Oct 7, 2014 - In 1951, the Cold War was at a fever pitch. War raged in Korea. The iron curtain had fallen across Europe. And in the Nevada desert, the U.S. military held training exercises for nuclear war by setting off actual nuclear explosions.
And in New York, a remarkable story was playing out in a courtroom: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of spying, for conspiring to pass atomic bomb secrets to the Soviet Union, for which they were executed by electric chair. It was the highest profile case of the so-called “Red Scare,” when the hunt for communist infiltrators drove the country to a frenzy.
Today, the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University is unveiling a new exhibit featuring a collection of documents from the case, including more than 500 letters the Rosenbergs wrote from prison. Listen to the full story including an interview with RFC founder and Rosenberg son, Robert Meeropol, at the link above.