Sub-Series D: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Case, 1952-1976; undated, bulk: 1952-1954

Julius Rosenberg (1918-1953) and Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg (1915-1953) were convicted of espionage in 1951 and executed in 1953. They were accused of transmitting information about nuclear weapon design to the Soviet Union. The Rosenbergs maintained their innocence, and a grassroots campaign for clemency for the Rosenbergs arose after their sentencing. Popular appeals for clemency in the Rosenbergs case cited anti-Semitism and anti-Communist sentiment within the United States as factors in the outcome of the case. Prominent figures such as Albert Einstein and Jean-Paul Sartre spoke out publicly against the death sentence in the Rosenberg case. The couple were executed on June 19, 1953, but outcry persisted. Morton Sobell (b. 1917) was also convicted of espionage alongside the Rosenbergs. Sobell was sentenced to 30 years in prison but served less than 18.

After the dissolution of the USSR, Soviet documents newly available in the West proved that the Rosenbergs had indeed been Soviet spies, shedding new light on the decades-long historical debate. In 2008, Sobell claimed in an interview with the New York Times that both he and Julius Rosenberg engaged in espionage for the USSR, reversing decades of maintaining his innocence.