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The Shadow Dossier — Episode 24: The Rosenbergs & Atomic Espionage · The Shadow Dossier

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The Shadow Dossier, Episode 24, The Rosenbergs
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and Atomic Espionage. In the spring of 1944,
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high atop a remote mesa in the desert of New
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Mexico, the top -secret laboratory of Project
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Y at Los Alamos hummed with unprecedented scientific
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urgency. Under the direction of Dr. J. Robert
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Oppenheimer and Major General Leslie Groves,
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the Manhattan Engineer District assembled the
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world's most brilliant physicists, mathematicians,
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and engineers to build the first atomic weapon.
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Deep inside the heavily guarded technical area,
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scientists worked tirelessly to overcome the
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physics of nuclear fission, developing two distinct
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bomb designs, the uranium gun -type weapon codenamed
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Little Boy, and the far more complex plutonium
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implosion -type weapon codenamed Fat Man. Unbeknownst
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to General Groves and the US Army Counterintelligence
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Corps, a sophisticated Soviet espionage ring
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operated directly inside the wire of Los Alamos.
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The NKVD designated its atomic intelligence operation
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as Operation Enormous. Leading the Soviet penetration
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was brilliant British theoretical physicist Dr.
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Klaus Fuchs, who had access to the innermost
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theoretical calculations for the plutonium implosion
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lens configuration. Working alongside Fuchs was
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a young U .S. Army sergeant and machinist named
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David Greenglass, assigned to the high -explosive
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lens fabrication shop inside Site S. Project
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Y at Los Alamos was established in March 1943
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as the central secret laboratory for atomic weapon
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design and assembly. Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer
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served as director of the Los Alamos laboratory
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from 1943 to 1945. Major General Leslie Richard
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Groves Jr. directed the entire Manhattan Project,
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supervising construction across Oak Ridge, Hanford,
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and Los Alamos. The plutonium implosion design
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required precise high -explosive lenses to compress
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a subcritical sphere of plutonium -239 into a
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supercritical mass. Operation Enormaz was created
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by NKVD Chief Laverne Iberia in 1941 to systematically
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infiltrate Western nuclear research programs.
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Dr. Klaus Fuchs arrived at Los Alamos in August
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1944 as part of the British scientific mission
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headed by Sir James Chadwick. David Greenglass
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enlisted in the U .S. Army in 1943 and was assigned
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to the Manhattan Project Special Engineer Detachment
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at Los Alamos in August 1944. The Los Alamos
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technical area was surrounded by double high
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-wire perimeter fencing and patrolled by armed
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U .S. Army military police units. Theoretical
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Physics Division at Los Alamos was headed by
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Nobel laureate Hans Bethe, conducting hydrodynamic
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calculations for implosion. Klaus Fuchs held
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top -secret clearance granted by the British
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and American governments, allowing him unrestricted
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access to T Division progress reports. David
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Greenglass worked in the Theta site machine shop,
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turning molded high -explosive explosive lenses
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for implosion testing experiments. The NKVD Foreign
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Directorate created a dedicated atomic espionage
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division in Moscow designated Department S under
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General Pavel Sudoplatov. Operation Enormous
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targeted three primary Manhattan project sites,
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Los Alamos, the Oak Ridge gaseous diffusion plant,
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and the Hanford plutonium production reactors.
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Klaus Fuchs fled Nazi Germany in 1933 due to
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his active membership in the German Communist
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Party, gaining British citizenship in 1942. David
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Greenglass was recruited into Soviet espionage
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by his wife Ruth Greenglass and his brother -in
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-law Julius Rosenberg. Julius Rosenberg was an
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electrical engineering graduate from the City
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College of New York and a passionate communist
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organizer. Julius Rosenberg operated as the principal
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talent scout and coordinator for a prolific Soviet
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industrial and military espionage ring in New
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York. The Manhattan Project employed over 130
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,000 personnel across the United States at its
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peak in 1945. The Trinity test on July 16, 1945,
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at Alamogordo, New Mexico, successfully detonated
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the world's first plutonium implosion device.
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Klaus Fuchs observed the Trinity detonation from
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a vantage point 20 miles away, knowing that detailed
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engineering blueprints of the device were already
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en route to Moscow. David Greenglass provided
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hand -drawn sketches of the high -explosive lens
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molds used in the Trinity bomb core to Soviet
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intelligence couriers. The NKVD London station
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chief Anatoly Gorsky supervised the initial recruitment
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of Klaus Fuchs before his transfer to the United
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States. The Los Alamos Special Engineer Detachment
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comprised over 1 ,800 enlisted soldiers with
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technical and scientific backgrounds. Klaus Fuchs
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authored key theoretical papers on explosive
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lens hydrodynamics and jet formation during implosion
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compression. David Greenglass earned a monthly
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military salary of $54 while receiving secret
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cash payments from Soviet handlers. Julius Rosenberg
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worked as an inspector for the U .S. Army Signal
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Corps radar laboratory at Fort Monmouth, New
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Jersey, from 1940 to 1945. Julius Rosenberg used
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his Signal Corps position to exfiltrate top -secret
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proximity fuse blueprints and radar circuit schematics.
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Operation Enormous Intelligence reports were
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reviewed directly by Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin
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and Atomic Project Director Igor Kurchatov. Dr.
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Klaus Fuchs maintained personal research logs
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detailing gaseous diffusion separation efficiency
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tables. David Greenglass utilized specialized
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lathe cutters to shape baritol explosive lenses
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to thousandths of an inch tolerance. General
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Leslie Groves instituted strict compartmentalization
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policies designed to prevent single scientists
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from understanding the complete weapon assembly.
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Klaus Fuchs's position inside T Division allowed
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him to bypass compartmentalization rules by reviewing
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cross -divisional hydrodynamics data. Dr. Klaus
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Fuchs attended weekly theoretical seminars chaired
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by Enrico Fermi and Richard Feynman at Los Alamos.
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David Greenglass's machinist duties inside Theta
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Site included turning steel mockups of bomb casing
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housings. The NKVD New York station maintained
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dedicated courier channels transporting microfilms
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directly to Soviet diplomatic pouch services.
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Dr. Klaus Fuchs's research papers on implosion
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shockwave propagation were classified top secret
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by the U .S. Manhattan District. David Greenglass
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maintained detailed personal notebooks recording
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high explosive lens casting temperatures and
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cooling rates. The Los Alamos Counterintelligence
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Corps detachment conducted routine background
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checks but failed to discover Fuchs's pre -war
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German communist ties. Dr. Klaus Fuchs drove
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a private Buick sedan between Los Alamos and
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Santa Fe for scheduled dead -drop meetings. David
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Greenglass passed detailed notes describing the
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chemical composition of the Baratol explosive
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lenses to Soviet couriers. General Leslie Groves
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authorized extensive wiretaps on Los Alamos telephone
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exchanges to monitor scientific security compliance.
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In the winter of 1942, inside a small apartment
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on Lower East Side Manhattan, Julius Rosenberg
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established the operational hub for one of the
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most effective espionage networks in American
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history. Born in New York City in 1918 to Jewish
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immigrant parents, Julius Rosenberg studied electrical
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engineering at the City College of New York,
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where he joined the Young Communist League. There
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he met his future wife, Ethel Greenglass, a fiery
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activist and aspiring singer who shared his deep
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commitment to Marxist -Leninist ideology. Recruited
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by NKVD officer Semyon Semyonov in 1942, Julius
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was assigned the codename Liberal. Rather than
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operating as a solo operative, Julius was tasked
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with building an active spy ring targeting American
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defense contractors, electronics laboratories,
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and military research facilities. Julius recruited
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a network of brilliant young engineers and classmates
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from CCNY, including. Together, the Rosenberg
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ring exfiltrated thousands of pages of classified
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schematics, including the revolutionary VT proximity
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fuse. a secret radio -radar fuse that allowed
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anti -aircraft shells to detonate near target
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aircraft without direct physical impact. Julius
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Rosenberg graduated from CCNY in 1939 with a
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Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering.
