Rosenbergs Executed: Cold War Fears Peak
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed in the electric chair at Sing Sing Prison on June 19, 1953, the only American civilians executed for espionage during the Cold War. Julius received three shocks; Ethel required five, which caused smoke to rise from her head, before she was pronounced dead. The executions were carried out despite worldwide protests, including appeals from Pope Pius XII and Albert Einstein. Declassified Venona intercepts later confirmed that Julius ran a spy ring that passed classified information about radar, proximity fuses, and atomic bomb design to the Soviet Union. Ethel's role remains disputed: her brother David Greenglass, the prosecution's key witness, recanted his testimony in 2001, saying he had lied to protect his own wife. The Rosenbergs' two sons spent decades campaigning for their mother's exoneration.
June 19, 1953
73 years ago
Key Figures & Places
New York
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Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
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Sing Sing
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Cold War
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Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
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Sing Sing
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Soviet Union
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Communist Party of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
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Communist Party of the Soviet Union
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Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
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Espionage
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