The RFC's spring newsletter is here! This issue is especially packed with news and updates as June 19th will mark 70 years since the Rosenbergs' executions. The RFC will be commemorating the anniversary with a virtual program, "The Rosenberg Case 70 Years Later: Fighting Fascism Then and Now" - and tickets are available now.

In our newsletter, you can also read an update from the RFC's Founder, Robert Meeropol, about the recent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) filing with the NSA for materials concerning Ethel Rosenberg, the latest news about the RFC's granting, and more.

Book Riot issued a list of 8 contemporary Jewish fiction books, and among them is "Ethel's Song: Ethel Rosenberg's Life in Poems," a collection written for teenaged readers by Barbara Krasner. (You can check out the other recommended reading from the list here: https://bookriot.com/jewish-contemporary-fiction-books/)

On this day, February 23, 1868, civil rights activist, author and scholar W. E. B. Du Bois was born.

Du Bois was a public supporter of the effort to save Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. He spoke at the "Save the Rosenbergs Rally" (1952) in NYC and read a prayer at their funeral after efforts to stop the execution proved unsuccessful.

The young sons of the Rosenbergs, Robert and Michael, met their soon-to-be adoptive parents, Abel and Anne Meeropol, for the first time at a holiday party thrown by the Du Bois’s in their Brooklyn brownstone in December of 1953.

On this day, we mark 70 years since President Eisenhower denied Ethel and Julius Rosenberg's first bid for executive clemency on Feb 11th, 1953. It was one of the first decisions Eisenhower faced in his time as president after the outgoing President Truman declined to respond before leaving office.

This Thurs. Jan 26th, 2023 at 12pm (Central), the Eisenhower Presidential Library & Museum will host a hybrid event, "President Eisenhower’s Decision Concerning the Execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg."
Joining as the featured guest speaker will be Dr. Lori Clune, author of "Executing the Rosenbergs: Death and Diplomacy in a Cold War World" and associate Professor of History at California State University, Fresno.

Rosenberg Mention of the Day: As Meryl Streep joins the cast of the "Only Murders in the Building" tv series, this article reminds readers that she also once played Ethel Rosenberg in "Angels in America" - and won an Emmy for her performance.

Learn more here: https://www.showbiz411.com/2023/01/17/3-time-oscar-winner-meryl-streep-…

#RosenbergMOTD

Today's #RosenbergMOTD comes from the Silicon Valley Jewish Film Fest. The all-virtual festival, running from Oct 23rd through Nov 6th, will feature a wide variety of films, including the documentary "Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn" by Ivy Meeropol, granddaughter of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg.

On this day in 2015, in a ceremony on the steps of City Hall, NYC Council members gathered, with three generations of Ethel Rosenberg's descendants present, to issue a stunning proclamation in Ethel's honor, stating in part, "the government wrongfully executed Ethel Rosenberg; now therefore BE IT KNOWN: That we, the undersigned Members of the New York City Council, honor the life and memory of Ethel Rosenberg in observance of the 100th anniversary of her birth."

New #RosenbergMOTD: Monadnock Ledger-Transcript covers RFC Founder Robert Meeropol's July 22nd talk for the 2022 Amos Fortune Forum in Jaffrey, NH.

As the younger son of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, Robert discussed the case for his mother's innocence and the effort to Exonerate Ethel, citing evidence from formerly classified documents that became available in the decades since the Rosenbergs' executions, clearly demonstrating the flimsiness of the U.S. government's case against her.

Today’s #RosenbergMOTD features the inclusion of ETHEL ROSENBERG: An American Tragedy, by Anne Sebba. (St. Martin’s Griffin, 336 pp., $18.99) in the NYTimes’ “New in Paperback” feature. According to the article, “Sebba’s account is the first biography in 30 years to focus individually on Ethel Rosenberg, who was famously executed along with her husband, Julius...in June 1953.”