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Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg was born in Manhattan
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in 1915 and married Julius in August 1939. The
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Young Communist League at CCNY served as an active
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political debating ground for radical student
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intellectuals during the 1930s. Semyon Markovich
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Semyonov operated undercover as an engineer for
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Amtorg Trading Corporation in New York. Julius
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Rosenberg's NKVD handler transferred to Alexander
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Feklasov in 1944. Alexander Feklasov met Julius
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Rosenberg over 50 times in secluded New York
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restaurants, parks, and cinema theaters. The
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VT proximity fuse was considered the second most
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important weapon development of World War II
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after the atomic bomb. Julius Rosenberg personally
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delivered a complete, live VT proximity fuse
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assembly to Alexander Feklasov as a Christmas
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gift in December 1944. The proximity fuse exfiltrated
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by Julius enabled Soviet defense scientists to
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reverse -engineer advanced radar detonator technology.
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Joel Barr worked on radar pulse -forming networks
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at Western Electric before fleeing to the Soviet
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Union in 1948. Alfred Serent fled to the USSR
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alongside Joel Barr, eventually helping found
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the Soviet Microelectronics Center at Zelenograd
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under the name Philip Staros. Morton Sobel worked
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at General Electric in Schenectady, New York,
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specializing in Navy shipboard fire control radar
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systems. William Pearl provided top -secret research
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documents detailing America's first operational
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jet fighter aircraft, the Bell P -59 Ericomet.
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Julius Rosenberg received a specialized microfilming
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camera setup from Feklasov, installed in a secret
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darkroom inside his apartment at 10 Monroe Street.
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The Knickerbocker Village apartment complex at
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10 Monroe Street in Manhattan served as the family
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home for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Alexander
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Feklesov commended Julius Rosenberg as an extraordinarily
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dedicated, unpaid ideological asset who refused
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cash payments for himself. Julius Rosenberg established
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strict operational security guidelines for his
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sub -agents, requiring dead drops and signal
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chalk marks. The NKVD New York station operated
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out of the Soviet Consulate General on East 61st
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Street. Ethel Rosenberg typed handwritten espionage
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reports brought home by Julius, knowing full
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well that they were destined for Moscow. Julius
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Rosenberg was dismissed from his U .S. Army Signal
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Corps job in February 1945 when his past membership
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in the Communist Party was discovered. Following
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his dismissal from the Signal Corps, Julius managed
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a machine shop partnership with David Greenglass
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called Pit Machine Products. The Pit Machine
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Products shop on East Houston Street served as
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an informal cover venue for meetings between
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Julius and David Greenglass. Feklasov provided
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Julius Rosenberg with hollowed -out table legs
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and custom cutouts for concealing microfilms.
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The Rosenberg ring provided Moscow with over
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17 ,000 pages of top -secret technical blueprints
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between 1942 and 1948. Feklasov described Julius
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Rosenberg in his memoirs The Man Behind the Rosenbergs
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as one of the Soviet Union's most valuable intelligence
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assets. Julius Rosenberg maintained a secret
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microfilm camera setup concealed inside a portable
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radio chassis. William Pearl's NACA research
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papers included experimental wind tunnel testing
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data for supersonic aircraft wing configurations.
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Morton Sobel passed technical manuals detailing
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the SCR -584 radar anti -aircraft tracking system
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to Julius Rosenberg. Julius Rosenberg used a
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35mm Leica camera to microfilm blueprints inside
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a portable darkroom tent. Alexander Feklasov
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transferred cash funds to Julius Rosenberg specifically
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to cover document copying expenses for Joel Barr
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and William Pearl. Julius Rosenberg maintained
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secret dead -drop locations beneath bench seats
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inside Prospect Park in Brooklyn. Alexander Feklasov
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passed specialized document copying lenses to
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Julius Rosenberg during late -night meetings
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in Manhattan dining spots. Julius Rosenberg met
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Alexander Feklasov at Horn and Hardart Automat
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restaurants across Manhattan to exchange microfilms.
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William Pearl's aeronautical research documents
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included complete wing stress analysis tables
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for the B -47 Stratojet bomber. Morton Sobel
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passed secret blueprints detailing naval fire
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control radar computers used on Iowa -class battleships.
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In November 1944, Ruth Greenglass traveled to
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Albuquerque, New Mexico, to visit her husband,
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U .S. Army Sergeant David Greenglass, who was
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on weekend leave from Los Alamos. Before her
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departure from New York, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
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met Ruth at their Knickerbocker Village apartment.
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Julius instructed Ruth to recruit David into
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the atomic espionage ring, explaining that the
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Soviet Union was an ally being unfairly denied
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atomic research data by the United States government.
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When Ruth presented the proposal in Albuquerque,
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David agreed to provide atomic secrets from inside
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Los Alamos. In January 1945, David Greenglass
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returned to New York on military leave. During
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a dinner meeting at the Rosenberg apartment,
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Julius established a secure recognition signal
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for future courier drops in New Mexico. Julius
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took a cardboard side panel from a box of Ralston
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Purina Jello, cut it in half with scissors in
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an irregular zigzag pattern, and handed one half
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to Ruth Greenglass. Whoever comes to meet you
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in New Mexico, Julius explained, will produce
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the matching half of this jello box cut out and
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say, I come from Julius. On Sunday morning, June
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3, 1945, inside David and Ruth Greenglass's rented
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apartment on High Street in Albuquerque, a stranger
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knocked on the door. The visitor was Harry Gold,
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a veteran Soviet courier operating under the
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direction of KGB officer Anatoly Yatskov. Gold
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produced the matching half of the jello box side
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panel and uttered the password, I come from Julius.
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David Greenglass handed Gold an envelope containing
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hand -drawn cross -section sketches of the fat
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man plutonium implosion lens molds, technical
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notes on high -explosive lens geometry, and a
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list of scientists working at Los Alamos. In
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return, Gold handed Greenglass $500 in cash wrapped
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in an envelope. Ruth Prince Greenglass was born
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in New York in 1924 and married David Greenglass
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in September 1942. Ruth Greenglass was 19 years
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old when she traveled to Albuquerque to recruit
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her husband for Soviet intelligence. The jello
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box side panel was chosen by Julius Rosenberg
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because its complex, hand -cut cardboard edge
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could not be counterfeited. Harry Gold was a
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Swiss -born chemical technician living in Philadelphia
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who worked as a Soviet intelligence courier for
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15 years. Anatoly Antonovich Yatskov served as
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Soviet vice -consul in New York and chief atomic
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espionage officer. Harry Gold traveled from Philadelphia
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to Santa Fe in Albuquerque by train to execute
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dual courier pickups on June 3, 1945. On the
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morning of June 3, 1945, Just hours before meeting
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Greenglass, Harry Gold met Klaus Fuchs on a lonely
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bridge outside Santa Fe. Klaus Fuchs handed Gold
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a thick package of handwritten equations detailing
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the exact mathematical physics of the plutonium
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implosion core. Harry Gold delivered both Fuchs's
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Los Alamos equations and Greenglass's explosive
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lens sketches to Anatoly Yatskov in New York
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on June 5, 1945. Yatskov immediately microfilmed
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the material and dispatched it to Moscow via
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diplomatic courier. Igor Kurchatov, head of the
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Soviet atomic project, utilized Greenglass's
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implosion lens sketches to confirm calculations
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for the RDS -1 atomic bomb. The $500 cash payment
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handed to Greenglass was drawn from NKVD operational
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funds held at the Soviet consulate. David Greenglass
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provided a second batch of atomic sketches to
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Julius Rosenberg in New York in September 1945
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following the end of World War II. The September
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1945 sketches included a 12 -page written description
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of the assembled Fat Man atomic bomb dropped
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on Nagasaki. Julius Rosenberg paid David Greenglass
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an additional $200 for the September 1945 atomic
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bomb report. Ethel Rosenberg typed David Greenglass's
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handwritten 12 -page description of the Nagasaki
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atomic bomb inside the Rosenberg apartment. Harry
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Gold used the alias, Frank Kessler, during his
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courier trips to Santa Fe in Albuquerque. Klaus
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Fuchs met Harry Gold in Cambridge, Massachusetts,
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and Santa Fe on six separate occasions between
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1944 and 1945. Harry Gold maintained a secret
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container in his Philadelphia cellar for storing
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espionage instructions provided by Yatskov. Anatoly
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Yatskov abruptly left the United States in December
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1946 aboard a Soviet vessel, anticipating US
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counterintelligence investigations. David Greenglass
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was honorably discharged from the US Army in
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February 1946 with the rank of technical sergeant.
