On this day in New York · June 19, 1953
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Are Executed at Sing Sing
A Lower East Side couple went to the electric chair for passing atomic secrets to Moscow, the only Americans ever executed for espionage during the Cold War.
The facts
- Executed
- June 19, 1953, at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, Ossining, New York
- Convicted
- March 29, 1951, of espionage; sentenced to death April 5, 1951
- Ages at death
- Julius, 35; Ethel, 37
- Funeral
- Brooklyn, June 21, 1953, with about 500 mourners inside and an estimated 10,000 standing outside
On June 19, 1953, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were put to death in the electric chair at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, convicted of conspiring to pass American atomic bomb secrets to the Soviet Union. Julius, 35, had worked as an engineer, and Ethel, 37, as a secretary, before FBI agents arrested them in the summer of 1950. A jury found them guilty of espionage on March 29, 1951, and Judge Irving Kaufman sentenced them to death a week later, blaming their crime in part for American casualties in Korea. Federal officials offered to spare their lives if Julius named other Soviet spies and the couple confessed. They refused, and left behind two young sons, Michael and Robert.
In their words
The day in the words of the people who were there. Every quote is verbatim, and every source links out so you can check it.
-
By asking us to repudiate the truth of our innocence, the government admits its own doubts concerning our guilt... we will not be coerced, even under pain of death, to bear false witness.
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, joint statement rejecting the government's offer to spare their lives in exchange for a confession
Source: Wikipedia -
I believe your conduct in putting into the hands of the Russians the A-bomb years before our best scientists predicted Russia would perfect the bomb has already caused, in my opinion, the Communist aggression in Korea, with the resultant casualties exceeding 50,000 and who knows but that millions more of innocent people may pay the price of your treason.
Judge Irving Kaufman, sentencing the Rosenbergs, April 5, 1951
Source: Wikipedia
Why it still matters
The case still splits historians and New Yorkers alike: declassified Soviet cables later confirmed Julius did pass military secrets, while Ethel's role and the fairness of her death sentence are still argued over seven decades on.
Sources
Get the day it happened, the day it happens.
Every morning brief ends with this day in New York history, and every day adds a page to this almanac. Free, in your inbox.
Free to start. The unsubscribe link actually works.