Identify the primary subjects of FBI investigation on espionage charges. Explain the Venona project, including how it worked and what purpose it served. Articulate the reasons why the Rosenbergs were convicted of espionage. Lesson Plan Details Background. Analyzing primary sources If your students lack experience in dealing with primary sources, you might use one or more preliminary exercises to help them develop these skills.
Activity 1. As the students read, they should answer the following questions, available as a worksheet on page 5 of the Text Document : What is the purpose of this document? What is Venona? What are the main limitations on Venona as a source of information about Soviet espionage?
What advantage might there be in using the Venona information as evidence to prosecute suspected spies? What legal problems might be involved in using Venona information as trial evidence? Why, according to the author of the memo, might it be unwise politically to try to use Venona information as trial evidence? How does the author think the Soviets would react if the Venona transcripts became public? An asterisk has been placed next to those that are of particular importance, since the names of these individuals will come up in the next activity on the Rosenberg Trial, as well as in subsequent lessons in this unit: Judith Coplon page 6 Emil Julius Klaus Fuchs page 7 Alger Hiss page 8 Harry Dexter White pages Harry Gold page 11 David Greenglass page 12 After reading all these materials students will complete a worksheet, found on page 13 of the Text Document , with the following questions.
What is the real name of your subject? By what code names was your subject also known? What evidence exists that your subject was engaged in espionage against the United States? Over what period of time did this alleged espionage take place? Who, if anyone, was also involved in your subject's alleged espionage activities? What actions, if any, did the U. Activity 2. The Rosenberg Trial The Venona transcripts would have no doubt been a bombshell had they been released at the time; however, they were not, and they therefore played no role in the most headline-grabbing trial of The witnesses, and their relevant reading assignments, are as follows: Max Elitcher excerpts available on pages of the Text Document Biographical Sketch David Greenglass pages Biographical Sketch Ruth Greenglass pages Biographical Sketch Harry Gold pages Biographical Sketch Elizabeth Bentley pages Biographical Sketch Julius Rosenberg pages Biographical Sketch Ethel Rosenberg pages Biographical Sketch After the witnesses have given their testimony, have two additional students portray the lawyers for the defense and the prosecution.
Each student should read one of the final statements below along with a biographical sketch again, this might be assigned as homework , then make a five-minute presentation based on what they have read: Emanuel Bloch, for the defense excerpts available on pages of the Text Document Biographical Sketch Irving Saypol, for the prosecution pages Biographical Sketch The remaining students will represent the jury in this reenactment.
After completing this lesson, students should be able to write brief paragraph essays answering the following questions: What was Venona, and how was it used to identify Soviet spies in America? Do you think this was a wise decision? Why were the Rosenbergs convicted of espionage? Perl contributed to the development of the first jet fighter in the U. The engineers worked at top electronic firms, and they passed on confidential and useful information to the Soviet Union.
Greenglass passed information to Julius, including information about the high explosive lenses being developed at Los Alamos for the implosion bomb. He also worked with Klaus Fuchs , a physicist at Los Alamos and Soviet spy, to pass on atomic research secrets. In , the U.
Decrypted cables revealed this information through the Venona project. In February , Fuchs was arrested in the United Kingdom.
His arrest began a chain of investigations, which ultimately led to the arrest of Julius and Ethel. Fuchs was charged with violating the Official Secrets Act, and he confessed to spying for the Soviet Union. When questioned, Greenglass admitted to spying. He also named Julius and Ethel Rosenberg as contacts and denied that his wife, Ruth Greenglass, was involved with any espionage activities.
The trial lasted for nearly one month. They were charged with conspiracy and providing atomic secrets to the USSR. They could not be charged for treason since the U. They also defended Sobell , who was put on trial with the Rosenbergs. Judge Irving R. Kaufman presided over the trial. He opened the trial by stating : "The evidence will show that the loyalty and alliance of the Rosenbergs and Sobell were not to our country, but that it was to Communism.