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The jello box cutout remained hidden inside Ruth
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Greenglass's handbag until it was burned following
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the post -war arrests. Harry Gold traveled aboard
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the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to
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reach his meeting points in New Mexico. Anatoly
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Yatskov commended Harry Gold for successfully
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executing the dual pickup from both Fuchs and
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Greenglass in a single day. David Greenglass's
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handwritten atomic report included precise dimensions
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for the beryllium -polonium neutron initiator
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core. Harry Gold met Klaus Fuchs at the Castillo
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Street Bridge over the Santa Fe River during
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their June 3, 1945 meeting. David Greenglass's
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Albuquerque apartment was located at 209 North
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High Street. Harry Gold stored the $500 cash
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envelope inside his travel bag while traveling
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back to Pennsylvania. Anatoly Yatskov reviewed
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Harry Gold's written summary report inside a
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secure room at the Soviet consulate in New York.
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Harry Gold stayed overnight at the Hotel Franciscan
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in downtown Albuquerque during his June 1945
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courier trip. Ruth Greenglass deposited $400
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of the Soviet courier cash into a local Albuquerque
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bank account. By 1948, the top -secret signals
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intelligence program codenamed Venona operating
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inside the Army Security Agency at Arlington
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Hall, Virginia, began exposing Soviet espionage
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networks across North America. Cryptanalyst Meredith
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Gardner and FBI Special Agent Robert Lamphere
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successfully broke one -time pad cipher key reuse
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errors in encrypted KGB diplomatic telegrams
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sent between New York and Moscow in 1944 and
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1945. In late 1948, Gardner decrypted cables
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referencing Soviet atomic spies inside the Manhattan
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Project. In September 1949, armed with Venona
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decrypts, the FBI informed British MI5 that Klaus
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Fuchs was a Soviet atomic spy. MI5 chief interrogator
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William Scarton questioned Fuchs in London over
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several weeks in late 1949. On January 24, 1950,
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Fuchs broke down and delivered a full confession,
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admitting he had passed theoretical atomic calculations
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to a mysterious American courier between 1944
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and 1945. Fuchs's confession triggered a fast
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-moving chain reaction across international law
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enforcement. 1. February 1950, Klaus Fuchs was
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arrested in London and sentenced to 14 years
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in prison. 2. May 1950, FBI agents identified
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and arrested courier Harry Gold in Philadelphia
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after searching his home and finding a Santa
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Fe map. 3. June 1950, Harry Gold confessed to
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receiving atomic data from Fuchs and identified
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his Albuquerque contact as David Greenglass.
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4. June 15, 1950, FBI agents arrested David Greenglass
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in New York. Under intense questioning, Greenglass
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confessed and implicated his brother -in -law,
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Julius Rosenberg. Meredith Gardner's cryptanalytic
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breakthrough at Arlington Hall revealed that
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KGB cable 1600 from New York contained full details
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of the Los Alamos implosion lens. Robert Lamphere
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served as primary FBI liaison officer reviewing
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Bonona decrypts with MI5 counter -espionage officers.
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William Scarton interrogated Klaus Fuchs at his
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office at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment
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in Harwell, Oxfordshire. Fuchs identified Harry
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Gold from silent 16mm motion picture footage
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filmed by FBI surveillance teams in Philadelphia.
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FBI Special Agents Scott Miller and Richard Brennan
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discovered a Santa Fe City map hidden inside
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a book in Harry Gold's bedroom on May 22, 1950.
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Harry Gold admitted under interrogation that
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he had lied during previous FBI interviews regarding
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his trip to New Mexico in June 1945. David Greenglass
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was interviewed by FBI agents John Harrington
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and William Lewis at his Manhattan apartment
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on June 15, 1950. Greenglass initially attempted
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to deny involvement before breaking down and
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detailing the Jell -O box courier meeting in
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Albuquerque. Greenglass identified Julius Rosenberg
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as the chief Soviet organizer who orchestrated
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the atomic espionage operation. Klaus Fuchs's
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trial took place at the Old Bailey in London
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on March 1, 1950, lasting less than 90 minutes
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before sentencing. Lord Chief Justice Goddard
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sentenced Klaus Fuchs to 14 years imprisonment,
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the maximum penalty allowed under British law
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for leaking secrets to an ally. Harry Gold pled
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guilty to espionage charges in federal district
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court in Philadelphia and received a 30 -year
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prison sentence. The Nona Cable 1251 sent from
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New York to Moscow on September 21, 1944, explicitly
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identified Liberals' wife Ethel as fully aware
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of her husband's espionage activities. The FBI
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created a specialized atomic espionage task force
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designated Case Adam to systematically arrest
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every member of the Rosenberg ring. Julius Rosenberg
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was alerted to Gold's arrest in May 1950 and
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provided David Greenglass with $5 ,000 in cash
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to flee to Mexico. Greenglass used the cash to
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travel to the Catskill Mountains with his family
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instead of fleeing across the Mexican border.
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Julius Rosenberg urged Greenglass to obtain passport
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photographs for emergency extraction through
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Soviet escape channels in Prague. FBI surveillance
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units monitored pit machine products continuously
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for three weeks prior to Greenglass's arrest.
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Harry Gold's detailed written confession comprised
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150 pages documenting his 15 -year career as
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a Soviet courier. Anatoly Yatskov's identity
25:31
as courier handler Anton was confirmed through
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Venona decrypts of New York consulate cables.
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Meredith Gardner's cryptanalytic team at Arlington
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Hall utilized custom mechanical sorting decks
25:43
to match additive key sequences. Robert Lamphere
25:46
maintained continuous telephone contact with
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MI5 assistant director Dick White throughout
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the Fuchs interrogation. Meredith Gardner's decryption
25:55
of New York Cable 1340 revealed details of Soviet
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payments made to liberal for courier travel expenses.
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FBI Special Agent Robert Lamphere interviewed
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Harry Gold inside the Philadelphia Federal Building
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following his May 1950 arrest. Meredith Gardner's
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team recovered clear text fragments from 49 separate
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KGB diplomatic codebook pages. FBI Director J.
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Edgar Hoover personally briefed President Harry
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S. Truman on the progress of Project Venona in
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June 1950. MI5 interrogator William Scarton conducted
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seven separate questioning sessions with Klaus
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Fuchs at Harwell. FBI agents recovered six microfilm
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rolls hidden inside Harry Gold's Philadelphia
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chemistry laboratory desk. On the morning of
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July 17, 1950, FBI special agents knocked on
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the door of 10 Monroe Street in Manhattan. Julius
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Rosenberg opened the door, was taken into custody,
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and formally charged with conspiracy to commit
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espionage under the Espionage Act of 1917. Appearing
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before U .S. Commissioner Vincent Keogh, Julius
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vehemently proclaimed his innocence, refusing
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to answer questions regarding his contacts with
27:13
Soviet officials or David Greenglass. FBI Director
27:17
J. Edgar Hoover and U .S. Attorney Irving Saple
27:20
recognized that Julius was a hardened, highly
27:23
disciplined ideologue who would not break under
27:25
routine interrogation. To force Julius to confess
27:29
and name other members of his spy ring, the Department
27:32
of Justice devised a high -stakes strategy, leverage
27:35
his devotion to his family by arresting his wife,
27:38
Ethel Rosenberg. On August 11, 1950, Ethel Rosenberg
27:43
testified before a federal grand jury at the
27:46
U .S. courthouse in Foley Square, invoking her
27:49
Fifth Amendment privilege against self -incrimination
27:51
to every substantive question. As she stepped
27:55
outside the courthouse onto the street, FBI agents
27:58
arrested Ethel on the spot. Ethel was remanded
28:02
to the women's house of detention in Greenwich
28:04
Village, leaving her two young sons, Michael
28:07
and Robert, without parents. The arrest of Ethel
28:11
Rosenberg was a deliberate tactical lever designed
28:13
to break Julius. However, the strategy backfired
28:18
completely. Neither Julius nor Ethel broke. Both
28:23
maintained absolute silence, steadfastly declaring
28:26
their innocence. Julius Rosenberg was held on
28:30
$100 ,000 bail, an extraordinary sum reflecting
28:33
the severity of Cold War espionage charges. Ethel
28:37
Rosenberg was charged as a co -conspirator based
28:40
primarily on fresh testimony provided by her
28:43
brother David Greenglass and sister -in -law
28:45
Ruth. David and Ruth Greenglass changed their
28:49
statements to the FBI in August 1950, testifying
28:52
for the first time that Ethel had personally
28:54
typed the handwritten atomic notes. Historians
28:58
later confirmed that David and Ruth Greenglass
29:00
perjured themselves regarding Ethel's typing
29:03
to protect Ruth from prosecution. Federal Prosecutor
29:07
Miles Lane admitted in private DOJ memos that
29:10
evidence against Ethel was sparse, but her indictment
29:13
was necessary as a bargaining chip. J. Edgar
29:16
Hoover sent a confidential memorandum to Attorney
29:19
General J. Howard McGrath advising that arresting
29:22
Ethel would serve as a powerful lever to force
29:24
Julius's confession. Michael and Robert Rosenberg
29:28
were taken into care by their grandmother before
29:31
being placed in a Jewish children's shelter.
