'Atom spy' Ethel Rosenberg's conviction in new doubt after testimony released

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

'Atom spy' Ethel Rosenberg's conviction in new doubt after testimony released

David Greenglass’s 1950 grand jury account does not implicate sister
Brother changed story before trial that led to Rosenbergs’ execution

Mahita Gajanan in New York
Wednesday 15 July 2015 19.39 BST

Newly released grand jury testimony could upend the notion that Ethel Rosenberg was guilty of espionage.

Ethel and her husband Julius Rosenberg were convicted in the most sensational atomic spying case of the cold war in 1951. They were convicted for conspiring to steal secrets about the atomic bomb for the Soviet Union, and were executed in 1953 at New York’s Sing Sing prison.

David Greenglass, Ethel Rosenberg’s brother and a key witness in the case against the Rosenbergs, implicated his sister in the conspiracy just 10 days before the trial. Decades later, Greenglass told reporters that he lied on the stand to protect his wife Ruth. Greenglass died in 2014.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

But in newly released transcripts of the grand jury testimony given in 1950 – more than six months before he implicated his sister – David Greenglass speaks at length about trading information with his wife Ruth and Julius Rosenberg, but twice insists in the testimony that he has never spoken with Ethel about the matter.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/15/ethel-rosenberg-conviction-testimony-released-atom-spy

[gratuitous]

1. There never really was a case against Ethel

Her trial was very short compared to Julius' trial, and the evidence was basically, "Well, Julius is guilty, so Ethel must be, too." Interestingly, the British spy the Rosenbergs were alleged to have passed "the crown jewels" of the "secret" of the atom bomb only got 14 years in Britain. There are many folks who continue to think that the "secret" of the atom bomb disappeared on August 6, 1945: That is, when the U.S. successfully bombed Hiroshima, it showed that the bomb could be made. Certainly any information that was passed along to the Soviets may have reduced the amount of time it took them to develop a bomb of their own, but once the Soviets knew it could be done, they were bound to figure it out sooner or later.

[Hydra]

3. I saw a documentary on Theodore Hall

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Hall

They think he was the one who gave the Soviets the bomb first, so to speak. They were developing it anyway, but he gave them a massive shortcut.

Ethel's case probably came down to nothing more than the attempt to look like the were doing something.

[gratuitous]

5. I've done a lot of reading on the era

One subject I'd like to see addressed is with all the massive spying that was going on for the Soviet Union, just how much information did the Soviets get through their spy network that they didn't or couldn't get through basic monitoring of media outlets and plumbing through congressional publications? I.F. Stone was constantly accused of leaking America's secrets, but all he did was comb through testimony before committees, findings issued by government agencies, and tying together disparate information sources.

I suspect the Soviets got confirmation on certain things through their contacts, but I suspect it wasn't nearly as much or as pervasive as certain quarters would like America to believe.

[Hydra]

6. It'a a pot kettle black situation

They (Us Intel) like to say the the Reds did a better job of infiltrating us than we did them, but I seriously doubt we were entirely unsuccessful in having people all over in the right places to hear the right things. I suspect the emphasis on the other team's supernaturally powerful spying was a way to justify spying in the US on Americans. Can't be too careful, they're everywhere!

I'm probably wrong about this, but I suspect most of the really great successes for the Soviets were accidents or flukes like Hall, who should never have gotten involved with the spooks in the first place. The USSR's best work seems to have been in subduing their ow people rather than us

[840high]

2. I remember sending telegrams

to the White House - begging for mercy. Yes - I'm that old.

[MisterP]

4. I do recall that only like half the people who wanted them to fry was for "treason" or being pink