(Editor's Note: The left unendingly attempts to use our own values against us. I watched this segment and it still amazes me how even after these people are completely exposed by release of the formally classified Venona intercepts - they still try to bleach their activities in an attempt to make the good guys bad and the bad guys good.
They were part of a massive Soviet effort to destroy the U.S. And their kids are as seriously flawed as their parents. They keep saying the mother didn't deserve what she got, but one of the things all these kind of programs leave out is these are people who praised and deified Stalin - one of the most brutal monsters in history - a man responsible for the deliberate murders of tens of millions of innocent people - the man they clearly were working to bring into power in the U.S. who would presumably do the same thing here. Those murdered by Stalin - whom they supported - is where society's sympathy should be placed - not at the feet of the Rosenbergs or their children. RK)
"60 Minutes" had a long section on the sons of the Rosenbergs, whom you may remember were American Jewish Communists who were part of a Soviet espionage ring. This espionage ring had been active for many years, and they were found guilty relaying information on the Manhattan Project, the U.S. effort to construct an atomic bomb, to the Soviet Union and were sentenced to death. "60 Minutes" interviewed the sons, who go under thei adoptive name "Meeropol," at length, and the interview was a tear jerker about how much pain they had gone through as children before, during, and after their parents’ execution. Words like “Joseph McCarthy” (who had nothing to dow itht he case) and the “50s” were strategically voiced. Decades later, with the help of various leftist “activists,” they tried to rehabilitate their parents, claiming that they were innocent.
However, examination of documents by a sympathetic academic revealed that, lo and behold, they, indeed, had been guilty of espionage; the investigation were written up in The Rosenberg File and the writer, Ronald Radosh, lost a lot of leftist friends as a result. Incidentally, the very same change of mind happened regarding an investigation of Alger Hiss, another Communist spy, by Allen Weinstein, documented in Perjury.
The two brothers have since that time changed their efforts from declaring both parents to be innocent to having only their mother declared innocent. In this, they rely on arguing that one of the Communist witnesses at the trial lied to save his skin, and, that her role in the espionage ring was relatively minor and did not merit the electric chair.
There is an additional factor that comes into play here which was not brought up in the sympathetic "60 Minutes" segment. It comes from the history on the KGB as detailed in Col. Oleg Gordievsky’s book, KGB, The Inside Story. Gordievsky defected to the West in 1985 and provided a massive amount of information. In regards to the Rosenbergs, a tactical ploy was used very effectively. Since the Rosenbergs were a couple whose children would end up orphaned, they were ordered by Moscow to constantly proclaim their innocence.
The Communists would then organize a worldwide campaign agitating against the cruel, heartless, evil United States for its persecution of innocent people falsely accused of being Communist spies. When the pair – including a woman! -- were sentenced to be executed, this martyrdom went beyond their wildest expectations. Julius Rosenberg, in particular, was perfect for the role, with his puny frame and his facial expression of martyrdom. Massive demonstrations took place -- secretly organized by Communist organizations. Instead of the Rosenbergs being denounced for betraying their country, it was America that was denounced as being evil. It was a great propaganda victory.
What is also interesting is that both Rosenbergs were told that if they came clean about their operation, the death sentence would be rescinded. Even with the knowledge that her husband had been executed and her sons would be orphaned, Ethel, the true believer, refused.
This would not have been surprising to those who had firsthand knowledge of Communists: many persons in the Soviet Union had denounced relatives for the mildest negative comments, and some Communists who had ended up in the Gulag still proclaimed themselves as Marxists and praised the genius of Josef Stalin.
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