Special Intelligence

There are many controversial trials because of different views and opinions on them. If you’re interested in the most controversial one in the US history, you should pay attention to the trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. We must admit that this couple was mildly guilty, but their execution was unfair and undeserved. Basically, there are different reasons why they shouldn’t be killed, and the main ones include the innocence of Ethel and the mild guilt of Julius. Don’t forget about the corruptness of courts and time period perceptions due to anti-communist attitudes. That’s why they received quite an unfair trial and became the victims of the Cold War. It’s obvious that their severe execution was a horrible result of prejudiced convictions.

The case of Rosenberg started in 1949 when government cryptographers deciphered one KGB document that contained the reports of Klaus Fauchs who was a German scientist-spy. After questioning him, he confessed in espionage and name Harry Gold as his main contact in America. The latter one led the FBI to Greenglass who also led them to Julius Rosenberg.

In 1950, Julius was arrested on the charges of conspiracy to commit his espionage. His wife was also arrested on the same charges, and they actual trial started the next year. It consisted of many hours, after which the jury returned with a guilty verdict for both of them. As a result, they were sentenced to death. Spouses have filed different appeals during the next 2 years, but all of them were denied. Even after new proofs were found, the judge denied their defense attorney to fulfill their appeal.

Julius was executed in New York in 1953, and his wife (Ethel) was executed only ten minutes later after a few failed attempts. These facts seem truthful and basic to many people, but there are certain complications and controversy that still surround them. Think about the severity of their sentences based only on the fact that he handed detailed and classified data about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. Moreover, this kind of assumption was made only based on David Greenglass’s rough sketch, and there are many details and facts that prove that the sketch that Julius Rosenberg gave to the Soviet Union was unimportant to their knowledge of atomic bombs. Some experts claimed that this sketch was a worthless caricature with different mistakes so that it couldn’t have any special intelligence.