The Rosenberg trial, which ended in a double execution in 1953, was one of the century's most controversial trials. It was sometimes referred to as, "the best publicized spy hunt of all times" as it came to the public eye in the time of atom-spy hysteria. Husband and wife, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were charged with conspiracy to commit espionage. Most of the controversy surrounding this case came from mass speculation that there were influences being reinforced by behind-the-scenes pressure, mainly from the government, which was detected through much inconsistencies in testimonies and other misconduct in the court. Many shared the belief that Ethel Rosenberg expressed best as she wrote in one of her last letters before being executed, "-knowing my husband and I must be vindicated by history...We are the first victims of American Fascism." Some people believed that the Rosenbergs had a vulnerable background which made these innocent people fall victim to the government. In September 1940 Julius Rosenberg was hired by US army Signal Corps as a junior engineer, but fired March 1945 because he was found to be a member of the communist party. He was employed in 1945 with Emerson Radio. Finally, in 1946 Bernard Greenglass, his brother-in-law, asked him to a join war surplus business called Pitt Machine Products Company. Ethel Rosenberg supported herself as a teenager through pageant prize money she won as a singer and dancer. Later on she was employed as a clerk for National Shipping but lost her job for union activities. They lived a happily married life with two sons until June 15, 1950 when brother-in-law, David Greenglass named Julius and Ethel as people who recruited him to spy for the Soviet Union. The case judged by Irving R. Kaufman began on March 6,1957. The Rosenbergs, as well as Morton Sobell, were accused of delivering information, documents, sketches and other material vital to the national defense of our country, to a foreign power, namely, to Soviet Russia. Greenglass testified that it was he who turned over most of these materials to the Rosenbergs because of pressure. On March 29, after a much publicized court case, the couple were found guilty and sentenced to be executed in the week of May 21, and their accused co-conspirator, Sobell, got 30 years in jail because he was not explicitly connected to the atom bomb. Many people were against this decision and the president tried to justify such rash actions: "The execution of two human beings is a grave matter. But even graver is the thought of the millions of dead whose death may be directly attributable to what these spies have done." After many failed appeals, Julius and Ethel were electrocuted minutes apart on June 19,
A young scientist who was very smart and intelligent was the creator of a bomb that killed millions. The bomb was the most powerful weapon that was ever manufactured. He changed the course of World War II. This man is Robert Oppenheimer, creator of the atomic bomb. The book “Bomb” by Steve Sheinkin, is a book that includes teamwork and how Americans made a deadly bomb that changed the course of the war. The book engages the reader through how spies share secret information with enemies. Because the physicists were specifically told not to share any information, they were not justified in supplying the Soviet Union with the bomb technology.
It can be argued that the punishment for George Atzerodt was fair. This is not true because he was charged for conspiring to kill the vice president. The punishment that George Atzerodt was given was to be hanged. This is not the crime that George Atzerodt should have been given because he backed out of killing the vice president but he got punished because he knew about assassination plan to kill Abraham Lincoln. The punishment for his crime was not fair because in the U.S code of law says that if two or more persons conspire to kill or kidnap any individual (president of the united states, president elect, or the vice president) or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be punished by imprisonment for any term of years or for life. In the U.S code of law it says that the punishment for conspiring to kill the president, president elect, vice president is imprisonment for any term of years or for life. This is why the punishment for George Atzerodt’s crime was not fair which makes the trial
On August 23, 1927, Nicola Sacco and Barolomeo Vanzetti were executed in one of the most controversial legal cases in American history. Two men were shot and robbed in Braintree, MA, and two poor Italian immigrants were arrested for the crime. Although neither Sacco nor Vanzetti had criminal records, they both had pistols on them at the time, and followed a violent anarchist leader. Following their arrest, the seven-year case on the crime would drive national and international protests demanding their exoneration. There were numerous elements in the trial that influenced the guilty verdicts for the men including, but not limited to, weak evidence. The Sacco Vanzetti trial displays the social injustices and prejudice in American society during the time. It is evident that even though they are innocent, the court used Sacco and Vanzetti as scapegoats in this crime because of their beliefs and background.
In the mid-1900’s, communism was a big issue worldwide. Communism is a political theory created by Karl Marx in which everyone essentially gets an equal share in society, including the fact that houses are publicly owned by the government. The controversial issue to this concept is that some jobs make money than others, so people of a higher class didn’t feel like they were getting their fair share. The case and trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg has to do with communism because the couple was accused of committing espionage against the United States. Showcased in the article “Case Against Rosenberg Falls Apart,” published by Achieve3000, Americans were afraid of communism, and the acts by the government were very impactful to society.
