The Era of McCarthyism, which happened during the Cold War is greatly similar to the famous Salem Witch Trials. Both were associated with fear, false accusations, and little or no true evidence. During the Salem Witch Trials people were accused of being witches and burned. As far as McCarthyism goes it was a case of being a communist or a spy. Either way, both events had its victims, some innocent and some deserving the punishment. Two of the victims of McCarthyism were Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, for whose trial it is often said to be one of Cold War's "most enduring controversies" (Ellison, p.1).
"Rosenberg and his wife, Ethel, were executed in the Sing Sing electric chair in 1953 for what FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover called the "crime of the century- helping the Soviet Union get their hands on blueprints for the atomic bomb in WWII"(MI Daily, p.1), and behind they left two sons, Robert and Michael. Their children were, after the Rosenberg's arrest, adopted by Abel Meeropol. Both Robert and Michael have, since, done whatever they could to clear their parent's name. They also created The Rosenberg Fund for Children, which is a public foundation that provides for the emotional and educational needs of kids, in USA, whose parents were targeted because of their progressive activities.
In the Rosenberg's case, there was a lot of name passing, which started with
Fuch, one of the scientists working on the Manhattan Project. Klaus Fuchs led FBI to a middle aged chemist named Gold, also known as "Raymond", who recieved information from Fuchs. From Gold they found out about Ethel Rosenberg's brother, David Greenglass. Greenglass told them about working with Julius Rosenberg. Now, Rosenberg was "just the next in a row of falling dominoes" (Linder, p.3), but he put an end to it when he refused to give out names and denied having anything to do with the accusations. When FBI agents came to his apartment, on June 16, 1950, and told him about Greenglass' accusation, Julius Rosenberg said, "bring him here- I'll call him a liar to his face" (Rosenberg).
Rosenberg's wife, Ethel "was virtually non-existent but they had to develop a case against her in order to get a stiff prison sentence to convince [Julius] to cooperate" (Meeropol). The plan, however, was not working and the Government had to prosecute Ethel Rosenberg as an equal partner to her husband, what else could they do? The Government surely wasn't going to come out and tell the public about all the lies, they had to try and justify what they did.
David Greenglass had testified about meeting Gold, who was, supposedly, sent by Julius Rosenberg, in Albuquerque. The identification process, created by Rosenberg, was matching two pieces of a Jell-O box. Greenglass said "Rosenberg cut a Jell-O box with scissors and gave one half to Ruth [Greenglass] while keeping the other half" (Linder, p.3), which he later gave to Gold. When Greenglass and Gold met they matched the two box pieces to identify each other, it was like a secret code, a secret knock. At that meeting Greenglass provided Gold with sketches of the bomb and with a list of possible recruits into espionage, for which he recieved $500.
A photographer, Ben Schneider, said that the Rosenberg family came to his shop, on a Saturday in June of 1950, and ordered three dozen passport type photos. Rosenberg told him the family had been planning to go on a trip to France, but prosecution obviously thought the reason for the photos was so they could flee the country and be safe from any consequences that would occur after their spying activities. Another one of the witnesses was Elizabeth Bentley, "an ex-Soviet spy and ex-lover of [Jacob Golos the Chief of Soviet Espionage Operations in the United States]" (Linder, p.6). She had testified that Julius was in contact with Golos until he died, in 1943. Bentley never actually met Rosenberg, but she said that she had received 5-6 early morning phone calls from a person identifying themselves as "Julius", wanting to talk to Golos. While this is no evidence, looking at the fact that she had never met him and that anyone could say their name was Julius, however it was good enough for the Government.
When he testified, Rosenberg's testimony consisted, mostly, of a long string of denials and he "seemed oddly unconcerned about the dire circumstances he was facing" (Linder, p.7); perhaps he was unaware of the consequences that would follow. Both he and his wife would answer questions about the political groups they were, or were not, a part of by claiming the right to the 5th amendment. Also saying something along the lines of "Well your Honor, I feel at this time that I refuse to answer a question that might tend to incriminate me" (Rosenberg). Looking at the stereotype of women in the 1950's, the jury would probably have sympathy towards, and spare, Ethel Rosenberg if her defense strategy let her talk openly. Her testimony was, for big part, repeating the denials of her husband and denying some other questions concerning her role in the espionage.
Even today, when there have been so many documents released, there is still doubt as to whether or not the famous Rosenberg couple committed the crimes they were charged for. As the time passed, various people connected to the case, such as David
Greenglass and Alexandr Felixov came forward about the case. Felixov
confirmed Rosenberg's spying activities. Greenglass, who was sentenced to 15 years and let out in 1960, admitted that he and his wife lied when they testified against Ethel Rosenberg, his own sister. But, even though he practically killed his sister, "[Greenglass] sleeps very well, [he] would not sacrifice [his] wife and children for [his] sister" (Greenglass). The documents such as the "Venona Cables" and various information, obtained by Robert and Michael Meeropol, from agencies like the FBI, the CIA, the National Security Agency, and State Department, were also released with stories of this famous case. The Rosenberg's were the first people to be executed for spying, during peace time. Their trial, mainly because of the lack of evidence, created a big controversy during the cold war. It started to make people think a little and realize that McCarthy was an evil man; it created a distrust towards the senator and slowly brought the Era of McCarthyism to an end. Whether or not Ethel or Julius Rosenberg committed espionage will be known only to them and those who were connected to the case, whether they lied or not.