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Space Exploration Timeline
Timeline Description: Two countries have dominated space exploration: the United States and the Soviet Union. These nations competed in the "space race," or the race to the Moon, which the U.S. eventually won. Even after man first walked on the Moon, fascination with what is in space has continued.

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Two countries have dominated space exploration: the United States and the Soviet Union. These nations competed in the "space race," or the race to the Moon, which the U.S. eventually won. Even after man first walked on the Moon, fascination with what is in space has continued.

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Kids learn about the history of the Arms Race during the Cold War. The United States and the Soviet Union building nuclear weapons stockpiles.

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Rosenberg Trial

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The trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg begins in New York Southern District federal court. Judge Irving R. Kaufman presides over the espionage prosecution of the couple accused of selling nuclear secrets to the Russians (treason could not be charged because the United States was not at war with the Soviet Union). The Rosenbergs, and co-defendant Morton Sobell, were defended by the father and son team of Emanuel and Alexander Bloch. The prosecution includes Roy Cohn, best known for his association with Senator Joseph McCarthy.
READ MORE: Why Were the Rosenbergs Executed?
David Greenglass was a machinist at Los Alamos, where America developed the atomic bomb. Julius Rosenberg, his brother-in-law, was a member of the American Communist Party and was fired from his government job during the Red Scare. According to Greenglass, Rosenberg asked him to pass highly confidential instructions on making atomic weapons to the Soviet Union. These materials were transferred to the Russians by Harry Gold, an acquaintance of Greenglass. The Soviets exploded their first atomic bomb (and effectively started the Cold War) in September 1949 based on information, including that from Greenglass, they had obtained from spies.

The only direct evidence of the Rosenberg's involvement was the confession of Greenglass. The left-wing community believed that the Rosenbergs were prosecuted because of their membership in the Communist Party. Their case became the cause célèbre of leftists throughout the nation.

The trial lasted nearly a month, finally ending on April 4 with convictions for all the defendants. The Rosenbergs were sentenced to death row on April 6. Sobell received a thirty-year sentence. Greenglass got fifteen years for his cooperation. Reportedly, the Rosenbergs were offered a deal in which their death sentences would be commuted in return for an admission of their guilt. They refused and were executed.

In 2008, the only surviving defendant, Morton Sobell, admitted that he was a Soviet spy and implicated Julius Rosenberg in industrial and military espionage.
READ MORE: Why the Rosenbergs' Sons Eventually Admitted Their Father Was a Spy

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The espionage trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg begins

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The trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg begins in New York Southern District federal court. Judge Irving R. Kaufman presides over the espionage prosecution of the couple accused of selling nuclear secrets to the Russians (treason could not be charged because the United States was not at war with the Soviet Union).

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The Red Scare

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Additional Links Back to the 1950s
The Rosenberg Trial

As the Cold War congealed in the late 1940's and early 1950's, the United States of America found itself ensnared in an atmosphere of fearful suspicion and paranoia. The Red Scare, which peaked during the roughly seven years between 1947 and 1954, came to dictate the mindset of Americans during the early stages of Cold War. Marked by such unsettling events as the Alger Hiss Trial of 1948, the passage of the McCarren Internal Security Act and the rise of red-seeing Senator Joseph McCarthy, the Red Scare raged across the country, fueled by fear of the harmful doctrines of the rapidly advancing Soviet Union. It was on the pinnacle of this paranoia and distrust that the trial and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg came to dominate the American headlines.

Following the first successful nuclear tests by the Soviets in 1949, America quickly began to fear the scientific strides of their eastern-hemisphere rival, and its citizens began to suspiciously eye those around them, believing that Soviet spies must have been responsible for passing the nuclear technology from the United States to Russia. On July 17, 1950, Julius Rosenberg, an electrical engineer and employee for the U.S. Army Signal Corps, was arrested for allegedly passing atomic secrets to Russia. One month later, on August 11, Julius' wife, Ethel, was also arrested, charged with assisting her husband with his illicit activities. The Rosenbergs, former members of the American Communist Party, were implicated by Ethel's brother-in-law, David Greenglass and a Philadelphia chemist, Harry Gold, who, after admitting to their own espionage activities, served as the primary witnesses in the trial. Despite the existence of only flimsy, circumstantial evidence (which included conflicting stories by Gold and Greenglass, a series of vague sketches that Greenglass presented as being identical to the secrets passed by Julius to the Soviets and government secrecy with its own evidence), Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death under the Espionage Act of 1917. Even after their conviction, the couple continued to assert their innocence from inside Sing-Sing Prison in New York, attempting to appeal to the Supreme Court seven times although failing to receive a hearing each time.

Amid a mounting worldwide campaign for clemency, the Rosenbergs were executed by the electric chair after two years of prison on June 19, 1953. Prior to the execution, both President Truman and President Eisenhower had disregarded cynical public opinion (which overwhelmingly believed that the evidence used to convict the couple was weak and ethereal at best) by refusing to pardon Julius and Ethel. The death of such a sympathetic pair of individuals - many felt an affinity for the pitiable couple and their two young sons - spurred protest through the next decades and marked the beginning of the end of the Red Scare. Although such events as the McCarthy hearings of 1951-1954 would continue for some time, the Red Scare began to lose steam as Americans were jolted with sensibility by the electric shock that killed the Rosenbergs.

However, with the end of the Cold War and the disclosure of Soviet intelligence in the 1990's, new, stronger information confirming the espionage activities of Julius Rosenberg was released (although the role of his wife still remains dubious). It is now clear that Julius, an avid communist, had for some time been disclosing U.S. military secrets to the U.S.S.R. from his post in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. David Greenglass, who himself had worked on the Manhattan Project, disclosed nuclear secrets to Julius, who in turn passed the information to Harry Gold - a courier for the espionage ring - who in turn passed it to Anatoly Yakovlev - the Soviet vice-consul in New York City. Soon after Gold was arrested in May 1950 for giving U.S. and British atomic secrets to Russia, Greenglass and Rosenberg were detained on the basis of their association with Gold. By cooperating with federal agents in proving the guilt of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, Greenglass and Gold were given lighter sentences (Greenglass received 15 years in prison in a separate trial and Gold received 30 years in prison). The courts also made clear that if either of the Rosenbergs would admit to their espionage, they too could avoid execution, but the couple, loyal to their cause and riding a wave of public support, continued to adamantly state their innocence until their death on the day of June 19, 1953.

Research by David Casalaspi
Cosby High School
Volunteer for the Cold War Museum
Sources:
Parrish, Michael E. "Rosenberg Case." Encyclopedia Americana. 2008. Grolier Online. 17 May 2008 .

"Rosenberg, Julius; and Rosenberg, Ethel." Encyclop?dia Britannica. 2008. Encyclop?dia Britannica Online School Edition. 17 May 2008 .

"Rosenberg Trial." American History. 2008. ABC-CLIO. 17 May 2008 .

Seaborg, Glenn T. "Atomic Energy Commission." Encyclopedia Americana. 2008. Grolier Online. 17 May 2008 .

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Additional Links Back to the 1950s As the Cold War congealed in the late 1940's and early 1950's, the United States of America found itself ensnared in an atmosphere of fearful suspicion and paranoia. The Red Scare, which peaked during the roughly seven years between 1947 and 1954, came to dictate the mindset of Americans during the early stages of Cold War.

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Everyone should read...

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Everyone should read...

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Space Race: pg 428-430
Red Scare: pg 388-389, 408-409, 412
Arms Race: pg 410, 412
The Korean War: pg 406-408
The Cuban Missile Crisis: pg 410-411