On this day in 1951, just one week after Ethel and Julius Rosenberg's conviction, Judge Irving Kaufman issued the death sentence.
Anne Sebba writes in her biography, "Ethel Rosenberg: An American Tragedy" that Kaufman consulted the prosecution and the U.S. government before their sentencing. While FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover argued against the death penalty, arguing for it was Roy Cohn, a prosecutor on the Rosenberg Case who later became a mentor and fixer to a young Donald Trump.
In his sentencing speech, Judge Kaufman claimed the Rosenbergs put "into the hands of the Russians the A-bomb" (they did not), and that he considered it a "crime worse than murder." He also falsely blamed the Rosenbergs for the Korean War. Sebba writes that he resorted "to fear-inducing apocalyptic language, making sure he set their crime as firmly as possible in the context of the contemporary fear of the Soviet threat."
The execution of the Rosenbergs was a terrible injustice in our country's history. Today, too many activists continue to face extreme persecution and scapegoating due to their organizing for a more just world. In their memory, the Rosenberg Fund for Children stands in solidarity, supporting the children of resistance—targeted youth activists and the kids of activists facing repression for their organizing.