Rosenbergs’ family pleas clemency at White House: 1953
Family members of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg—husband and wife sentenced to death for passing information on the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union--take part in a demonstration seeking clemency in front of the White House June 14, 1953 just days before their pair’s execution.
The Rosenberg’s son Michael, 10, walks between his grandmother, Sophie Rosenberg, and an unidentified youth girl. Son Robert, 6, looks away at the right as his hand is held by Emily Alman, a leader of the demonstration.
The Rosenbergs and a third man, Morton Sobell, were tried together for passing classified information to the Soviet Union related to an atomic bomb.
Part of the prosecution strategy was to emphasize their ties to the Communist Party at a time when hysteria over communists in the U.S. was at an all time high during the Cold War and with U.S. troops battling in Korea against forces aided by both the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China.
The Rosenbergs were convicted, sentenced to death and then executed June 19, 1953 despite an international outcry for clemency. Sobell served 17 ½ years of a 30 year sentence.
For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHskkQha2c
The photographer is unknown. The image is an Associated Press wire photo obtained via an Internet sale.
Rosenbergs’ family pleas clemency at White House: 1953
Family members of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg—husband and wife sentenced to death for passing information on the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union--take part in a demonstration seeking clemency in front of the White House June 14, 1953 just days before their pair’s execution.
The Rosenberg’s son Michael, 10, walks between his grandmother, Sophie Rosenberg, and an unidentified youth girl. Son Robert, 6, looks away at the right as his hand is held by Emily Alman, a leader of the demonstration.
The Rosenbergs and a third man, Morton Sobell, were tried together for passing classified information to the Soviet Union related to an atomic bomb.
Part of the prosecution strategy was to emphasize their ties to the Communist Party at a time when hysteria over communists in the U.S. was at an all time high during the Cold War and with U.S. troops battling in Korea against forces aided by both the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China.
The Rosenbergs were convicted, sentenced to death and then executed June 19, 1953 despite an international outcry for clemency. Sobell served 17 ½ years of a 30 year sentence.
For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHskkQha2c
The photographer is unknown. The image is an Associated Press wire photo obtained via an Internet sale.