Executing the Rosenbergs: Death and Diplomacy in a Cold War World

In 1950, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were arrested for allegedly passing information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union, an affair FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover labeled the "crime of the century." Their case became an international sensation, inspiring petitions, letters of support, newspaper editorials, and protests in countries around the world. Nevertheless, the Rosenbergs were executed after years of appeals, making them the only civilians ever put to death for conspiracy-related activities. Yet even after their executions, protests continued. The Rosenberg case quickly transformed into legend, while the media spotlight shifted to their two orphaned sons. In Executing the Rosenbergs, Lori Clune demonstrates that the Rosenberg case played a pivotal role in the world's perception of the United States. Based on newly discovered documents from the State Department, Clune narrates the widespread dissent against the Rosenberg decision in 80 cities and 48 countries. Even as the Truman and Eisenhower administrations attempted to turn the case into pro-democracy propaganda, U.S. allies and potential allies questioned whether the United States had the moral authority to win the Cold War. Meanwhile, the death of Stalin in 1953 also raised the stakes of the executions; without a clear hero and villain, the struggle between democracy and communism shifted into morally ambiguous terrain. Transcending questions of guilt or innocence, Clune weaves the case -and its aftermath -into the fabric of the Cold War, revealing its far-reaching global effects. An original approach to one of the most fascinating episodes in Cold War history, Executing the Rosenbergs broadens a quintessentially American story into a global one.

Table of Contents:
Preface Acknowledgments Introduction Ch 1: Truman Ch 2: Transition Ch 3: Eisenhower Ch 4: Execution Ch 5: Reverberations Conclusion Notes Abbreviations Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Lori Clune is Associate Professor of History at California State University, Fresno.

Review :
Executing the Rosenbergs is a highly readable, meticulously researched, and fascinating account of the case and execution of husband and wife Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were tried for espionage. Historian Lori Clune seeks particularly to highlight international reaction to the case and how the US government responded. Uncovering State Department documents from the National Archives, Clune is able to weave a fascinating story about global reaction to the case. For general readers not familiar with the case beyond the names and the accusations of atomic espionage, the book serves as a wonderful introduction not only to the Rosenbergs but also to the Cold War anti-communist hysteria during the Truman and Eisenhower administrations....The overall strength of this excellent book is the rich detail it provides on individuals and the episode in general. Highly recommended. Lori Clune has produced a massively-documented book...Clune's approach, in terms of showing how American diplomats and people in foreign countries responded to events, adds a new dimension to the story. Clune details the facts comprehensively with great care and sensitivity...[A] measured and engaged history of the case and its immediate context, correcting many of the errors of previous histories. Executing the Rosenbergs is a highly readable, meticulously researched, and fascinating account of the case and execution of husband and wife Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were tried for espionage...Clune is able to weave a fascinating story about global reaction to the case...This book will fascinate those interested in the specifics of the case...[T]he overall strength of this excellent book is the rich detail it provides on individuals and the episode in general...Highly recommended. Lori Clune...has pulled off the remarkable feat of shining important new light on an old story. Clune's views are deeply held, yet her treatment is never polemical or shrill. Although the Rosenberg library is voluminous, the latest addition, Executing the Rosenbergs , has an original perspective Itt focuses not on guilt or innocence but on the response of two American administrations to the worldwide outcry the case inspired. Lori Clune's gripping monograph shows how the United States attempted to 'spin' the Rosenberg case and the couples' executions in the Cold War propaganda campaign of the early 1950s, and failed. Clune's impeccable research not only exposes Washington's efforts at shaping overseas reactions and coverage of the Rosenbergs' fate; it also points to the contradictory response the case engendered within the government itself as officials struggled to downplay critical coverage abroad and defuse an international movement that grew to include nearly 50 countries whose citizens were passionately concerned about their draconian sentencing. Do we need another book on the Rosenbergs? We need this one Making thorough use of previously undiscovered State Department files, Lori Clune provides us with a long-overdue first study of the global reactions to the execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, one of the most notorious events of the Cold War era. In so doing, she makes a significant contribution not only to our understanding of the Rosenberg case but the Cold War more generally. And by showing the range and scope of responses over space and time, she convincingly demonstrates that the execution had far-reaching consequences. Balanced, yet provocative, Executing the Rosenbergs tells a compelling story about the global ramifications of one of the Cold War's most enduring controversies. Readers familiar with the tale of the Cold War's most famous atomic spies will learn much from the wealth of new insights and information Lori Clune brings to the table. Newcomers to the Rosenberg case will find in these pages a gripping, compelling, and accessible narrative It is not often that an academic book reads like a novel, yet that is precisely the case for Executing the Rosenbergs....Clune has especially succeeded at embedding the Rosenberg trial within the larger, worldwide drama of the Cold War."-Harold Ticktin, Jewish Currents Executing the Rosenbergs opens new lines of inquiry about the red scare and its transnational implications."-Robbie Lieberman, Journal of American History An excellent addition to the historiography of the early Cold War, and a fine teaching resource for college classrooms...[that] can be applied in many contexts. The book is fertile ground for students to learn how propaganda influences our assumptions about the nature of guilt and innocence. It is also a good tool for debate....All readers will like that Clune's narrative takes just 167 pages before endnotes, a brevity which is admirable in a discipline where historians...tend to overwhelm the reader with information. Yet Clune still manages the difficult task of writing a thrilling, yet substantive history, interweaving multiple narrative threads in a key chapter of the early Cold War."-Christopher Foss, The History Teacher Clune compels us to delve more deeply into the uneasy relationship between the sort of values that the United States claimed to stand for during the Cold War and the sort of actions that were all too often a result of the growing national security state."-Bevan Sewell, Passport