Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

1
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

• By Cadet Stone

2
Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg (1915-1953) and Julius
Rosenberg (1918-1953) were American Communists
who captured and maintained world attention after
being tried, convicted, and executed for spying.
Specifically, the couple were charged with
conspiracy to commit espionage and were accused
of passing nuclear weapons secrets to the Soviet
Union
3
The accuracy of these charges remains
controversial, though decades later, Soviet
communications decrypted by the VENONA project
became publicly available and appeared to
indicate that at least Julius Rosenberg was
actively involved in espionage (although they
provided no new evidence that he performed the
specific acts of espionage for which he was
convicted).
4
Julius Rosenberg was born on May 12, 1918 in New
York. He graduated from the City College of New
York with a degree in electrical engineering in
1939 and in 1940 joined the Army Signal Corps
where he worked on radar equipment. He became a
leader in the Young Communist League, where he
met Ethel in 1936, before marrying Ethel three
years later. Ethel Rosenberg was born on
September 28, 1915 in New York. She was an
aspiring actress and singer, but eventually took
a secretary job at a shipping company. She became
involved in labor disputes and joined the Young
Communist League, where she first met Julius. The
Rosenbergs had two sons.
5

• The couple were executed by the electric chair on
  June 19, 1953. Reports of the execution state
  that Julius died after the first application of
  electricity, but Ethel did not succumb
  immediately and was subjected to two more
  electrical charges before being pronounced dead.
• The chair was designed for a man, and Ethel
  Rosenberg was a petite woman

6
The End