The American people did not stop to think once that the Soviet Union could have created the atomic bomb with their own power and technology. Most people just assumed that it was done through a work of spies that sold the secret information for money. Therefore, the government did not waste any time to find the person who was responsible for passing information about the atomic bomb. The growing fear of communism eventually reached its peak and the government was started taking actions to prevent any acts of espionage. After months of investigation by the FBI, Julius Rosenberg was called for questioning. He has previously been in communist groups and there were confessions from the Soviet spies that he was responsible for sending couriers and information from Los Alamos, where the Manhattan project was run. His wife, Ethel Rosenberg, was not accused at first because there was no proof of her activity in any illegal acts. She was only as a full time worker as a secretary and a mother of two kids. However, she was later called for questioning when her brother, David Greenglass, was also arrested for espionage. As the investigation went on, the media was starting to heat up and draw national attention to the Rosenbergs. The Rosenbergs were to be remembered the biggest scandal makers in U. S. history. As the fear of the Soviet Union grew after their development of the atomic bomb, the U. S. government was not going to let the investigation go smoothly. After multiple confessions from Soviet spies that Julius Rosenberg was responsible, he was sent to jail. A few months later, the FBI also arrested Ethel Rosenberg with the idea that she might have helped out her husband. The Rosenbergs were eventually both arrested and sent to court under Judge Kaufman. However, there were not enough evidence going into court that the Rosenbergs were legitimately guilty. â€Å"No documents linking the Rosenbergs with espionage were produced, despite a thorough search of their home by FBI agents, who placed in evidence only a collection can for the Spanish Refugee Appeal, licensed by the City of New York, found in their home† (Rosenberg 15). For this reason, the trial took a very long period of time. The only evidences going against the Rosenbergs were that David Greenglass and other Soviet spies have confessed to the Rosenbergs’ involvement in espionage. But even if there were any acts of espionage by the Rosenbergs, it was later revealed that none of the information that was passed by Julius Rosenberg was even useful in the development of the atomic bomb. If any information that was passed off was not useful, why punish or even kill that person? The trial was just a vicious circle between a couple of American civilians and a political bully that was blinded by war. If there was so much more supporting evidences for the Rosenbergs’ evidence, why did the United States government kept containing the Rosenbergs? It was all because the U. S. government did not want to seem weak in the eyes of the Soviet Union. Neither country wanted to show any weakness and lose the fight like in a boxing match where neither fighter wants to show their signs of fatigue and injury. Both countries tried to look stronger and richer than the other. â€Å"In turning down Ethels emotional appeals, Eisenhower said repeatedly that we could not appear weak† (Cohen 50). The Cold War was changing a lot of people’s views. Even President Eisenhower’s mentality shows how much he has lost the patience and the value of human beings because of the intensity of the war. Eventually on April 4th 1951, the Rosenbergs were sentenced to execution by Judge Kaufman. The final words of Judge Kaufman were cold and unsympathetic. â€Å"Your crime is worse than murder, for you put into the hands of the Russians the A-bomb years before our best scientists predicted Russia would perfect the bomb has already caused, in my opinion, the Communist aggression in Korea, with the resultant casualties exceeding 50,000 and who knows but what that millions more innocent people may pay the price of your treason. Indeed, by your betrayal, you undoubtedly have altered the course of history to the disadvantage of our country† (Wexley 67). In an important case like this, it is essential for the judge to consider all the evidence that is brought up in the case, but instead, Judge Kaufman ignored the evidences that supported the Rosenbergs. The judge was under too much control of President Eisenhower and the American government. Also, many believe that blaming the Rosenbergs for the cause and deaths of the Korean War was way over the top. A crime in that type of scale cannot be proven in court, which makes this trial a â€Å"scandal† more than an actual â€Å"crime†. And yet the Judge stated the â€Å"unproven crime† in the final sentence and considered it in the Rosenbergs’ execution. Judge Kaufman blamed them for the Korean War, and President Eisenhower held them responsible for the slaughter in any possible future nuclear war with the Soviet