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

Excellent read by a distinguished author. Thank you.

Amazing! Well written and easy to read. A book for a scholar or an individual interested in history.

Rather than another re-litigation of the famous Rosenberg case, Lori Clune’s monograph looks at the famous trial’s impact on the international image of the US in the early days of the Cold War. Clune sees the entire incident as something of a self-inflicted black eye by US policy-makers in the propaganda struggle with the Soviet Union. The trial judge, the FBI, and the Truman and Eisenhower administrations initially viewed the death sentences pronounced on the couple as strong deterrents against future spying. But Clune argues the unusually harsh sentences – not the guilty verdicts – fueled a broadening of worldwide protests beyond typical Communists and anti-US elements. As vocal opposition developed among normally pro-US allies – including some allied governments and the Pope – some officials in the US government argued for Presidential commutation of the sentences. The idea of executing a mother of young children was particularly abhorrent to those protesting. Interestingly, Clune shows that as calls for mercy for Ethel Rosenberg grew, her image among government officials favoring execution gradually morphed from her being merely Julius’ assistant to a portrait of her as the devious, controlling force being their spy ring. As Clune notes, public support in the US for the executions remained strong in the context of the ongoing Korean War. Being seen as going soft on the Rosenbergs had domestic political costs. Clune believes the surprising strength of the international protests in the context of the Cold War battle for hearts and minds should have changed these calculations.

Interesting perspective. Who knew the world was watching?

I was not super familiar with the details of the Rosenberg case prior to reading this book. Like most Americans, I had learned that they were traitors who betrayed atomic secrets to the Soviets during the Cold War. The author did an exceptional job at showing the nuances of the case. Clune’s research is compelling. She did cite many examples of protests throughout the world, but it was not excessive. In fact, it was important evidence to support her thesis, since the book dealt with how the US was perceived by the rest of the world during the Cold War. The US claimed to occupy the moral high ground throughout the Cold War; however, the rest of the world viewed the executions as immoral. Lori Clune’s book was well written and extensively researched. I found it very readable and the citations refreshing.

Since the big reveal that Julius Rosenberg was indeed a Soviet spy there has been scant literature on the matter. I was eager for Clune's book as it promised to be a modern look at the famous couple. I've read a number of books on this case all either slanted towards innocence or guilt. Clune takes a curiously different path by blandly acknowledging Julius's guilt but then passes it off as some minor offense and even victimizes him and his wife at the hands of the evil US government. This book is a scant 160 pages with about equal that in citations but even so short there is surprising absence of substantial material. Most of the book seems to be prose style lists of "this country protested the execution" and "that special interest group in another country pleaded for clemency." She spends so much time prattling on about all the leftist groups and governments that pleaded for the saving of this obviously guilty couple yet she continuously harped on the US government being evil murderers. She even poses the claim that the groups protesting the execution were Communist organizations doing the Soviet's bidding and dismisses it as unimportant. I was so unmoved by this sloppy mess of hidden ideology that by the closing pages when Clune actually considers the facts of the matter I was completely drained. The author betrayed herself with her obviously slanted view of the case and her constant refusal to acknowledge the evidence against the Rosenbergs exposes her. This book is not a worthy addition to your history library.

If you're considering this book I would suggest you notice one thing in particular about the title, Executing the Rosenbergs: Death and Diplomacy in a Cold War World, namely that it is about executing the Rosenbergs and not convicting them. While Clune certainly points out facts that were either ignored, overlooked or unknown at trial that is not the focus of this book. It is about the harsh sentence, the national and international responses and the ways (and reasons) in which the US government dug in its heels and carried out the sentence. In other words, those who are making obvious in their "reviews" that they either didn't read the book or were unable to understand its nuances because they feel an inflated sense of indignation that the past is being analyzed and the US government, like any human organization, is less than perfect and sometimes acts in an inconsistent manner can and should be ignored as extremists putting forth outdated talking points. This book is not perfect and I found a couple of her arguments less persuasive than others but on the whole the book is very well researched, clearly argued (if one opens one's mind a bit) presents a viable framework within which to better understand both why the government chose, outside of the trial itself, to impose an extreme and unpopular sentence. The changes in tone and characterization in government communications shows the shifting world within which this trial and the fiasco around the executions took place. I would recommend this to anyone interested in the period of the cold war as well as anyone interested in how diplomacy, or the lack thereof, are every bit as important as any discovery of facts or guilt/innocence in a trial of this magnitude. Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.