Editing Julius and Ethel Rosenberg (section)

==After conviction==
===Campaign for clemency===
After the publication of an investigative series in the ''[[National Guardian]]'' and the formation of the [[National Committee to Secure Justice in the Rosenberg Case]], some Americans came to believe both Rosenbergs were innocent or had received too harsh a sentence, particularly Ethel. A campaign was started to try to prevent the couple's execution. Between the trial and the executions, there were widespread protests and claims of [[antisemitism]]. At a time when American fears about communism were high, the Rosenbergs did not receive support from mainstream Jewish organizations. The [[American Civil Liberties Union]] did not find any civil liberties violations in the case.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Radosh |first1=Ronald |last2=Milton |first2=Joyce |title=The Rosenberg File |url=https://archive.org/details/rosenbergfile00rado |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/rosenbergfile00rado/page/352 352] |year=1997 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-07205-1}}</ref>

Across the world, especially in Western European capitals, there were numerous protests with picketing and demonstrations in favor of the Rosenbergs, along with editorials in otherwise pro-American newspapers. [[Jean-Paul Sartre]], an existentialist philosopher and writer who won the [[Nobel Prize for Literature]], described the trial as "a legal [[Lynching in the United States|lynching]]".<ref>{{cite book |last=Schneir|first=Walter |author-link=Walter Schneir |title=Invitation to an Inquest|year=1983|publisher=Pantheon Books|isbn=978-0-394-71496-7|page=254}}</ref> Others, including non-communists such as [[Jean Cocteau]] and [[Harold Urey]], a Nobel Prize-winning physical chemist,<ref name="feklisov">{{cite book|last1=Feklisov|first1=Aleksandr|last2=Kostine|first2=Sergei|title=The Man behind the Rosenbergs|page=[https://archive.org/details/manbehindrosenbe00fekl/page/311 311]|quote=The great physicists Albert Einstein and Harold Urey asked President Truman to pardon the couple.|year=2001|publisher=Enigma Books|isbn=978-1-929631-08-7|url=https://archive.org/details/manbehindrosenbe00fekl/page/311}}</ref> as well as left-leaning figures—some being communist—such as [[Nelson Algren]], [[Bertolt Brecht]], [[Albert Einstein]], [[Dashiell Hammett]], [[Frida Kahlo]], and [[Diego Rivera]], protested the position of the American government in what the French termed the American [[Dreyfus affair]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Radosh|first1=Ronald|last2=Milton|first2=Joyce|title=The Rosenberg File|page=[https://archive.org/details/rosenbergfile00rado/page/352 352]|year=1997|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-07205-1|quote=But it was the apparent parallel with France's own [[Dreyfus case]] that touched the deepest chords in the national psyche.|url=https://archive.org/details/rosenbergfile00rado/page/352}}</ref> Einstein and Urey pleaded with President [[Harry S. Truman]] to [[Federal pardons in the United States|pardon]] the Rosenbergs. In May 1951, [[Pablo Picasso]] wrote for the communist French newspaper ''[[L'Humanité]]'': "The hours count. The minutes count. Do not let this crime against humanity take place."<ref>{{cite web|first=Elizabeth|last=Schulte|url=http://www.isreview.org/issues/29/rosenbergs.shtml|title=The trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg|access-date=October 5, 2008|work=International Socialist Review|issue=29|date=May–June 2003|archive-date=October 28, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081028152811/http://www.isreview.org/issues/29/rosenbergs.shtml|url-status=dead}}</ref> The all-black labor union [[International Longshoremen's Association]] Local 968 stopped working for a day in protest.<ref>{{cite news |title=Unions throughout U.S. joining in plea to save the Rosenbergs|work=Daily Worker|date=January 15, 1953}}</ref> Cinema artists such as [[Fritz Lang]] registered their protest.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sharp|first=Malcolm P.|year =1956|title=Was Justice Done? The Rosenberg-Sobell Case|publisher=Monthly Review Press|page=132|id=56-10953}}</ref> President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], supported by public opinion and the media at home, ignored the overseas demands.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Clune |first1=Lori |year=2011 |title=Great Importance World-Wide: Presidential Decision-Making and the Executions of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg |journal=American Communist History |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=263–284 |doi=10.1080/14743892.2011.631822 |s2cid=143679694}}</ref> [[Pope Pius XII]] appealed to Eisenhower to spare the couple, but Eisenhower refused on February 11, 1953. All other appeals were also unsuccessful.<ref>{{cite book|first=Ellen|last=Schrecker|author-link=Ellen Schrecker|title=Many Are the Crimes: McCarthyism in America|year=1998|publisher=Little, Brown and Company|page=[https://archive.org/details/manyarecrimesmcc00schr/page/137 137]|isbn=978-0-316-77470-3|url=https://archive.org/details/manyarecrimesmcc00schr/page/137}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=Arnaldo|last=Cortes|title=Pope Made Appeal to Aid Rosenbergs.|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0C14FF345E177B93C6A81789D85F478585F9|quote=[[Pope Pius XII]] appealed to the United States Government for clemency in the Rosenberg atomic spy case, the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano revealed today.|work=The New York Times|date=February 14, 1953|access-date=September 17, 2008|archive-date=January 29, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120129094634/http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0C14FF345E177B93C6A81789D85F478585F9|url-status=live}}</ref>

