Rosenberg son defends his parents

Almost 40 years after the execution of his parents, Robert Meeropol is still crusading to clear their names of blame. Meeropol's parents, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, were executed on June 5, 1953 on charges of conspiracy to commit espionage. Their alleged crime was passing the secret of the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War. Meeropol is executive director of the Rosenberg Fund for Children, which helps children whose parents have been targeted for their progressive activities. Meeropol, who was adopted and goes by his adoptive last name, told 30 people in Logan Hall last night that while the Cold War is over, his battle is far from complete. His parents were found guilty solely on the basis of oral testimony of other members of a spy ring that supposedly stretched from the United States to England and into the Soviet Union, he said. Because they were charged with conspiracy rather than treason or espionage, no physical evidence was produced at the trial except for atomic bomb plans that the Rosenbergs apparently hired another man to steal, Meeropol said. Later analysis revealed the plans to be of no use and expert assessments described them to be "uselessly crude" and "a baby drawing," he added. "How could they conduct a trial or an execution like this if the material taken was of no use?" Meeropol said. Under the Freedom of Information Act, Meeropol brought a suit against the government in the 1970s. His lawyers subpoenaed secret FBI files which revealed that at all stages of the case, the Justice Department secured the cooperation of the judges, including Supreme Court justices, he said. There were documented meetings before, during and after the trial. The disturbing evidence also included files containing questions the FBI had planned to ask Julius Rosenberg if he confessed. The final question, Meeropol said, would have been: "Was Mrs. Rosenberg involved?" Neither confessed, however, and Ethel Rosenberg was executed despite some doubt about her involvement, Meeropol said. Meeropol also noted that the government refused the Rosenbergs' plea to delay the execution because it was scheduled for a Friday, the Jewish Sabbath. Instead, they were electrocuted and pronounced dead one minute before the Sabbath began. "My parents were framed to prove a political point," Meeropol said. "They were also framed to cover up the inadequacy of our own security and to sell the Cold War mentality to the public." The speech was co-sponsored by Connaissance and the Penn Political Union.