News & Events
From the Executive Director
I recently received a letter from Jack Cohen-Joppa, the co-publisher of The Nuclear Resister (www.serve.com/nukeresister). This newsletter has been providing information about and support for imprisoned anti-nuclear and anti-war activists since 1980.
I ended my last post (Aug 25) by posing a question about why the Grand Jury investigating my parents’ case was so interested in Helene Elitcher’s recollection of the social lives of my parents and their friends: what did this have to do with stealing the secret of the atomic bomb?
On September 11th, 2008 my email inbox was flooded with files containing almost 1000 pages from the National Security Archive. This material was the long-awaited release of the testimony of 43 of the 46 witnesses subpoenaed by the Grand Jury that investigated my parents’ case.
I recently was contacted by Lori Styler who is working on a documentary film entitled Dreamers and Fighters, about the New York City teacher purges during the McCarthy period. I’d been part of a panel entitled “Children of the Blacklist” at a conference some years earlier commemorating the New York Teachers Union. Lori remembered my participation and asked if I would contribute a short statement to the website they are building to promote the film: www.DreamersandFighters.com.
Monday, September 4th, 1990 was the first day I spent as the Executive Director of the Rosenberg Fund for Children. As September 4th approaches each year, I find myself reflecting on one of the biggest turning points of my life.
At the time it seemed like a leap into the unknown. And it also felt like a terrifying responsibility. A small group of financial backers, a portion of whom were also friends had placed their faith in my ability to build a progressive public foundation that would provide for the educational and emotional needs of the children of targeted activists.