29:34
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were held in separate
29:36
detention facilities in New York, permitted to
29:39
communicate only via heavily censored letters.
29:43
Morton Sobel fled to Mexico City with his family
29:46
in June 1950 using false passports, attempting
29:49
to book passage to the Soviet Union. Mexican
29:53
secret police abducted Morton Sobel in Mexico
29:56
City in August 1950 and pushed him across the
29:59
US border at Laredo, Texas, into FBI custody.
30:03
William Pearl was arrested in March 1951 for
30:07
perjury after denying connections to Julius Rosenberg
30:10
and Morton Sobel. Joel Barr and Alfred Serent
30:14
successfully escaped to Czechoslovakia through
30:16
Soviet extraction channels in Paris. The Espionage
30:20
Act of 1917 provided for the death penalty for
30:24
wartime espionage offenses committed in time
30:26
of war. Attorney General J. Howard McGrath authorized
30:31
capital punishment prosecution for both Julius
30:33
and Ethel Rosenberg in January 1951. Julius Rosenberg's
30:39
defense was assigned to prominent New York trial
30:41
attorney Emanuel Hirschblock. Emanuel Block represented
30:45
both Julius and Ethel Rosenberg throughout their
30:48
trial and post -conviction appeals. The Women's
30:52
House of Detention on Greenwich Avenue in Manhattan
30:54
held Ethel Rosenberg in solitary isolation for
30:58
nine months. Ethel Rosenberg's health deteriorated
31:02
significantly during her nine -month pre -trial
31:04
detention in solitary confinement. Julius Rosenberg
31:08
was held in the Federal House of Detention on
31:10
West Street in Manhattan prior to trial. FBI
31:14
agents searched the Rosenberg apartment on 10
31:17
Monroe Street, seizing financial bank ledgers
31:20
and personal correspondence. Morton Sobel was
31:24
held at the Laredo Border Station before transfer
31:26
under armed guard to New York. Julius Rosenberg's
31:30
defense attorney Emanuel Block requested a reduction
31:33
in bail, which was flatly denied by Judge Kaufman.
31:37
Ethel Rosenberg's mother Tessie Greenglass visited
31:40
her daughter inside the women's house of detention,
31:43
urging her to confess. Ethel Rosenberg's grand
31:47
jury indictment was signed by U .S. Attorney
31:49
Irving Sapol on August 17, 1950. Julius Rosenberg
31:55
was denied access to radio broadcasts inside
31:58
his cell at West Street Detention Center. On
32:01
March 6, 1951, inside courtroom 110 of the United
32:06
States District Court at Foley Square in Lower
32:08
Manhattan, the historic trial of United States
32:11
v. Julius Rosenberg, Ethel Rosenberg, and Morton
32:14
Sobel commenced. Presiding over the bench was
32:18
39 -year -old federal judge Irving R. Kaufman.
32:22
Leading the prosecution was United States Attorney
32:25
Irving Saple, assisted by an aggressive 23 -year
32:28
-old assistant prosecutor named Roy Cohn. The
32:31
prosecution presented three primary witnesses
32:34
to prove atomic treason. 1. David Greenglass,
32:38
testified that he passed explosive lens sketches
32:41
from Los Alamos to Harry Gold under orders from
32:44
Julius, and that Ethel typed the written reports.
32:47
2. Ruth Greenglass. corroborated David's testimony,
32:52
describing the jello box recognition signal cut
32:55
in the Rosenberg kitchen. 3. Harry Gold, detailed
32:59
receiving the Los Alamos atomic data in Albuquerque
33:02
using the password I come from Julius. Defense
33:06
attorney Emanuel Block conducted aggressive cross
33:09
-examinations, alleging that David and Ruth Greenglass
33:12
fabricated the story to frame the Rosenbergs
33:15
and save Ruth from prison. However, When Julius
33:18
and Ethel took the witness stand in their own
33:21
defense, they repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment
33:24
when asked about Communist Party membership,
33:26
severely damaging their credibility with the
33:28
jury. On March 29, 1951, after three weeks of
33:34
testimony, the jury returned a verdict of guilty
33:37
on all counts against Julius Rosenberg, Ethel
33:40
Rosenberg, and Morton Sobel. Judge Irving R.
33:44
Kaufman served as a U .S. District Judge for
33:46
the Southern District of New York from 1949 to
33:49
1961. Irving Saple was famous as the nation's
33:54
premier anti -communist prosecutor, having previously
33:57
convicted top CUSA leaders. Roy Marcus Cohn served
34:01
as Assistant U .S. Attorney during the trial,
34:04
later gaining fame as Chief Counsel to Senator
34:06
Joseph McCarthy. Roy Cohn maintained improper,
34:10
secret ex -part telephone communications with
34:13
Judge Kaufman throughout the trial to push for
34:15
the death penalty. David Greenglass produced
34:18
a hand -drawn replica sketch of the Fat Man atomic
34:21
bomb core on a courtroom blackboard during his
34:24
testimony. Emanuel Block requested that the courtroom
34:28
be cleared during Greenglass's technical atomic
34:30
testimony to preserve national security. The
34:34
prosecution introduced a replica of the jello
34:36
box cardboard cut out into evidence as Exhibit
34:39
4. Ruth Greenglass testified that Julius Rosenberg
34:43
provided her with $150 for living expenses while
34:47
David was at Los Alamos. Morton Sobel elected
34:51
not to take the witness stand in his own defense
34:53
during the trial. The trial lasted 14 courtroom
34:57
days, featuring 23 prosecution witnesses and
35:01
only four defense witnesses. The 12 -member jury
35:04
comprised 11 men and one woman, chaired by foreman
35:08
Vincent Levinet. Emanuel Block's decision to
35:11
have both Rosenbergs invoke the Fifth Amendment
35:14
regarding communist ties proved disastrous before
35:16
the Cold War jury. Roy Cohn privately lobbied
35:21
Judge Kaufman to spare Ruth Greenglass from prosecution
35:23
in exchange for her damning testimony against
35:26
Ethel. Judge Kaufman praised prosecutors Saple
35:30
and Cohn for their exemplary performance in protecting
35:33
national security. Julius Rosenberg maintained
35:36
under oath that his Pittsburgh pit machine business
35:39
was an honest commercial enterprise. Ethel Rosenberg
35:43
testified that her brother David had always harbored
35:46
personal resentment toward her husband Julius
35:48
over business disputes. Prosecutor Irving Saple
35:52
emphasized to the jury that the defendants had
35:54
committed the supreme act of betrayal against
35:56
their country. Emanuel Block failed to cross
36:00
-examine Harry Gold on his past history of fabricating
36:03
detailed alibis during police questioning. David
36:06
Greenglass's testimony on the blackboard was
36:09
impounded by court order immediately following
36:11
the hearing. Emanuel Block's co -counsel Alexander
36:15
Block assisted in preparing defense motions during
36:18
the trial. The jury deliberated for seven hours
36:22
over two days before arriving at their unanimous
36:24
guilty verdicts. Judge Kaufman denied defense
36:28
motions for a directed verdict of acquittal following
36:31
the close of prosecution testimony. Prosecutor
36:35
Roy Cohn called 22 individual witnesses to corroborate
36:38
secondary details of the espionage network. The
36:42
trial transcripts comprised over 2 ,000 printed
36:45
pages recorded by official court stenographers.
