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Ethel's Rosenberg Trial

Decent Essays

The hysteria of the time affected the outcome of the Rosenberg case. It is clear that Julius was guilty, but Ethel's participation was greatly exaggerated which caused her wrongful conviction. Julius found a passion for radical politics early in his life, while Ethel had a passion for theatre and music. That led her to sing at a Young Communist League benefit, where she met Julius in 1936. They married on June 8, 1939. They had two sons, Michael in 1943 and Robert in 1947. They lived on the Lower East Side in New York. Julius found work as an engineer for the United States Signal Corps. Ethel focused her life on being a mother and wife.
By 1942, Julius was involved in espionage activities for the Soviet Union. He officially left the Communist …show more content…

According to the Jewish Women's Archive, to prevent rumors of anti-Semitism, the Judge and the prosecutors were all Jewish, but not one of the jurors was Jewish. (Ethel Rosenberg, jwa.org). The Greenglasses presented their damaging testimonies. Ethel did not show any emotion during these testimonies or during the announcement of the death penalty and was collected during the entire trial. This painted her as cold and more dedicated to the Communist Party, than to her own children. Because she was a woman this was especially damaging to the assumptions of her role in the spy activities. President Eisenhower and FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, assumed that she was the dominant force between her and her husband. (Ethel Rosenberg, jwa.org). The Rosenbergs were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage, they received the death penalty. Judge Kaufman justified the death sentence by stating, “I consider your crimes worse than murder…. I believe your conduct in putting 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 fifty thousand and who knows how many millions more of innocent people may pay the price of your treason.” (Rosenberg Trial Overview,

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