Episode 619: The Rosenbergs: Espionage to Execution

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the biggest espionage case of the Cold War, which lead to the infamous killing of the Rosenbergs. Julius Rosenberg and Ethel Rosenberg were killed by electric chair in Sing Sing Prison on June 19 1953. They were both public and passionate communists. Julius allegedly had a handler from the Soviet union and helped recruit a spy ring of engineers. He was even able to get a few people from the Manhattan Project to become spies. Eventually, the couple got arrested and both were sentenced to death. However, several shifting testimonies and declassified documents came out over the following decades. It turns out the case wasn’t as cut and dry as it seemed, and Ethel in particular may have been wrongfully killed. So, who adopted their boys? What are their sons fighting to get the US government to do? What relative of theirs admitted to lying at the Rosenberg trial to save his own wife in court? Listen, laugh, learn.

 

Visit Our Sources

https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/atom-spy-caserosenbergs

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/rosenbergs-executed

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

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/19/rosenbergs-executed-for-spying-1953-can-sons-reveal-truth

https://www.atomicarchive.com/resources/biographies/rosenbergs.html

60 Minutes, October 16, 2016

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