36:49
On April 5, 1951, courtroom 110 at Foley Square
36:53
was packed to capacity as Judge Irving R. Kaufman
36:56
rose to pronounce sentence. Addressing the convicted
37:00
couple standing before him, Judge Kaufman delivered
37:03
a scathing, unprecedented courtroom condemnation.
37:07
Asterisk, I consider your crime worse than murder.
37:11
Plain deliberate murder is dwarfed in comparison
37:13
to the crime you have committed. In committing
37:16
the act of passing atomic secrets to the Soviets,
37:19
you put into the hands of the Russians the A
37:21
-bomb years before our best scientists predicted
37:24
Russia would perfect the bomb. Asterisk. Asterisk,
37:29
this has already caused, in my opinion, the communist
37:32
aggression in Korea, with the resultant casualties
37:35
exceeding 50 ,000, and who knows but that millions
37:38
more of innocent people may pay the price of
37:41
your treason. Asterisk. Judge Kaufman then pronounced
37:46
the formal sentence. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
37:50
became the first, and only, American civilians
37:53
executed for espionage under the Espionage Act
37:56
during the Cold War. The trial and death sentences
37:59
triggered immediate, fiery international debate
38:02
over Cold War justice, proportionality, and anti
38:06
-communist hysteria. Judge Kaufman's sentencing
38:09
statement explicitly blamed the Rosenbergs for
38:12
causing the Korean War. The Korean War casualties
38:15
cited by Judge Kaufman included over 20 ,000
38:19
American military personnel killed in action
38:21
by April 1951. Ethel Rosenberg became the first
38:26
woman executed by the United States federal government
38:29
since Mary Surratt in 1865. Morton Sobel served
38:34
17 years of his 30 -year sentence at Alcatraz
38:37
Federal Penitentiary and Lewisburg Penitentiary
38:40
before release in 1969. David Greenglass served
38:44
10 years of his 15 -year sentence at Lewisburg
38:47
Penitentiary, released in 1960. Ruth Greenglass
38:51
was never indicted or prosecuted for her role
38:54
in the atomic espionage conspiracy. The death
38:58
sentences were automatically appealed to the
39:00
United States Court of Appeals for the Second
39:02
Circuit. Circuit Judge Jerome Frank upheld the
39:06
convictions and sentences in February 1952. ruling
39:10
that the death penalty was legally authorized.
39:13
The Supreme Court of the United States repeatedly
39:15
denied petitions for writs of certiorari to review
39:19
the case throughout 1952 and 1953. Judge Kaufman
39:24
received thousands of supportive letters from
39:26
the American public hailing his decisive stance
39:29
against communism. Emanuel Block publicly condemned
39:33
Judge Kaufman's sentence as a judicial lynching
39:35
driven by political hysteria. The Rosenbergs
39:39
were immediately transferred from New York to
39:41
the federal death row at Sing Sing Correctional
39:44
Facility in Ossining, New York. Sing Sing's death
39:48
row house held Julius and Ethel in separate solitary
39:51
cells located 50 yards apart. Julius and Ethel
39:55
were permitted one weekly handheld visitation
39:57
session separated by a fine wire mesh screen.
40:01
Judge Kaufman consulted with senior Department
40:04
of Justice officials prior to sentencing to confirm
40:07
capital punishment recommendations. Emanuel Block
40:10
filed 16 separate post -trial motions challenging
40:13
the constitutional validity of the death sentences.
40:17
Morton Sobel was transported to Alcatraz Federal
40:20
Penitentiary under heavy U .S. Marshal escort
40:23
in April 1951. Sing Sing Warden William E. Dino
40:28
supervised the Rosenberg detention protocols
40:30
inside the death house. Judge Kaufman's sentencing
40:35
remarks were broadcast across national radio
40:37
networks on the evening of April 5, 1951. The
40:42
Court of Appeals panel upholding the death sentence
40:44
included Judges Jerome Frank, Thomas Swan, and
40:48
Harry Chase. Judge Kaufman received static security
40:52
protection from U .S. Marshals following threat
40:54
calls received after sentencing. Attorney General
40:58
J. Howard McGrath commended Prosecutor Irving
41:01
Saple for securing the death sentence verdicts.
41:04
For 26 months, from April 1951 to June 1953,
41:10
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg resided inside the
41:12
concrete walls of Sing Sing Correctional Facility
41:15
overlooking the Hudson River. Through hundreds
41:18
of poignant deeply emotional letters exchanged
41:21
between their cells, Julius and Ethel maintained
41:24
their innocence, declaring their absolute devotion
41:27
to each other and their two young sons. Outside
41:30
the prison walls, a massive global movement erupted
41:34
under the National Committee to Secure Justice
41:36
in the Rosenberg case. Prominent international
41:39
figures, intellectuals, scientists, and world
41:43
leaders pleaded for executive clemency, citing
41:46
the lack of direct documentary evidence against
41:48
Ethel and the unprecedented severity of the death
41:51
penalty during peacetime. Rallies involving hundreds
41:54
of thousands of demonstrators filled Trafalgar
41:57
Square in London, the Place de la Concorde in
41:59
Paris, and Union Square in New York. Despite
42:03
immense global pressure, President Dwight D.
42:06
Eisenhower twice denied official petitions for
42:08
executive clemency. President Eisenhower declared
42:12
in a formal statement on February 11, 1953. Asterisk,
42:18
the execution of two human beings is a grave
42:21
matter. But when I think of the millions of dead
42:24
whose deaths may be directly attributable to
42:26
what these spies have done, I am forced to decline
42:29
to intervene. Asterisk. Sing Sing Correctional
42:34
Facility in Ossining, New York, served as the
42:37
primary execution site for New York state and
42:39
federal capital cases. The letters of Julius
42:43
and Ethel Rosenberg were published in 1953 under
42:46
the title The Rosenberg Letters, selling hundreds
42:49
of thousands of copies worldwide. The National
42:52
Committee to Secure Justice in the Rosenberg
42:55
case was organized in 1951 by activist William
42:58
A. Rubin. Albert Einstein's letter to President
43:02
Eisenhower was published on the front page of
43:04
the New York Times in January 1953. Pope Pius
43:09
XII transmitted his clemency request through
43:11
Archbishop Amlito Giovanni Sicognani in December
43:14
1952. President Harry S. Truman left office in
43:19
January 1953 without acting on the initial Rosenberg
43:23
clemency petition. President Dwight D. Eisenhower
43:27
took office on January 20, 1953, adopting a hardline
43:32
anti -communist national security posture. Eisenhower's
43:36
second clemency refusal on June 19, 1953, emphasized
43:41
that Ethel Rosenberg was a full, willing partner
43:44
in treason. Michael and Robert Rosenberg were
43:47
adopted in 1954 by high school teacher and songwriter
43:51
Abel Mirapol and his wife Anne, adopting the
43:54
surname Mirapol. Abel Mirapol was famous as the
43:58
author of the iconic anti -lynching song Strange
44:00
Fruit, made famous by Billie Holiday. Over 1
44:05
,000 police officers cordoned off the White House
44:07
during a massive Rosenberg clemency demonstration
44:10
on June 14, 1953. French President Vincent Aureole
44:15
publicly requested that Eisenhower commute the
44:18
death sentences to life imprisonment. The U .S.
44:21
Department of Justice kept a open telephone line
44:24
to Sing Sing Death Row until the final minute,
44:26
offering to halt execution if Julius confessed.
44:30
Julius Rosenberg explicitly rejected DOJ confession
44:34
offers, stating, We will not bear false witness
44:37
against ourselves or others to save our lives.
