To the Editor:
Michael and Robert Meeropol, the sons of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, argue that the grand jury testimony of their uncle David Greenglass proves that their mother “was not a spy” (“Exonerate Ethel Rosenberg,” Op-Ed, Aug. 10).
Declassified Soviet intelligence documents undermine their argument. They show that Ethel helped Julius and David’s wife, Ruth, recruit David into their Soviet network. They also reveal that Ethel was present at meetings with Soviet intelligence officers and American spies for the Soviet Union, and that she actively participated in the crime for which they were convicted, conspiracy to commit espionage.
For decades the Meeropol brothers branded David Greenglass a liar. Now they take one sentence out of context and offer it as the complete truth, writing that it was Ethel who urged “caution” when Ruth said they should recruit her brother.
Actually, the May 12, 1944, K.G.B. document says that when Julius noted that they all had to remain silent, “Ethel here interposed to stress the need for utmost care and caution in informing David of the work in which Julius was engaged,” and continued to urge that they tell David “that for his own safety all other political discussion and activity on his part should be subdued.”
Rather than show reluctance on Ethel’s part, she was urging caution so that their espionage would go undetected.
After being arrested, David Greenglass desperately tried to protect his sister, so it is not surprising that he told the grand jury in August 1950 that she was not present when he gave Julius a sketch of the cross-section of the bomb.
The Rosenbergs should not have been executed, but there can be no doubt that they were guilty as charged.
RONALD RADOSH
STEVEN T. USDIN
Silver Spring, Md.
The writers are, respectively, co-author of “The Rosenberg File” and the author of “Engineering Communism: How Two Americans Spied for Stalin and Founded the Soviet Silicon Valley.”
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