Written by Rosenberg sons, Robert and Michael Meeropol
Our parents, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, were executed on June 19,
1953 during the anti-communist hysteria of the Cold War Era. They had
been convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage, in what was called
“the crime of the century.” We were six and 10 years old when they were
killed.
We have said for years that our mother was not a spy, and her execution was wrongful.
A newly declassified NSA memorandum dated August 22, 1950 – ten days after our mother’s arrest – confirms that the U.S. government knew Ethel Rosenberg was not a spy long before her trial and execution.
Authored by then-chief analyst of the NSA Meredith Gardner, the memo
reveals that he concluded from reviewing Soviet Intelligence that Ethel
Rosenberg was not a spy.
This final release serves as the capstone for an overwhelming body of
evidence that the U.S. government knew Ethel Rosenberg never spied for
the Soviet Union.
Her conviction was based on perjured testimony and prosecutorial and
judicial misconduct. The only evidence against Ethel at trial was given
by proven liars, David and Ruth Greenglass. US Government files state
there was insufficient evidence to indict Ethel but that she could be
used as a "lever" against her husband. The KGB gave all its agents in
the US code names, but Ethel had none. After her arrest the National
Security Agency’s chief analyst, Meredith Gardner, wrote, that Ethel,
“knew about her husbands work, but that due to ill health she did not
engage in the work herself.” In 2001, David Greenglass admitted on
national television that he lied about Ethel’s involvement to protect
his wife. Never have the elements of a government frame-up been so
clearly revealed.
The trial took place during a time of widespread panic about
communism. The sentencing judge went so far as to blame our parents for
the Korean War. In denying clemency, President Eisenhower accused them
of causing future nuclear wars. These outrageous statements and our
parents’ executions helped fuel a dangerous climate of fear and
intolerance which permitted political opportunists like Senator Joseph
McCarthy to poison our society.
A formal acknowledgement of the wrong done to our mother and our family will help prevent similar injustices in the future. A
healthy democracy requires that the government acknowledge and correct
its transgressions. The government cannot return our mother to her
loving family. But it can admit this miscarriage of justice.
Please, join us in calling on President Biden and Attorney
General Garland to formally exonerate Ethel Rosenberg now. More than 70
years after her unjust conviction and execution, now is the time to
right this historic injustice, redress the harm done to the
Rosenberg/Meeropol family and finally clear her good name.
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