44:41
The Rosenberg Defense Committee organized nationwide
44:44
car caravans delivering clemency petitions to
44:47
the White House. Ethel Rosenberg wrote a final
44:50
moving letter to her two young sons on the afternoon
44:53
of her execution. The National Committee to Secure
44:57
Justice collected over one million signature
44:59
endorsements on clemency petitions. Jean -Paul
45:03
Sartre's defense essay was published in the French
45:05
newspaper Combat in June 1953. Ethel Rosenberg's
45:10
final letter to her sons was delivered by Emanuel
45:13
Block following the execution. Albert Einstein
45:17
met privately with defense attorney Emanuel Block
45:20
to discuss strategy for appealing to President
45:22
Eisenhower. The National Committee to Secure
45:26
Justice published weekly newsletters distributed
45:28
to over 50 ,000 subscribers. President Eisenhower
45:32
received over 5 ,000 telegrams daily regarding
45:35
the Rosenberg clemency petition during June 1953.
45:39
As sunset approached on Friday, June 19, 1953,
45:44
the final legal appeals collapsed. Supreme Court
45:48
Justice William O. Douglas had granted a temporary
45:51
stay of execution on June 17 to consider new
45:55
legal arguments presented by lawyer Fike Farmer.
45:58
However, Chief Justice Fred Vinson convened a
46:01
special emergency session of the full Supreme
46:03
Court on June 18, vacating Douglas' stay by a
46:07
6 -3 vote. To avoid executing the couple on the
46:11
Jewish Sabbath, which began at sundown on Friday,
46:14
Attorney General Herbert Brownell ordered the
46:17
execution time moved up from 11 p .m. to 8 p
46:20
.m. At 8 p .m., Inside the green -painted execution
46:24
chamber at Sing Sing, Julius Rosenberg was led
46:28
to the electric chair. He walked with firm steps,
46:31
eyes fixed straight ahead, silent and composed.
46:36
Executioner Joseph Francil pulled the wooden
46:38
switch, sending three shocks of 2 ,000 volts
46:41
through Julius's body. He was pronounced dead
46:45
at 8 .06 p .m. Ten minutes later. At 8 .12 p
46:49
.m., Ethel Rosenberg entered the execution chamber
46:52
wearing a simple dark print dress. She shook
46:56
hands calmly with the female prison guard, stepped
46:58
onto the rubber mat, and sat in the chair. When
47:02
the initial electrical surges failed to stop
47:04
her heart, Executioner Francil applied two additional
47:07
shocks, smoke rising from her scalp before she
47:10
was pronounced dead at 8 .16 p .m. On Sunday,
47:15
June 21, 1953, over 10 ,000 mourners gathered
47:19
at the I .J. Morris Funeral Home in Brooklyn,
47:22
while thousands more lined the streets as the
47:24
funeral procession moved to Wellwood Cemetery
47:26
on Long Island. Justice William O. Douglas's
47:30
temporary stay of execution was based on arguments
47:33
surrounding the Atomic Energy Act of 1946. Chief
47:38
Justice Fred Vinson's emergency Supreme Court
47:40
session was one of only three special summer
47:43
sessions in court history. Justices Hugo Black,
47:47
William O. Douglas, and Felix Frankfurter dissented
47:50
from the decision vacating the stay of execution.
47:53
The Jewish Sabbath requires refraining from work
47:56
and execution starting at sundown on Friday evening.
48:01
Sing Sing executioner Joseph Frantzel received
48:03
$150 per execution from the state of New York.
48:08
The electrical system at Sing Sing delivered
48:10
alternating current at 2 ,000 volts and 8 amperes.
48:15
Prison chaplain Rabbi Irving Koslow administered
48:17
final spiritual comfort to Julius and Ethel prior
48:21
to execution. Ethel Rosenberg was the only person
48:25
executed at Sing Sing whose cardiac arrest required
48:28
five separate electrical shocks. Wellwood Cemetery
48:32
in Pinelon, Suffolk County, New York, serves
48:35
as the final resting place for Julius and Ethel
48:38
Rosenberg. Emanuel Block delivered an impassioned
48:42
eulogy at the funeral. declaring that the United
48:44
States government had committed a fascist murder.
48:47
The execution generated intense anti -American
48:51
protests across European capitals, leading to
48:54
riots outside US embassies in Paris and Rome.
48:58
President Eisenhower reviewed final execution
49:00
confirmation reports inside the White House Oval
49:03
Office at 8 .20 p .m. The Rosenberg execution
49:07
remained the final federal execution conducted
49:10
in the United States until the execution of Timothy
49:13
McVeigh in 2001. Sing Sing Warden Dino supervised
49:17
the execution protocol inside the death chamber
49:20
alongside prison physicians. The electrical current
49:24
applied during Ethel Rosenberg's execution caused
49:27
severe thermal burns recorded in the autopsy
49:30
protocol. The execution room at Sing Sing featured
49:34
12 wooden spectator benches reserved for press
49:37
witnesses and state officials. Julius and Ethel
49:41
Rosenberg were buried side by side in Block 12
49:43
of Wellwood Cemetery. The Sing Sing electric
49:47
chair was decommissioned in 1963 following the
49:50
abolition of the death penalty in New York State.
49:54
Emanuel Block died of a heart attack six months
49:57
after the executions in January 1954 at the age
50:00
of 42. Sing Sing prison guards maintained continuous
50:05
suicide watches on both Rosenbergs during their
50:08
final 24 hours. The funeral procession along
50:11
Brooklyn's Washington Avenue was escorted by
50:14
20 NYC motorcycle police officers. For four decades
50:19
following the 1953 executions, the Rosenberg
50:22
case divided historians, legal scholars, and
50:26
the American public. Defenders maintained that
50:29
the Rosenbergs were completely innocent victims
50:31
of anti -communist hysteria, framed by anti -Semitic
50:35
prosecutors and a rogue brother -in -law. However,
50:39
In July 1995, the National Security Agency and
50:43
Central Intelligence Agency officially declassified
50:46
the Project Venona archive. The Venona decrypts
50:50
delivered conclusive, unambiguous proof. In September
50:54
2008, 81 -year -old Morten Sobel broke 57 years
50:58
of public silence in an interview with the New
51:00
York Times, admitting for the first time that
51:03
he and Julius Rosenberg were indeed Soviet spies
51:05
who passed radar and military secrets to Moscow.
51:09
In 2014, before his death, David Greenglass confessed
51:14
to journalist Sam Roberts that he had lied under
51:16
oath during the 1951 trial about his sister Ethel
51:20
typing the atomic notes, fabricating the story
51:22
under pressure from prosecutors to save his wife
51:25
Ruth from prison. Project Venona declassification
51:29
in 1995 included five public releases comprising
51:33
over 3 ,000 decrypted KGB and GRU telegrams.
51:37
Venona Cable 1251 explicitly confirmed liberals'
51:41
leadership of the New York ring. Former KGB officer
51:45
Alexander Feklasov published his memoirs in 2001,
51:49
confirming that he personally managed Julius
51:51
Rosenberg from 1944 to 1946. Feklasov confirmed
51:57
that while Julius was a brilliant, devoted asset,
52:00
Ethel Rosenberg performed no direct espionage
52:03
acts and should never have been executed. Morton
52:07
Sobel's 2008 confession confirmed that he passed
52:10
naval radar fire control blueprints to Julius
52:12
inside film canisters. David Greenglass lived
52:16
under an assumed name following his 1960 release
52:19
from prison, dying in a nursing home in 2014.
