Editor’s note: This story was originally published on March 29, 2025.
A look back at local, national and world events through Deseret News archives.
On March 29, 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted in New York of conspiracy to commit espionage for the Soviet Union.
Their trial was sensational and headline-grabbing. The pair was executed in June 1953.
But were they guilty?
Newspaper headlines in March 1951 centered on the Rosenberg trial and the Manhattan Project, as well as a New York City trial focused on mob boss Frank Costello, and the daily inquiries of Hollywood celebrities in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee in Washington, D.C. The Cold War was in full swing.
The Rosenbergs and Morton Sobell were accused of being Soviet spies who passed along information to the Soviet Union and recruited Manhattan Project spies. Julius was a U.S. citizen and electrical engineer. His wife Ethel may have been privy to his exploits. Their trial remains controversial today.
But court records made public in recent years through a judge’s order cast doubt on the conventional narrative of a Cold War espionage case that captivated the country. It makes for great investigation.
New documents showed that Ethel Rosenberg’s brother, whose damning trial testimony against her and her husband helped secure the couple’s conviction, had never implicated his sister in an earlier appearance before a grand jury. The brother, David Greenglass, offered the grand jury no evidence of his sister’s direct involvement and said he never discussed such matters with his sister.
In 1953, a photo of the Rosenbergs’ two sons reading a newspaper the day before their parents were executed appeared in many publications.
Since then, the two boys have tried to exonerate their mother.
As young boys, Robert and Michael Meeropol visited the White House in 1953 in a failed bid to get President Dwight Eisenhower to prevent their parents’ executions. They later appealed to President Barack Obama.
Here are some articles from Deseret News archives about the case, the trial and the eventual execution of the pair:
“Testimony from Rosenberg brother released in famous spy case”
“Prosecution may have lied about Rosenberg”
“Sons of Ethel Rosenberg plead with Obama to exonerate mother”
“Rosenberg kin call on U.S. to clear parents of spying"
“To KGB, `Babylon’ was S.F. and `Boar’ was Churchill”
“Tour of D.C. spotlights famous spy hangouts”
“A brief look at the history of the Espionage Act”