Union. These extreme accusations were never authenticated and, while there is no law requiring, they should have been† (Root 292). There was simply no proof that the Rosenbergs were responsible for all these tragedies. Although they were Americans with communist views, they were only a small percentage of the communist population in the United States during that time period. Also, the United States being involved in the Korean War was solely the government’s decision. Having to say that a future nuclear war is entirely their fault is too much of an overstatement to make on two innocent civilians who were just sentenced to death. Looking back fifty years from now, the media was also very biased and reported false information about the Rosenbergs that had significant impact on the ruling of the death sentence. â€Å"It is imperative that the true facts be known to all. Sadly, the information in the press and other mass media is not the truth, but instead is a distorted, truncated, myopic aberration of our case. It is clear that the primary use being made of our case is to coerce political dissident, and to secure conformity† (Rosenberg 132). That was a quote taken from an actual letter written by Ethel Rosenberg to her husband right before their execution. Telling from the tone of the letter, the Rosenbergs were despaired from the way the media was reporting false information and making the trial even harder for them. The media has always been an key factor on political and social issues. Because of the growing fear of communism, the media did not want to promote communism and espionage in any way to the public. As a result, the Rosenbergs were once again victims of the biased society and its false reporting media. The media was not the only influence on the social bias against the Rosenbergs. Many books were published to summon up the American’s anger against the Rosenbergs at that time. For example, there was the book, â€Å"Betrayers: the Rosenberg Case – a reappraisal of an American crisis† and â€Å"The Rosenberg Case: Fact and Fiction†, which was published on the same year of the execution. One of the quotes from the book was â€Å"Yes. The Rosenbergs’ case is ended, but the evil that they did is endless† ( Fineberg 148). If the evil that they did is endless like the author said in his book, there would certainly have been a nuclear war or a World War III by today, in the year 2008. However, that is not the case. The Soviet Union was surely to develop the atomic bomb with its own resources and power but all the blame went to the Rosenbergs in this state of affairs. The Rosenbergs were though not all alone through the fight in trial and against the coercion by the politicians. Soon after the death sentence by Judge Kaufman, countries all over the world protested the sentence. â€Å"Seemingly overnight, the whole world rose in protest against the death sentences that had been imposed on Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. By then end of the year, there were pro-Rosenberg committees in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, Ireland, Israel, and of course- Eastern Europe. † ( Radosh/Milton 347) Powerful leaders were forming organizations and committees to convince the United States to set the Rosenbergs free. Also, there were famous individuals who were protesting against the death sentence. Even the main creator of the atomic bomb, Albert Einstein, believed that the United States government was killing innocent lives in the fight against the Soviet Union. â€Å"An appeal for executive clemency was sent to the White house, supported by many prominent Americans, including scientist Albert Einstein, Dr. Harold C. Urey and more than 3,000 clergymen of 26 denominations† (Rosenberg 18). This would have had significant support for the Rosenbergs in trial but the media was once again preventing it from happening. These protests were not broadcasted to the public because of the biased media. However, the protests did not end there. Millions of petitions from all over the world were being sent to the White house. The world believed that the Rosenbergs should not end up being â€Å"political victims† of the meaningless war. â€Å"Millions of people view the refusal of the courts to grant the Rosenbergs relief as an affirmation of our insistence after nearly two years in the death hours that we are political victims of the Cold War† (Rosenberg 126). Despite all these protests and petitions, the government stuck to their belief that the Rosenbergs deserved the death sentence. But why were the allies of the United States protesting against the United States? Why was the United States not listening to anyone but themselves? Once again, the political leaders of the United States were too blinded by their focus to win the Cold War against the Soviet Union. Realistically, would the Rosenbergs have received the death sentence if they did not live during the Cold War era? They would have certainly received a much lighter sentence if they lived in today’s time period. This was the thought of Dorothy Thompson, a former journalist of Times magazine. Dorothy Thompson has once stated that: â€Å"The death sentence†¦ depressed me†¦ in 1944 we were not at war with the Soviet Union†¦. Indeed, it is unlikely that had they ( the Rosenbergs) been tried in 1944 they would have received any such sentence† (Rosenberg 9). 