The Execution of the Rosenbergs Essay Example for Free

The exertion of the Rosenbergs EssayDuring the Cold state of state of war, the Statesns lived in a society where the tension between the Soviet confederation was at its peak in history. It was a prison term when the hatred against communism and the idea of nationalism were growing exp one and only(a)nti solelyy. Meanwhile, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were arrested for the accusations of back up the Soviets create the nuclear bombard, which was the United States only advantage over the Soviets. Their arrest heretoforetually led to the get under ones skin-go ever execution of espionage in United States history. However, the excuse of their execution is still being debated to this day.Did the Rosenbergs deserve frequently(prenominal) a harsh sentence or was it a misjudgment driven by the fear of communism? The organisational and fond aspects of society certainly directed the fear of communism to overshadow the innocence of the Rosenbergs, making them the closely co ntroversial spies in American history. During World War II, mevery countries including the Soviet nub were skeptical round the existence of the atomic bomb. However, afterward the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the strength of the atomic bomb became well-known. It was clear that as presbyopic 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 Unions attacks. Meanwhile, the strength of communism was steadily rising in Eastern Europe and along with that, the Americans fear of communism was growing in parallel. Communists were demonized demons had no souls no love in their hearts (Garber/Walkowitz 25).The office called for the blueprint of the atomic bomb to be safely put a manner from the communists. The U. S. overnment feared that the Soviet spies might g et their hands on the secret information. However, it was only a matter of time that the Soviet Union would someways develop its own atomic bomb Eventually on August 29th 1949, news was inform that the Soviets hurt successfully tested an atomic bomb in Kazakhstan. Americans were shocked, furious, and frightened. When news came that the Soviets tested a bomb, long time before it was expected, there were indeed many demagogic calls, in the media and on the stump, to see and severely punish, nonetheless coiffe, the thieves, the traitors (Cohen 49).The American people did non stop to think once that the Soviet Union could shit created the atomic bomb with their own power and technology. Most people just assumed that it was done finished a work of spies that sold the secret information for money. Therefore, the government did non waste any time to find the person who was accountable for passing information about the atomic bomb. The growing fear of communism in the end reache d its peak and the government was started taking impressions to pr regulart any acts of espionage. later on months of investigation by the FBI, Julius Rosenberg was called for questioning.He has antecedently 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 acc determinationd at initiative because there was no consequence of her activity in any ineligible acts. She was only as a full time worker as a secretary and a m opposite 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 th e 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 beget helped out her husband. The Rosenbergs were eventually both arrested and sent to court under mark Kaufman.However, there were not copious evidence going into court that the Rosenbergs were legitimately guilty. No documents linking the Rosenbergs with espionage were produced, despite a thorough search of their plateful by FBI agents, who placed in evidence only a collection can for the Spanish Refugee Appeal, authorise 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 induce 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, wherefore punish or even kill that person? The trial was just a vicious circle between a tally of American civilians and a governmental bully that was blinded by war. If there was so much much(prenominal) 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 front weak in the eyes of the Soviet Union.Neither country wanted to demo any flunk 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. In turning down Ethels emotional appeals, Eisenhower said repeatedly that we could not app ear weak (Cohen 50). The Cold War was changing a lot of peoples views. Even President Eisenhowers mentality shows how much he has lost the patience and the value of humankind 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. 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 undefiled the bomb has already caused, in my opinion, the Communist aggression in Korea, with the resultant casualties exceeding 50,000 and who knows moreover what that millions more unimpeachable people may pay the price of your treason. Indeed, by your betrayal, you undoubtedly build altered the rail of history to the disadvantage of our country (Wexley 67).In an important case like this, it is essential for the judge to consume all the evidence that is brought up in th e 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 scandal more than an actual crime.And yet the Judge stated the unverified 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 com munist population in the United States during that time period. Also, the United States being involved in the Korean War was solely the governments 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 prepossess and reported false information about the Rosenbergs that had significant impact on the ruling of the death sentence. 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 interpreted 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 Americans anger against the Rosenbergs at that time. For example, there was the book, Betrayers the Rosenberg Case a reappraisal of an American crisis and The Rosenberg Case item and Fiction, which was published on the same year of the execution. One of the quotes from the book was Yes.The Rosenbergs case is ended, but the execration 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 balked the sentence. 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) virile leaders were forming organizations and committees to convince the United States to set the Rosenbergs free.Also, there were famous individuals who were prote sting against the death sentence. Even the chief(prenominal) manufacturing business of the atomic bomb, Albert Einstein, believed that the United States government was killing innocent lives in the fight against the Soviet Union. An appeal for decision maker 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 political victims of the meaningless war. Millions of people view the refusal of the courts to grant the Rosenbergs relief as an affirmation of ou r 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 trustworthy 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 todays time period. This was the thought of Dorothy Thompson, a former journalist of Times magazine. Dorothy Thompson has once stated that The death sentence gloomy me in 1944 we were not at war with the Soviet Union. Indeed, it is unlikely that had they ( the Rosenbergs) be en 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 witch hunt era in Salem driven by McCarthyism, a strong idea of anti-communism that was popular at the time. The 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. I n England, Klaus Fuchs, the German-born scientist who provided the Soviets with farthest more accurate and useful information on the atomic bomb than anything that might have grapple 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 control a lighter sentence because he was trialed in England. Although England was our closest ally, they did not see any excuse 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 massive 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 embarr assment of the court to say that the only justification for Julius and Ethel Rosenbergs 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 the Rosenbergs Case is because both Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for being criminate 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 lever to force Julius Rosenberg to confess to his acts of espionage. 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 Unio n. 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 tool to threaten her husband also they arrested her along with him. Because of the FBIs cruel and brainless strategy, a mother of two sons had to rot in jail and die on the electric chair. 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 twice before she was killed. The sarcasm 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 Unions possession 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 excite 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 vie 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 Wars political and social defeciency.