rosenberg

In 1950, the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Julius Rosenberg (1918-53), an electrical engineer who had worked (1940-45) for the U.S. army signal corps, and his wife Ethel (1916-53); they were indicted for conspiracy to transmit classified military information to the Soviet Union. In the trial that followed (Mar., 1951), the government charged that in 1944 and 1945 the Rosenbergs had persuaded Ethel's brother, David Greenglass-an employee at the Los Alamos atomic bomb project-to provide them and a …

…trial. The case aroused much controversy. Many claimed that the political climate made a fair trial impossible and that the only seriously incriminating evidence had come from a confessed spy; others questioned the value of the information transmitted to the Soviet Union and argued that the death penalty was too severe. Communists in the United States and abroad organized a campaign to save the Rosenbergs and received the support of many liberals and religious leaders.