1944 was certainly that time in history where any act of espionage was not forgiven by society. If anyone was suspected to be a spy, they would be immediately called to questioning. Historians refer to this period as almost like the â€Å"witch hunt† era in Salem driven by â€Å"McCarthyism,† a strong idea of anti-communism that was popular at the time. The â€Å"massive witch hunt† eventually led to the Rosenbergs, which shows that the social aspects during the Cold War era had a biased impact on the ruling of the trial. Behind all the accusations, there was an individual who made the scandal even more controversial. His name was Klaus Fuchs and he was one of the main nuclear scientists that developed the atomic bomb during the Manhattan Project. It is still believed to this day that Klaus Fuchs sold important secrets of the atomic bomb to the Soviets for money. Even history books are being written over again about his betrayal. â€Å"In England, Klaus Fuchs, the German-born scientist who provided the Soviets with far more accurate and useful information on the atomic bomb than anything that might have come from the Rosenbergs, got only 14 years† (Cohen 48). For someone who obviously provided more information to the Soviet Union, it is certainly not fair that Klaus Fuchs only received 14 years in prison. How did this happen? We can see that Klaus Fuchs was ruled a lighter sentence because he was trialed in England. Although England was our closest ally, they did not see any justification that Klaus Fuchs should receive a sentence of anything more than 14 years. Therefore, just because the Rosenbergs were trialed in the United States, they had to end their lives. 14 years in prison and being electrocuted to death is definitely a huge difference; one is given a second chance to live and one is put to death. For a certainty, the Rosenbergs would have received a much lighter sentence in England. It is an embarrassment of the court to say that the only justification for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg’s death is that they were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. Another huge controversy of the scandal is the death of Ethel Rosenberg. The reason the scandal is called â€Å"the Rosenbergs Case† is because both Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for being accused of committing the same crime. However, years after the execution, there were a lot of speculations to why Ethel had to suffer the consequences for something her husband was caught doing. It was later revealed that the FBI was using her as a â€Å"lever† to force Julius Rosenberg to confess to his acts of espionage. â€Å"Hoovers biographer suggests that the Director now regretted the strategy of using Ethel as a lever to induce Julius to confess, and thought that it would be terrible public relations to execute a mother of two young children† (Aiuto 5). It became obvious that Ethel Rosenberg did not commit any crime or spied for the Soviet Union. She was only caught up in the accusation because her brother, David Greenglass, and her husband, Julius Rosenberg, were both spies in the past. The FBI saw her as a useful â€Å"tool† to threaten her husband also they arrested her along with him. Because of the FBI’s cruel and brainless strategy, a mother of two sons had to rot in jail and die on the electric chair. â€Å"Julius went to his death pale, shaken, but quietly. Ethels 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† (Aiuto 11). According to this article, Ethel had to be electrocuted â€Å"twice† before she was killed. The irony of her second electrocution will forever remembered as a symbolism to her evident innocence. Being the first ones in American history to be executed for espionage, the Rosenbergs did not deserve the death sentence. Although they were communists living in the United States, there was no significant evidence that they were responsible for the Soviet Union’s ownership of the atomic bomb. They were unfortunate to live in the time period of anti-communism and in the country that was in war with a communist state. In political aspects, the government was only interested in using the Rosenbergs to scare the Soviets and display its strength and power. In social aspects, the media constantly reported false information and the people of America were too biased to believe that the accused communist spies deserved anything less than the death penalty. Many factors played against the trial of the Rosenbergs that led to the unfair trial of the Rosenbergs case but they will be remembered as those who were innocent victims of the Cold War’s political and social defeciency.