Communism in this country and Communism throughout the world. Sobell and Julius Rosenberg, classmates together in college, dedicated themselves to the cause of Communism. This love of Communism and the Soviet Union soon led them into a Soviet espionage ring.
During the trial, both Ethel and Julius pleaded the Fifth Amendment when asked repeated questions related to espionage, and when questioned about being members of the Communist Party. Not answering questions proved to be problematic for the Rosenbergs because during the era of McCarthyism , many believed that the refusal to answer questions was an admission of guilt and involvement with the Communist Party.
Ethel and Julius denied all allegations of espionage, and refused to provide any names. Since the Rosenbergs were being charged with conspiracy, no tangible evidence was required. Greenglass secretly testified before a grand jury in August In this testimony he named Julius and claimed he was recruited to join the Soviet spy ring by him.
He stated that Julius asked him to help provide secrets about atomic weapons so that Julius could pass on the information to the USSR. He then claimed that he passed this information to Julius on a New York street corner, and that Ethel was not involved. This new testimony, now against Julius and Ethel, was part of a deal granted to the Greenglasses.
In exchange for this new testimony, Ruth was permitted to remain with their children and care for them. The Greenglasses now claimed that Julius, with help from Ethel, recruited David into the atomic spy ring in At this time, Greenglass worked at Los Alamos. For three years, cryptanalysts struggled to decipher Soviet trade traffic. The breakthrough came in , when it was discovered that some of one-time pad keys had been reused by the Soviets, which allowed decryption sometimes only partial of a small part of the traffic.
Collecting the cables was easy and decoding them proved to be the challenge. The Soviet cables proved to more difficult to read than Clarke had expected. As portions of the transcripts were decoded over the coming years, American officials were shocked by what they discovered. Over the next decade, the United States Army and the Federal Bureau of Investigation worked closely to try and determine the identities of Soviet spies referred to in decrypted cables by cryptonyms, or secret codenames.
The atomic secrets obtained allowed for the Soviet Union to develop atomic weapons sooner and cheaper than it otherwise would have. In April , the Venona code breakers discovered vital clues that helped lead to the discovery of the Cambridge Five spy ring in Great Britain. The Venona documents remained secret, and were only known and used by select government officials. The documents were declassified in The declassified documents also revealed that Julius Rosenberg led a Soviet spy ring.
The involvement of others in Soviet spy rings such as Theodore Hall and Russell McNutt was also revealed through the declassified documents. At a young age, Hall demonstrated considerable aptitude in mathematics and science. In , he graduated from Harvard at the age of 18, and was the youngest scientist to be recruited to work on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos. Hall eventually met with Sergey Kurnakov, a military writer for a Soviet paper, and and passed him a report on the scientists who worked at Los Alamos and the basic science behind the implosion bomb..
Hall was never convicted of, or even charged with, espionage. In , Hall admitted that he felt strongly that an American monopoly on nuclear weapons was perilous and that atomic information should be shared between countries. He died in In , the Great Depression caused Koval's family to relocate to the Soviet Union, where they joined a collective farm. In , he returned to New York City to command the G.
In , Koval was honorably discharged from the Army. In , he sailed for Europe, never to return. Many Americans, however, believed that the Rosenbergs had been dealt with justly. They agreed with President Dwight D. Eisenhower when he issued a statement declining to invoke executive clemency for the pair.
The execution of two human beings is a grave matter. But even graver is the thought of the millions of dead whose deaths may be directly attributable to what these spies have done. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! On June 19, , a long-term anti-poverty demonstration known as Resurrection City reaches its high-water mark. Chinese American Vincent Chin, 27, is beaten in the head with a baseball bat by two white autoworkers in Detroit on June 19, Chin died in a hospital four days later, on June During his bachelor party at a club on the night of June 19, Chin and three friends were In what is now known as Juneteenth, on June 19, , Union soldiers arrive in Galveston, Texas with news that the Civil War is over and slavery in the United States is abolished.
A mix of June and 19th, Juneteenth has become a day to commemorate the end of slavery in America.
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