On February 2, 1950, Klaus Fuchs, a physicist who had worked on the development of the atomic bomb, was arrested. The year before, America learned that the Soviet Union had tested an atomic bomb and a scientific report from Klaus Fuchs to the Soviet Union about the Manhattan Project was deciphered. As the government investigated Soviet spy-rings in the United States, arrests were made. The arrests of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg garnered worldwide attention and controversy.
Both Julius Rosenberg and Ethel Greenglass were raised in poor, Jewish families in New York City. Active in labor rights and radical politics, the two met at a dance in 1936 that was sponsored by a union. In February 1939, about the time that he became a member of the Communist Party, Julius graduated from the City College of New York with a degree in electrical engineering. Julius and Ethel married on June 18 of that year. In 1942, Julius obtained a position in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. as a civilian engineer. In 1945, however, he lost his job due to allegations of communist activities. The Rosenbergs had two sons, Michael and Robert.
After the arrests of Harry Gold and David Greenglass, Ethel's brother, Julius Rosenberg was arrested on July 17, 1950. On August 11, Ethel Rosenberg was arrested and then Morton Sobell, a Russian diplomat, was arrested about six days later after being deported from Mexico. The five were arrested on charges of involvement in a spy-ring which sold atomic weapons secrets to the Soviet Union. The alleged spy-ring operated in this manner: David Greenglass, working as a machinist at Los Alamos, New Mexico during the development of the atomic bomb, imparted secret sketches and drawings to Harry Gold. In turn, Gold delivered these to Julius Rosenberg who yielded them to Martin Sobell. Greenglass and Gold pleaded guilty, but the Rosenbergs and Sobell did not.
A controversy ensued over the guilt or innocence of the Rosenbergs, a debate that has continued to this day. Some asserted that the Rosenbergs were victimized by anti-Semitism. Some believed that the Rosenbergs were merely scapegoats for the Korean War (the judge all but blamed the couple for the Korean War). Despite mixed public opinion, the prosecution achieved victory after only fifteen trial days and one day of jury deliberation. The Rosenbergs and Morton Sobell were convicted on March 30, 1951. On April 5, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death. On June 19, 1953, one day after their wedding anniversary, the Rosenbergs were executed by electric chair at Sing Sing Prison.
Klaus Fuchs was released in 1960 and moved to East Germany. David Greenglass was paroled later that year, and Harry Gold was paroled in 1966. Morton Sobell was released in 1969.
