Rosenberg

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Julius joined the Army Signal Corps at Fort Monmouth in 1940 but was discharged in 1945 after his Communist Party membership was discovered. According to a 2001 account by handler Aleksandr Feklisov, Julius was recruited by Semyon Semyonov on Labor Day 1942. Under Feklisov's supervision, he recruited Joel Barr, Alfred Sarant, William Perl, and Morton Sobell. Perl supplied thousands of documents from the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, including full design drawings for Lockheed's P-80 Shooting Star, the first U.S. operational jet fighter. Julius also learned that Ethel's brother David worked on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos and was directed to recruit him. In February 1944, Julius recruited Russell McNutt for a $100 bonus, gaining access to secrets about manufacturing weapons-grade uranium.

In Their Own Story

In January 1950, Klaus Fuchs confessed to passing documents to the Soviets, naming courier Harry Gold. On June 15, David Greenglass was arrested and confessed to passing atomic data, claiming Julius convinced his wife Ruth to recruit him during a 1944 visit to Albuquerque. He alleged Julius passed secrets to agent Anatoli Yakovlev. Consequently, Julius was arrested on July 17, 1950. Ethel was arrested on August 11 after testifying before a grand jury where she invoked the Fifth Amendment; FBI agents took her into custody immediately. Her request for weekend parole to arrange care for her two young children was denied. During a second interview in February 1950, David and Ruth Greenglass changed their stories, claiming Julius typed notes while Ethel sat on a bridge table typing information David gave him. This testimony led to the indictment of both Rosenbergs, David Greenglass, and Yakovlev on August 17.

Reader's Guide

The trial began March 6, 1951, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, presided over by Judge Irving Kaufman. Prosecution was led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Irving Saypol; defense attorney was Emmanuel Bloch. The primary witness, David Greenglass, testified he gave Julius a sketch of an implosion-type atom bomb (the 'Fat Man' dropped on Nagasaki), not the 'gun method' used in Hiroshima's 'Little Boy'. Before trial, Gordon Dean stated: 'It looks as though Rosenberg is the kingpin... if there is any way of breaking him by having the shadow of a death penalty over him, we want to do it.' Myles Lane noted the case against Ethel was 'not too strong' but insisted she be convicted to serve as a lever. In 2008, the National Archives published most grand jury testimony. Declassified Venona cables later detailed Julius's role as a courier and recruiter.

Did You Know?

• Julius received a $100 bonus for recruiting Russell McNutt in February 1944.
• Ethel was arrested on August 11, 1950, immediately after invoking her Fifth Amendment rights before a grand jury.
• David Greenglass originally claimed he passed atomic data to Julius on a New York street corner before changing his story to say it happened in the Rosenbergs' living room.
• The Soviets tested 'Joe 1', their first nuclear device, on August 29, 1949.
• Declassified Venona cables detailed Julius's specific role as a courier and recruiter for the NKVD.