Robert Meeropol, the youngest son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, came to Tufts last night to briefly discuss his parents' infamous 1950s trial and discuss the parallels between the McCarthy era and the present.
In the summer of 1950, when intense anti-communist suspicions gripped the nation, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, two Jewish communists, were arrested and later executed under charges of conspiracy to commit espionage, marking one of the most controversial trials in our nation's history.
They were convicted on March 29, 1951, and executed on April 5 of the same year.
"My brother and I are the only kids in U.S. history to have both parents executed," Meeropol said. "My parents' case [was] not a murder case. It's not a treason case. It's not even an espionage case. My parents were tried and convicted of conspiracy."
The trial helped fuel the anti-communist fervor of then-Senator Joseph McCarthy, who aggressively persecuted communists and communist sympathizers in the U.S. government and society from 1950 to 1954.
Meeropol opened his talk by briefly describing the timeline of events that led up to his parents' execution, noting that they were arrested shortly after the beginning of the Korean War and executed shortly before its end.
According to Meeropol, the Rosenbergs were denied nine requests for appeal and denied clemency from both Presidents Truman and Eisenhower.
"Because they were charged for conspiracy, the court did not have to prove anything; no tangible proof was required to convict them," he said to the crowd. "All they needed was oral testimony, and that's all they got."
In the years since their execution, Meeropol's parents have been considered by many as scapegoats of the climate of anti-communism. Remembered for his aggressive techniques, often called "witch hunts," McCarthy is associated with the erosion of civil liberties.
In 2003, David Greenglass, brother of Ethel Rosenberg, admitted on the television show "60 Minutes" that the testimony he gave in his sister's trial was false. During the interview he also confessed that he was pressured by government officials to lie so that in return, he and his wife would not be indicted for a similar crime.
Focusing on the injustice of the false testimony, Meeropol connected the events of the 1950's to today's current political landscape. "Today we are experiencing the greatest risk to democracy since the McCarthy era," he said.
In his analysis, Meeropol cited the Patriot Act and noted the hundreds of prisoners held against international conventions in Guantánamo Bay and restrictions on certain civil liberties.
"Habeas Corpus. The Great Writ. That right has been taken away by the Patriot Act, which confers vast new powers for the president and the government," said Meeropol, who remarked that he has read most of the 342-page law.
"It's a sure cure for insomnia," he said. "Although some of the wording is rather alarming."
Throughout the lecture Meeropol took a strong stance against the Bush administration.
"What the president and the government are trying to do is place themselves above the law," he said. "Since Sept. 11, Bush has said, 'It's a new set of rules.' What he doesn't say is 'I get to make the new rules.' That is the stance they're taking."
He warned the audience of sacrificing freedom for security. "Don't fall for the freedom versus security trap," he said. "We will end up living in fear of our own security forces."
"My life's challenge is finding something positive and meaningful in my parents' death," he said of his parent's historic trial. "Our country faces the same thing today in Sept. 11, and I think that's the atmosphere we should bring to the problem."
Meeropol encouraged the audience to discuss problems, because an exchange can bring about a solution, he said.
"Just talk to people. Don't yell at them or bang them over the head, just talk," he said. "It doesn't take a lot of action from a single person, but rather a lot of people doing little things can make a big difference."
The lecture ended with the fervent applause from his audience of almost 100 students and Rosenberg Fund for Children contributors.
Laura Kaplan, a freshman who attended the lecture, said that she thought Meeropol drew the parallels between the McCarthy Era and the present very effectively.
"It's hard, as an 18-year-old, to understand the political climate of the 50s and it made me look at our present climate differently."
Daniel Mencher, a senior majoring in Spanish and an active member of the Tufts Republicans, said that although he felt the lecture was moving and that Meeropol himself appeared intelligent and congenial, "he did not seem particularly honest as far as discussing his parents' trial."
Chelsea Toder, the organizer and coordinator of the event, invited Meeropol to Tufts after learning about the Rosenbergs' trial in professor Joseph Litvak's class in the English Department. The course, "Un-American Activities: Popular Culture and the Left," looks at literature concerning the McCarthy era.
"I'm happy with the outcome," Toder said after being greeted and thanked by several audience members. "I'm fascinated with his personal story... I don't mean to de-humanize him, but it's as if standing there in front of you is a piece of history."
Meeropol is currently an attorney of the National Lawyer's Guild, and founder of the Rosenberg Fund for Children. The event was sponsored by the drama, english, history, judaic studies, and political science departments.