Defense of the Rosenbergs surged in November and December 1952 and was organized by the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]{{sfn|Radosh|2012|p=83}}—confirmation of which occurred with the publication of [[KGB]] documents obtained by [[Alexander Vassiliev]] in 2011.{{sfn|Radosh|2012|p=85}} Proponents of clemency argued that the Rosenbergs were actually "innocent Jewish peace activists".{{sfn|Radosh|2012|p=84}} According to American historian [[Ronald Radosh]], the Soviet Union's goal was "to deflect the world's attention from the sordid execution of the innocent [Jewish [[Slánský trial]] defendants] in Soviet-controlled Czechoslovakia.{{sfn|Radosh|2012|p=84}}

===Execution===
The execution was delayed from the scheduled date of June 18 because Supreme Court Associate Justice [[William O. Douglas]] had granted a [[stay of execution]] on the previous day. This stay resulted from intervention in the case by [[Fyke Farmer]], a Tennessee lawyer whose efforts had been scorned by Bloch.<ref>{{cite news |first=E. Thomas |last=Wood |url=http://www.nashvillepost.com/news/2007/6/17/nashville_now_and_then_a_lawyers_last_gamble_and_a_universitys_divorce |work=Nashville Post |quote=Farmer, working at no charge against the opposition of not only the government but also the Rosenbergs' legal team, showed up at Douglas's chambers without an appointment on the day after the high court adjourned for the term. Farmer convinced Douglas that the Rosenbergs had been tried under an invalid law. If they could be charged with any crime, he asserted, it would have to be a violation of the Atomic Energy Act, which did not carry a death penalty, rather than the Espionage Act of 1917. |title=Nashville now and then: A lawyer's last gamble |access-date=August 8, 2007 |date=June 17, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930184745/http://www.nashvillepost.com/news/2007/6/17/nashville_now_and_then_a_lawyers_last_gamble_and_a_universitys_divorce |archive-date=September 30, 2007}}</ref> The execution was scheduled for 11&nbsp;p.m. the evening of June 19, during the Sabbath, which begins and ends around sunset.<ref name="sundown" /> Bloch asked for more time, filing a complaint that execution on the Sabbath offended the defendants' Jewish heritage. Rhoda Laks, another attorney on the Rosenbergs' defense team, also made this argument before Judge Kaufman.<ref>{{cite book |author=Radosh |first1=Ronald |url=https://archive.org/details/rosenbergfile00rado |title=The Rosenberg File |last2=Milton |first2=Joyce |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-300-07205-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/rosenbergfile00rado/page/413 413] |quote=rhoda Laks. |url-access=registration}}</ref> The defense's strategy backfired. Kaufman, who stated his concerns about executing the Rosenbergs on the Sabbath, rescheduled the execution for 8&nbsp;p.m.—before sunset and the Sabbath—the regular time for executions at [[Sing Sing]] where they were being held.<ref>{{cite book |last=Roberts |first=Sam |title=The Brother: the untold story of the Rosenberg case |url=https://archive.org/details/brother00samr |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/brother00samr/page/11 11] |year=2003 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-0-375-76124-9|quote=(According to Orthodox tradition, the Sabbath begins eighteen minutes before sunset Friday and ends the following evening.)}}</ref>