52:23
Ruth Greenglass died in 2008 without ever publicly
52:27
expressing remorse for her perjured testimony
52:30
against Ethel Rosenberg. Michael and Robert Mirapol
52:34
published a book in 1975 titled We Are Your Sons,
52:37
detailing their lifelong quest to uncover truth
52:40
in their parents' case. In 2015, Michael and
52:45
Robert Mirapol launched an official petition
52:47
requesting that President Barack Obama formally
52:50
exonerate Ethel Rosenberg. The FBI declassified
52:54
over 200 ,000 pages of master investigation files
52:57
on the Rosenberg ring under FOIA requests in
53:00
2008. The modern historical consensus confirms
53:04
Julius Rosenberg's guilt as a major Soviet spy
53:07
while condemning Ethel's execution as a tragic
53:10
judicial miscarriage driven by prosecutorial
53:12
leverage tactics. The Venona declassification
53:16
proved that over 300 Soviet spies operated across
53:19
the U .S. defense infrastructure during World
53:22
War II. Historian Harvey Clare co -authored The
53:25
Secret World of American Communism. utilizing
53:28
declassified Soviet archives to confirm Julius's
53:31
espionage network. KGB officer Alexander Feklasov's
53:36
book The Man Behind the Rosenbergs provided detailed
53:39
accounts of his 50 meeting sessions with Julius.
53:43
Journalist Sam Roberts published his investigative
53:45
biography of David Greenglass in 2001 titled
53:49
The Brother. Morton Sobel published his autobiography
53:53
in 1974 titled On Again, Off Again. before his
53:57
2008 full confession. Michael and Robert Mirapol
54:01
established the Rosenberg Fund for Children in
54:04
1990 to assist children of targeted progressive
54:06
activists. Historian John Earl Haynes co -authored
54:11
Venona, decoding Soviet espionage in America,
54:14
validating the authenticity of the decrypted
54:16
cables. The National Security Agency established
54:20
a permanent public exhibit on Project Venona
54:23
at the National Cryptologic Museum in Maryland.
54:26
The technical espionage conducted by the Rosenberg
54:29
-Fuchs -Greenglass network directly accelerated
54:32
the Soviet Union's emergence as a nuclear superpower.
54:35
Comparative Technical and Espionage Metrics Klaus
54:40
Fuchs, Theoretical Hydrodynamic Equations, Implosion
54:44
Lens Curvature Math, Compression Shockwave Values
54:47
David Greenglass hand -drawn lens mold engineering
54:51
cross -sections, shop fabrication tolerances,
54:54
initiator dimensions. Donald McLean, plutonium
54:59
production yield schedules at Hanford, AEC uranium
55:02
or stockpiles. This detailed technical intelligence
55:06
allowed Soviet atomic project director Igor Kurchatov
55:10
to build an exact engineering replica of Fat
55:12
Man, the RDS -1, detonated at Semipalatinsk on
55:16
August 29, 1949. The RDS -1 atomic bomb test
55:22
yield was 22 kilotons of TNT, identical to the
55:26
Trinity test yield at Alamogordo. Composition
55:30
B explosive comprised 60 % RDX and 40 % TNT,
55:35
acting as the fast -burning outer lens component.
55:38
Baritol explosive comprised 76 % barium nitrate
55:42
and 24 % TNT, acting as the slow -burning inner
55:46
lens component. The 32 -point lens geometry converted
55:51
an expanding spherical detonation wave into a
55:53
perfectly focused imploding spherical shockwave.
55:57
The Urchin initiator comprised a concentric beryllium
56:00
sphere coated with polonium -210, releasing neutrons
56:04
upon shockwave compression. Igor Kurchatov received
56:08
strict orders from Lavrentiy Beria to duplicate
56:11
the U .S. Fat Man design exactly to eliminate
56:13
failure risks. The Hanford B -reactor produced
56:17
plutonium -239 via neutron irradiation of natural
56:21
uranium -238 fuel elements. Klaus Fuchs passed
56:26
detailed calculations on gaseous diffusion barrier
56:29
pore sizes used at Oak Ridge K -25. David Greenglass's
56:34
sketches of the lens molds were turned on precision
56:37
lathes inside the Los Alamos Theta Site machine
56:40
shop. The Semipalatinsk test site in Kazakhstan
56:44
served as the primary nuclear testing ground
56:46
for the Soviet Union. U .S. Air Force WB -29
56:51
weather reconnaissance aircraft detected airborne
56:53
radioactive debris from RDS -1 over the North
56:57
Pacific on September 3, 1949. President Harry
57:01
S. Truman announced the Soviet atomic detonation
57:05
to the American public on September 23, 1949.
57:09
ending America's nuclear monopoly. The Soviet
57:12
RDS -1 atomic bomb was codenamed Joe -1 by U
57:16
.S. intelligence agencies following its detection.
57:19
The Baratol slow explosive component burned at
57:23
a detonation velocity of 2 ,800 meters per second.
57:27
Composition B fast explosive burned at a detonation
57:30
velocity of 7 ,800 meters per second. The Fat
57:34
Man plutonium core was alloyed with 3 molar percent
57:38
gallium to stabilize the delta -phase crystal
57:40
structure. The Urchin initiator was positioned
57:44
at the exact geometric center of the delta -phase
57:46
plutonium sphere. Igor Kurchatov's atomic design
57:51
team operated inside the secret research facility
57:53
at Arzamas, 16. The RDS -1 atomic bomb core contained
57:59
6 kilograms of weapons -grade plutonium. 239.
58:04
Soviet atomic scientist Yuli Koretin supervised
58:07
the mechanical assembly of the RDS -1 explosive
58:11
lens core. The FBI investigation of the Rosenberg
58:15
atomic espionage ring relied on sophisticated
58:18
Cold War counter -espionage tradecraft and physical
58:21
surveillance methodologies. Primary FBI Operational
58:26
Methods FBI Case Adam established new procedural
58:30
standards for managing complex multi -jurisdictional
58:33
espionage investigations. FBI New York Field
58:37
Office located at 201 East 69th Street managed
58:41
over 200 field agents assigned to Case Adam.
58:44
Bollard teams utilized three -car leapfrog tracking
58:48
techniques to avoid detection by security -conscious
58:51
Soviet assets. FBI trash covers recovered discarded
58:55
draft letters and financial receipts from the
58:58
pit machine products waste bins. Telephone wiretaps
59:02
recorded conversations between Julius Rosenberg
59:05
and fellow CCNY alumni network members. FBI handwriting
59:10
experts verified that signatures on hotel registries
59:13
in Santa Fe matched Harry Gold's handwriting
59:15
samples. FBI photographic surveillance units
59:19
operated concealed 35mm cameras inside rented
59:23
delivery vans parked near Knickerbocker Village.
59:26
FBI Special Agent Raymond McCoy coordinated physical
59:30
evidence logging for all exhibits introduced
59:32
at Foley Square. The FBI fingerprint laboratory
59:36
in Washington processed over 50 ,000 latent prints
59:40
from Los Alamos document archives. FBI laboratory
59:44
technicians developed specialized chemical processing
59:47
reagents for restoring erased pencil notes on
59:50
exfiltrated blueprints. FBI surveillance agents
59:54
logged over 5 ,000 hours of physical tracking
59:57
targeting pit machine products. FBI laboratory
1:00:01
technicians utilized UV light fluorescence inspection
1:00:04
to reveal invisible ink writing on seized notepads.
1:00:08
FBI document examiners used electrostatic detection
1:00:12
devices to recover indented writing impressions
1:00:14
on yellow legal pads. FBI Special Agent Robert
1:00:19
Lamphere established dedicated cross -indexing
1:00:21
procedures linking Venona codenames with field
1:00:24
intelligence reports. FBI surveillance teams
1:00:28
installed hidden motion picture camera positions
1:00:30
overlooking the main entrance of PIP machine
1:00:33
products. FBI accounting analysts examined over
1:00:37
10 ,000 cancelled bank checks associated with
1:00:40
the Pitt Machine Products Partnership. FBI technical
1:00:43
specialists installed covert microphone taps
1:00:46
inside the public telephone booths near Knickerbocker
1:00:49
Village. FBI field agents conducted discrete
1:00:53
background interviews with over 80 former CCNY
1:00:56
engineering classmates. The trial and execution
1:01:00
of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg left an enduring
1:01:02
mark on American constitutional law, prosecutorial
1:01:06
ethics, and civil liberties. Key legal issues
1:01:10
raised The Rosenberg case remains a foundational
1:01:13
case study in law schools worldwide regarding
1:01:16
the delicate balance between national security
1:01:19
imperatives and constitutional due process. The
1:01:23
American Bar Association revised judicial ethics
1:01:25
canons following revelations of the Kohn -Kaufman
1:01:28
ex parte communications. The Freedom of Information
1:01:32
Act of 1966 served as the primary legal mechanism
1:01:36
enabling the declassification of Rosenberg case
1:01:38
files. The federal rules of criminal procedure
1:01:42
were amended to institute stricter controls over
1:01:45
capital sentencing procedures in federal courts.
