Posted by
Always To The Right on Wednesday, September 17, 2008 4:02:28 PM
The case of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg has for decades served as a
cautionary tale told by the Left about Communist hysteria. Executed as
Soviet spies, the popular mythology paints the pair as merely ardent
liberals unfairly framed and prosecuted by a paranoid American
establishment. Their family and friends have maintained this position
even after the release of the Venona messages made it clear that Julius, at least, operated as a Soviet spy.
The Meeropols have a better case with their mother, although not to
dispute her own work as a Soviet spy. Ronald Radosh notes that
grand-jury testimony unsealed last week shows strong indications that
the testimony of Ruth Greenglass — that Ethel had typed the messages
Julius sent to his Soviet handlers — was likely concocted. That had
been suspected for decades, and represents a black mark on the
prosecutors that handled the case. The Venona messages indicate that
Ethel knew about her husband’s work, but apparently do not indicate how
much she participated in it.
(An aside: Some Hollywood “historians” make McCarthy the villain not
just of his jeremiads against the State Department and the Army, but
also against Hollywood. That’s not accurate. The effort to root out
Communist “sympathizers” in the entertainment industry came from the
House Un-American Activities Committee, or HUAC. Senator McCarthy never sat on this committee, nor did the committee impose the “blacklist”; that came from studio executives, under tremendous political pressure to clean out Communists.)
It’s time for all the myths to end. The Soviets presented a grave
danger to this nation, and the Rosenbergs were a large part of their
assault on America. Their continued enshrinement as martyrs to free
political thought insults both history and the intelligence of this
nation.
Case closed: The Rosenbergs were spies