In 1956 Arthur Miller was subpoenaed by HUAC (the House Un-American Activities Committee) and refused to identify writers that were believed to hold communist sympathies. Due to his refusal he was convicted of contempt of congress. The next year, however, the United States Supreme Court overturned this conviction. Under the leadership of McCarthy the committee had so much power that just knowing someone who was suspected of having ties to the communist party was a danger. The lives and careers of hundreds of Americans were ruined because of being blacklisted. Prison, bankruptcy, passport revocation, unemployment were threats made against people for them to testify and “name names.”
The red scare was a time where people were falsely accused of being communist spies, and would be sent to prison. If somebody hated their neighbor, a co-worker, or even a teacher they could just accuse them of being a communist spy. Some cases were even so severe as in the case with Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. They were accused for stealing information on the atomic bomb and giving the information to the...
The Rosenberg Case is still a controversial topic today. With the execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, the American values such as liberty and tolerance were relegated into the background. With ambiguous evidence, their sentence is viewed as neither legally nor historically defensible. It is the product of the era that the trial took place in, which was ruled by Cold War sentiment, Red Scare and McCarthyism. The case sparked a lot of debate and protest abroad, but the Rosenbergs were nevertheless executed. It remains and will ever remain ambiguous if they were actually Soviet spies, to what extent the information they might have leaked would have been of use to the Soviet Union, and if their executions were justified. But in the McCarthy-era, their executions functioned perfectly for fueling the Red Scare and strengthening the Cold War environment.
FOR ALMOST fifty years, the words "McCarthy" and "McCarthyism" have stood for a shameful period in American political history. During this period, thousands of people lost their jobs and hundreds were sent to prison. The U.S. government executed Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, two Communist Party (CP) members, as Russian spies. All of these people were victims of McCarthyism, the witch-hunt during the 1940s and 1950s against Communists and other leftists, trade unionists and civil rights activists, intellectuals and artists. Named for the witch-hunt's most zealous prosecutor, Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-Wis.), McCarthyism was the most widespread and longest lasting wave of political repression in American history. In order to eliminate the alleged threat of domestic Communism, a broad coalition of politicians, bureaucrats, and other anticommunist activists hounded an entire generation of radicals and their associates, destroying lives, careers, and all the institutions that offered a left-wing alternative to mainstream politics and culture. That anticommunist crusade...used all the power of the state to turn dissent into disloyalty and, in the process, drastically narrowed the spectrum of acceptable political debate.[1]
“99 subhuman Jews in the row, 99 subhuman Jews! Shoot one down, kick it around, 98 subhuman Jews in the row!” ~ Concentration camp worker during the holocaust. How could you begin to describe what’s always said to be such a horrible and tragic event? The Holocaust or Final Solution only seems as bad equal to the amount the person describing it values human life. To answer all of the topics presented to me I will be discussing the following; What is meant by “The Holocaust” or “Final Solution”, Why the Jewish were dehumanized, The choices made during the Holocaust, and My personal view on events that took place during the holocaust.
There’s a lot to know about the holocaust. The biggest DISCREPENCY was what happened to the Nazi soldiers who were involved in the holocaust? “It was entitled the Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal, which tried the most important leaders of Nazi Germany,” ("Nuremberg Trials Project -- Introduction"). The Nuremberg Trials had a huge effect on the aftermath of World War II. This was the solution to punish the war criminals for what they’ve done. While it didn't get everyone tried, it got a very large portion of the higher ups of the Nazi regime. The Nuremberg Trials was a great precedent to be looked at and has created a bond between the Great Nations of the United States, the British, Soviet Union and the French.
...ing him, and the expectation was that there would be a well-publicized trial rather than a brief in which Ray admitted his guilt and was sentenced.” (Clark 240)
The Holocaust had lasting effects on the relationship between the individual and society. Society put individual Nazis on trial for the actions they took in the Holocaust during World War II. The main trial was the Nuremberg trial and there were other subsequent trials as well. These trials were essential in showing the concern that justice and fairness should prevail for the victims. Therefore, the trials that took place after the Holocaust, especially at Nuremberg, involve and impact society as well as the lives of many people.
mysteries which occurred in 1953 was the electrocution of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg under the Espionage Act. They were convicted for giving the secret information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. The anti-communist sentiment that characterized the Cold War and McCarthyism led to their trial and execution. Even though there is some evidence of the Rosenbergs' guilt, numerous facts which were discovered after the death of Ethel and Julius argue more convincingly that they were innocent victims of Cold War hysteria.
The Nuremberg Trials is considered being both a step forward in for society as it brought the birth of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. However, the tribunal was a step back for society, this is because the Allies implicitly designed it to be a show of ‘Victor’s Justice’.