Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed at Sing Sing on 19 June 1953, after a 1951 conviction for conspiring to pass atomic information to the Soviet Union. They were the first American civilians executed for conspiracy to commit espionage in peacetime. Eisenhower refused clemency in February 1953. Julius's role is the better supported of the two. Later-released files point to him running a network. Ethel's role is contested. The trial case against her leaned heavily on her brother David Greenglass, who later said he had lied to protect his wife. The grand jury transcript released in 2015 does not implicate her as his trial testimony did. Historians still disagree about how much she knew, and the sources here are secondary, so check the transcripts before quoting either side.
