June 19 - Execution of the Rosenbergs

This Day in History: 19 June 2020

 

19 June 1953

 

67 years ago, today, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed by electric chair at Sing Sing Prison in New York, after being convicted of conspiring to pass US atomic secrets over to the Soviets. Both proclaimed their innocence up to their deaths and were the first US citizens to be convicted and executed of espionage during peacetime. Julius Rosenberg had been arrested on suspicion three years prior. He was accused of heading a spy ring that passed top-secret information concerning the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union, and Ethel was arrested two months later. The couple constantly protested their innocence, but after a trial began, that attracted media attention, the couple was convicted, and sentenced to death.

 

After their execution, the two became the subject of national and international debate. Some believed that the Rosenbergs were the victims of anti-communist hysteria in 1950s America, influenced by McCarthyism. Protesters began to say that the death sentence handed down was cruel and unusual punishment. Nevertheless, many believed that the Rosenbergs had been dealt with justly and agreed with President Dwight D. Eisenhower when he declined to invoke executive clemency for the pair. He stated that "the execution of two human beings is a grave matter. But even graver is the thought of millions of dead whose deaths may be directly attributable to what these spies have done".

 

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