"We move towards the ideals of decency
only when a jury of American citizens. . . has the courage to judge guilt
or innocence on the facts, not on race, religion or politics."
From Barry Naftalis'
closing arguments-Moot Court Trial, August, 1993 |
TIME
LINE
A chronology of events related
to the Rosenbergs.
September 28, 1915:
Ethel
Greenglass Rosenberg born.
March 1917:
The Russian Revolution begins.
1917: Espionage
Act that the Rosenbergs are convicted of violating is enacted.
May 12, 1918:
Julius
Rosenberg born.
1929: Communist
Party of the United States is founded
Early 1930's: Julius
Rosenberg is member of Young Communist League; campaigns for Scottsboro
Boys.
1934: Julius
Rosenberg enters City College of New York; is involved; politically active.
May 1938: The
formation of the House Un-American Activities Committee.
1938: Congress
enacts the Smith Act.
Americans who advocate radical economic or political ideologies are considered
subversives under the law. They can now be investigated, fined or imprisoned.
June 18, 1939: Julius
and Ethel Rosenberg married.
June 1940:
Manhattan Project is started by General Graves and Robert Oppenheimer at
Los Alamos.
December 7, 1941:
United
States enters World War II after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
1942: Julius
Rosenberg becomes member of U. S. Signal Corps.
1943:
Rosenbergs
cease open activities with Communist Party; Daily Worker
subscription
stops.
July 1944:
David Greenglass chosen to work on the Manhattan Project.
January 1945: David
Greenglass provides his own notes and a sketch of a high-explosive lens
from the Manhattan Project.
July 16, 1945:
United States explodes
first Atom bomb at Alamogordo, New Mexico.
August 1945: Atomic
bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
September 2, 1945:
World War II ends with the Japanese surrender.
September, 1945:
Greenglass
meets with Rosenberg while on furlough in New York.
1945: Julius
Rosenberg is dismissed from U. S. Signal Corps.
Late 1946: The
government claims that the Verona
Project has been able to decode Soviet transcripts between the United
States to Moscow. This will be made public 49 years later in July of 1995.
1947: Rosenberg's
machine shop business fails.
August 28, 1949:
Soviets
detonate their first Atom bomb.
February 2, 1950:
Klaus Fuchs arrested.
May 22, 1950:
Harry
Gold confesses to the FBI.
January 1950:
Klaus Fuchs, questioned by MI-6, confesses to espionage, naming and American,
Raymond
as his contact.
May 1950: Fuchs
is when shown photos of Harry Gold, is unable to positively identify him
as Raymond.
1950: McCarran
(Internal Securities) Act is passed over the President's
veto by an 83 % of Congress.
June 1950: Gold
identifies Greenglass' Albuquerque residence as the place he picked up
secret documents. FBI questions Julius Rosenberg. He hires Manny Bloch
as his attorney.
June 15, 1950:
David Greenglass names Julius as the man who recruited him to spy for the
Soviet Union.
June 16, 1950: Julius
Rosenberg is interviewed by FBI.
June 30, 1950:
United States forces engage in the Korean War.
July 17, 1950:
Julius
Rosenberg is arrested on the charge of conspiracy to commit espionage.
August 11, 1950:
Ethel Rosenberg arrested.
August 1950: Sobell
and family are kidnapped by Mexican thugs and delivered to U. S. authorities
at border.
January 31, 1951:
Grand jury indicts Rosenbergs, Sobell, David Greenglass, and Yakolev
February 1951: Greenglasses
change their story, implicating Ethel Rosenberg in spy activities
March 6,1951:
The start of the trial of the Rosenbergs and Sobell.
March 28, 1951:
The
Rosenberg trial ends and goes to the jury.
March 29, 1951:
Jury returns verdict: Guilty of conspiracy to commit espionage.
April 5, 1951:
Judge
Kaufman sentences the Rosenbergs to death and Sobell to thirty years in
prison.
APRIL
6, 1950 TO JUNE 19, 1953: THE APPEAL PROCESS
June 19, 1953:
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are executed in the electric chair at Sing Sing
Prison.
June 21, 1953: Funeral
of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.
January, 1969:
Morton Sobell is released from prison.
[under construction]
July 1993: Re-enactment
(moot trial) of the Rosenberg
trial by the ABA produced a not guilty verdict.
December, 2001:
David Greenglass, in print and on
television admits to perjury at the Rosenberg trial.
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