1:01:48
The Rosenberg case prompted widespread legal
1:01:51
debate regarding the scope of conspiracy charges
1:01:53
under the 1917 Espionage Act. Constitutional
1:01:58
scholar Alexander Bickel described the Rosenberg
1:02:00
trial as a sobering warning against wartime judicial
1:02:03
excess. The National Institute of Military Justice
1:02:07
continues to analyze the Rosenberg trial as a
1:02:10
classic example of Cold War evidentiary stress.
1:02:14
The Supreme Court's emergency summer session
1:02:17
in June 1953 remains a landmark precedent regarding
1:02:20
the limits of stay -of -execution authority.
1:02:23
The ABA Commission on Judicial Conduct cited
1:02:27
the Kaufman -Cohn ex -part telephone calls as
1:02:29
a classic violation of judicial impartiality.
1:02:32
The Rosenberg case prompted Congress to enact
1:02:35
enhanced statutory protections for grand jury
1:02:38
witnesses in federal trials. Law school trial
1:02:42
advocacy programs across the United States analyze
1:02:45
Emanuel Block's cross -examination of David Greenglass
1:02:48
as a case study in defense tactics. The Supreme
1:02:52
Court's decision vacating Justice Douglas' stay
1:02:55
was published in the United States Reports under
1:02:57
Vol. 346. Legal scholar Walter Nelsestuin authored
1:03:02
a comprehensive analysis of prosecutorial leverage
1:03:05
tactics in the Rosenberg trial. The Federal Judicial
1:03:09
Center included the Rosenberg trial in its official
1:03:12
historical case series on Cold War trials. The
1:03:16
Rosenberg case inspired extensive legal academic
1:03:18
literature on the application of the Fifth Amendment
1:03:21
during national security crises. The New York
1:03:25
State Bar Association conducted an independent
1:03:27
historical inquiry into prosecutorial conduct
1:03:30
during the trial. The NKVD -KGB documentation
1:03:35
declassified under Project Venona provides a
1:03:38
complete operational registry of the Rosenberg
1:03:40
espionage ring. Operational Codenames Registry
1:03:44
The KGB Foreign Directorate classified the liberal
1:03:48
ring as its most successful industrial intelligence
1:03:51
network operating in the United States. KGB first
1:03:55
chief directorate files cataloged over 25 ,000
1:03:59
microfilmed pages provided by the liberal network
1:04:01
between 1942 and 1948. Alexander Feklasov was
1:04:07
awarded the Order of the Red Banner for his direction
1:04:09
of the liberal espionage ring in New York. KGB
1:04:13
headquarters in Moscow maintained a duplicate
1:04:16
microarchive of all Rosenberg ring technical
1:04:18
exfiltrations inside underground vaults at Yasenevo.
1:04:23
The Soviet Intelligence Directorate designated
1:04:25
Julius Rosenberg as an exemplary ideological
1:04:28
volunteer who refused financial bonuses. KGB
1:04:32
General Pavel Sudoplatov confirmed in his 1994
1:04:35
memoir Special Tasks that atomic leaks from Fuchs
1:04:39
and Greenglass were vital to Soviet bomb development.
1:04:42
The KGB first chief directorate master files
1:04:46
cataloged over 40 separate defense projects compromised
1:04:49
by the liberal network. KGB London station chief
1:04:53
Anatoly Gorsky praised Klaus Fuchs as the most
1:04:56
valuable single atomic asset in Soviet history.
1:05:00
KGB first chief directorate analysts created
1:05:03
dedicated technical cross -index files linking
1:05:05
liberals' radar exfiltrations with Soviet air
1:05:08
defense artillery design plans. The KGB museum
1:05:12
in Moscow features a permanent exhibition honoring
1:05:15
Alexander Feklasov and his management of the
1:05:18
New York Intelligence Network. The Soviet Intelligence
1:05:22
Directorate awarded Anatoly Yatskov the Order
1:05:24
of the Red Star for managing courier operations
1:05:27
in New Mexico. KGB archive files in Moscow cataloged
1:05:32
32 separate microfilms passed by Julius Rosenberg
1:05:36
during 1944. KGB first chief directorate officers
1:05:41
designated the VT proximity fuse exfiltration
1:05:44
as a breakthrough achievement in technical intelligence
1:05:46
collection. Alexander Feklasov's operational
1:05:50
reports commended Julius Rosenberg's extraordinary
1:05:53
personal discipline under intense pressure. The
1:05:57
atomic espionage exposed in the Rosenberg case
1:05:59
profoundly reshaped U .S. national security strategy,
1:06:03
foreign policy, and internal politics. Geopolitical
1:06:07
and Strategic Consequences The legacy of the
1:06:11
Rosenberg stands as a powerful testament to the
1:06:14
terrifying speed and global stakes of Cold War
1:06:17
espionage. President Harry S. Truman authorized
1:06:20
crash development of the hydrogen bomb on January
1:06:23
31, 1950, directly responding to the Fuchs confession.
1:06:29
Senator Joseph Raymond McCarthy exploited public
1:06:32
shock over the Rosenberg arrests to launch Senate
1:06:35
investigations into State Department subversion.
1:06:38
The Ivy Mike thermonuclear test on November 1,
1:06:42
1952, at Inuitak Atoll detonated the world's
1:06:45
first full -scale hydrogen device with a yield
1:06:48
of 10 .4 megatons. The Soviet Union detonated
1:06:53
its first thermonuclear device on August 12,
1:06:55
1953, at Semipalatinsk. The National Security
1:07:00
Act of 1947 was amended in 1949 and 1952 to strengthen
1:07:06
Central Intelligence coordination against Soviet
1:07:08
espionage. The United States Atomic Energy Commission
1:07:13
established stringent Q clearance vetting procedures
1:07:15
following the Rosenberg trial. The U .S. Air
1:07:19
Force established Strategic Air Command round
1:07:21
-the -clock nuclear alert patrols following the
1:07:24
Soviet atomic test. The U .S. Department of Defense
1:07:28
instituted mandatory security re -clearance audits
1:07:31
for over 2 million defense industry employees
1:07:33
in 1954. The U .S. House Un -American Activities
1:07:38
Committee expanded its public hearings investigating
1:07:40
communist influences inside American cultural
1:07:43
institutions. The U .S. Atomic Energy Commission
1:07:47
created the Central Security Index tracking all
1:07:50
personnel granted top -secret nuclear clearances.
1:07:54
The Rosenberg case prompted the U .S. Department
1:07:56
of State to revoke passports for individuals
1:07:59
suspected of subversive foreign travel. The U
1:08:03
.S. Department of Justice created the Internal
1:08:05
Security Division in 1954 to supervise anti -subversive
1:08:09
prosecutions nationwide. The Central Intelligence
1:08:13
Agency expanded its counterintelligence staff
1:08:15
under James Jesus Engleton to monitor domestic
1:08:18
subversion threats. At 12 p .m. on June 22, 1953,
1:08:24
case file number 024 was officially closed and
1:08:28
archived at FBI headquarters, DOJ Records, and
1:08:31
the National Archives at College Park, Maryland.
1:08:34
Final Operational Metrics This concludes declassified
1:08:39
file number 0024 of the Shadow Dossier, the Rosenbergs
1:08:44
and Atomic Espionage, completing another historic
1:08:46
operational file of Arc 1. Cold War Iron Curtain
1:08:50
and Double Agents. What dangerous secrets await
1:08:53
in the next declassified file? Find out in Episode
1:08:57
25, The Petrov Affair and Canberran Defection.
1:09:02
If you want early access to upcoming files, uncensored
1:09:05
intel briefings, and bonus dossiers, join our
1:09:09
Patreon network at patreon .com slash stories
1:09:12
by Mia. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
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RSS .com, and YouTube so you never miss an official
1:09:20
declassification. This is the Shadow Dossier.
1:09:24
Thank you for listening.