On June 19, 1953, Julius died from the first [[Electric chair|electric shock]]. Ethel's execution did not go smoothly. After she was given the normal course of three electric shocks, attendants removed the strapping and other equipment only to have doctors determine that her heart was still beating. Two more electric shocks were applied, and at the conclusion eyewitnesses reported that smoke rose from her head.<ref>{{cite book |last=Philipson |first=Ilene |title=Ethel Rosenberg: Beyond the Myths |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8g6JU4hTJ2AC&pg=PA351 |pages=351–352 |year=1993 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-0-8135-1917-3}}</ref> The Rosenbergs were the only American civilians executed for espionage during the [[Cold War]].<ref name="false">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1695240.stm |date=December 6, 2001 |work=BBC News |title=False testimony clinched Rosenberg spy trial |access-date=July 30, 2008 |archive-date=April 20, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190420131828/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1695240.stm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="usatoday">{{cite news |title=50 years later, Rosenberg execution is still fresh |agency=Associated Press |work=USA Today |date=June 17, 2003 |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-06-17-rosenbergs_x.htm |access-date=January 8, 2008 |archive-date=August 21, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110821152142/https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-06-17-rosenbergs_x.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Execution of the Rosenbergs |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/1953/jun/20/usa.fromthearchive |quote=Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed early this morning at Sing Sing Prison for conspiring to pass atomic secrets to Russia in World War II |work=The Guardian |date=June 20, 1953 |access-date=June 24, 2008 |location=London |archive-date=April 27, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190427012818/https://www.theguardian.com/world/1953/jun/20/usa.fromthearchive |url-status=live }}</ref> The funeral services were held in Brooklyn on June 21. The Rosenbergs were buried at [[Wellwood Cemetery]], a Jewish cemetery in Pinelawn, New York.<ref name="sundown">{{cite news |first=Clyde |last=Haberman |title=Executed at Sundown, 50 Years Ago. |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F01E6D81E38F933A15755C0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all |quote=Rosenberg. One more name out of thousands, representing all those souls on their journey through forever at Wellwood Cemetery, along the border between Nassau and Suffolk Counties...Usually at Sing Sing, the death penalty was carried out at 11&nbsp;pm. But that June 19 was a Friday, and 11&nbsp;pm would have pushed the executions well into the Jewish Sabbath, which begins at sundown. The federal judge in Manhattan who sentenced them to death, Irving R. Kaufman, said that the very idea of a Sabbath execution gave him 'considerable concern'. The Justice Department agreed. So the time was pushed forward. |work=The New York Times |date=June 20, 2003 |access-date=June 23, 2008 |archive-date=February 17, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240217042221/https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/20/nyregion/nyc-executed-at-sundown-50-years-ago.html |url-status=live }}</ref> ''The Times'' reported that 500 people attended and some 10,000 stood outside:<ref>{{cite news |date=June 21, 1953 |title=Funeral Tributes To Rosenbergs: Execution Denounced |url=https://www.thetimes.com/tto/archive/article/1953-06-22/6/12.html#start%3D1953-06-21%26end%3D1953-06-22%26terms%3DRosenberg%26back%3D/tto/archive/find/Rosenberg/w:1953-06-21%7E1953-06-22/1 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210712104449/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/archive/article/1953-06-22/6/12.html#start%3D1953-06-21%26end%3D1953-06-22%26terms%3DRosenberg%26back%3D/tto/archive/find/Rosenberg/w:1953-06-21%7E1953-06-22/1 |archive-date=July 12, 2021 |access-date=June 20, 2015 |work=The Times |location=London}}</ref>

{{blockquote|The bodies had been brought from Sing Sing prison by the national "Rosenberg committee" which undertook the funeral arrangements, and an all-night vigil was held in one of the largest mortuary chapels in Brooklyn. Many hundreds of people filed past the biers. Most of them clearly regarded the Rosenbergs as martyred heroes and more than 500 mourners attended to-day's services, while a crowd estimated at 10,000 stood outside in burning heat. Mr. Bloch [their counsel], who delivered one of the main orations, bitterly exclaimed that America was "living under the heel of a military dictator garbed in civilian attire": the Rosenbergs were "Sweet. Tender. And Intelligent" and the course they took was one of "courage and heroism."}}

In 1953, socialist historian [[W.E.B. Du Bois]] wrote a poem titled "The Rosenbergs", which began "Crucify us, Vengeance of God, as we crucify two more Jews" and ended "Who has been crowned on yonder stair? Red Resurrection? Or Black Despair?"<ref>{{Cite web |title=Never Losing Faith for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg |publisher=National Committee to Secure Justice in the Rosenberg Case |date=1953 |url=https://freedomarchives.org/search/search.php?view_collection=309 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230223074604/https://freedomarchives.org/Documents/Finder/DOC511_scans/511.Rosenbergs.NeverLosingFaith.pdf |archive-date=February 23, 2023 |access-date=February 23, 2023 }}</ref>