Rosenberg history unveiled

The federal government agreed that, because of historical significance, it would unseal the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg grand jury testimony.

While the government eventually accepted it, convicted spy David Greenglass, Ethel’s brother, resisted. So Alvin K. Hellerstein said his grand jury testimony would remain sealed for now.

That was despite the National Security Archive and other plaintiffs arguing that, due to extensive interviews over the years Greenglass had conducted with various sources, he had waived his privacy rights.

For more background on the Los Alamos espionage, I strongly recommend Richard Rhodes’ magisterial “The Making of the Atomic Bomb.”

My personal take? Julius was guilty indeed. He got the death penalty because he wouldn’t sing, and because the Cold War had gotten hot with Korea.

Ethel was guilty of some intermediary work, but nothing near the death penalty, just for not “singing,” in essence. Hoover and Roy Cohn were driving a tough plea-bargain deal and she stayed loyal. Judge Hoffman made a hugely biased hash of their trial; he was guilty of judicial misconduct.