Summary
After the FBI learned that classified documents about research and development regarding the atomic bomb were being handed over to foreign officials, they opened an investigation. This investigation, known as the "Atom Spy Case" or "Rosenberg Case," led them to a British scientist named Emil Julius Klaus Fuchs. The FBI advised the British authorities about Fuchs' relationship with the USSR and intelligence officials arrested him on February 2, 1950. Fuchs admitted that he was involved with the Russians in relation to the atomic bomb. He had an American contact who was also involved in the espionage, but didn’t know who the American was. The FBI conducted a further investigation into the matter, leading them to a chemist named Harry Gold (who also confessed to espionage). Later on, the investigation led to another man by the name of David Greenglass. David was an US Army enlist and a Russian agent.
Harry Gold had obtained espionage material from Greenglass, which contained instructions from a man known as "John." This man was later identified as Anatoli Yakovlev. Anatoli was a former Soviet vice-consul in New York and played a key role in handing over American intelligence to the Soviet Union.
The authorities began to interrogate David Greenglass and with his wife, Ruth. The couple admitted they were indeed part of the espionage conspiracy. Additionally, they revealed to have received instructions from Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Julius was an engineer for the US Army Signal Corps and brother-in-law of David, who was his wife's sister. The Rosenberg's were arrested on June 17, 1950 for conspiracy to espionage.
David Greenglass was sentenced to ten years in prison for his involvement as an atomic spy for the Soviet Union. During the trial, the Rosenbergs claimed that they were innocent of conspiracy to espionage. The trial garnered international intention and heightened Americans' fear of communism. On April 5, 1951, the judge sentenced Julius and Ethel Rosenberg to death. The couple was taken to Sing Sing prison, where they would await their execution. On June 19, 1953, the Rosenbergs were executed at the Sing Sing prison. David Greenglass was later released on November 16, 1960, serving nine and a half years in prison. Despite his release, he had to check in with a parole officer regularly until 1965. The Atomic Spy case continues to gain attention in the modern era from legal scholars and government officials, partly due to newly released evidence suggesting the Rosenbergs were innocent. On February 11, 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower addressed the nation, denying the couple clemency and asserting that they deserved no mercy. He stated that the Rosenbergs' work with the Soviet Union could very well have costed thousands of innocent lives, betraying the American ideal of freedom that soldiers were fighting for in the Korean War. Moreover, he argued that thousands of innocent civilians' lives being lost by a dangerous weapon is much more serious than the Rosenbergs being executed for their crimes.