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    "localId": "12608524",
    "label": "Memorandum from James Bennett to Herbert Brownell with Report of Interview with Julius and Ethel Rosenberg",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Memorandum from James Bennett to Herbert Brownell with Report of Interview with Julius and Ethel Rosenberg",
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        {
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            "logicalDate": "1953-06-03",
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    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/eisenhower/dde-1026/580532/580532_001.pdf",
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    "ocrText": "June 5, 1953\nFILE\nMEMORANDUM FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL:\nJUN 5 1953\nBureau of Prisons\nRe: Report on Interview with Hosenbergs\nOn Tuesday, June 2, I interviewed Julius and Ethel Rosenberg\nin the death house at Sing Sing. I talked first with Julius in an\ninterview room which was made available to me by the Warden. Following\na short preliminary conversation about his health and the status of his\ncase, I told him that it was part of my official duty to arrange for any\nvisits he might care to request with Government officials familiar with\nthe details of his case. I told him that there seemed to be a feeling\non the part of some Government agencies that he was in possession of\ninformation which would be helpful in solving some as yet unanswered\nquestions. I stressed the importance of early disclosure of any such\ninformation he might have and giving Government agents an opportunity\nto check on whatever statement he might make in view of the fact that\nthe execution date was only two weeks away.\nI had scarcely made known the purpose of my meeting when Julius\nlaunched on a quite emotionally charged tirade to the effect that he and\nhis wife were the victims not only of a gross miscarriage of justice but\n& \"deal\" by the Government on the one hand and his brother and sister-in-\nlaw, David and Ruth Greenglass. He asserted that Attorney General McGrath\nwas the architect of the plot and had somehow influenced the selection of\nJudge Kaufman as the trial judge and was generally responsible for the\noutcome. He is very bitter also toward his sister-in-law, Ruth Greenglass,\nand lays great stress on the fact that she got off scot-free while his\nwife Ethel gets the death sentence.\nI questioned some of his statements and repeatedly told him\nthat he ought somehow to be able to disabuse those familiar with the case\nof the feeling he had failed to make a full disclosure and had not been\ncooperative. Each time he protested his innocence. He also claims that\nhe was convicted on the basis of perjured testimony and trickery on the\npart of the prosecutor. For instance, he laid considerable stress on the\nfact that his brother-in-law, David Greenglass, was supposed to have made\nthe drawings involved from memory. He says that it was impossible for &\nperson of as little education and experience and knowledge of engineering\nas his brother-in-law David to do this. He said this in the course of his\nrequest that he and his wife be given another opportunity to appear in\ncourt so that all of the facts could be brought out. He somehow apparently\nbelieves that if he could have another opportunity for public trial he\ncould vindicate himself.\nBRINDE\nSEAL\n-2-\nany\nThe third part of his conversation consisted of a denunciation\nof Judge Kaufman and the sentence he gave. How, he asked, could it be\npossible under any circumstances that a death sentence be meted out to\nhim and his wife in the face of the sentence of thirty years given to\nHarry Gold and fifteen years to David Greenglass, who were admittedly\narch-conspirators in an espionage plot. He contended that he was in no\nsense guilty of espionage and that the sentence was savage in the\nextreme.\nJulius lacked the detached calmness and self-assurance that\ncharacterized my former conversations with him. He no longer seems to\nhave the attitude of the martyr, which I felt marked his conversation\nthe last time I saw him. Notwithstending the fact that he told me several\ntimes that he understood I was not there to make any deal with him or put\nhim on the rack, as he phrased it, he nevertheless was quite belligerent,\nexcitable and made some statements that on questioning he was willing to\nmodify. He talked much of Fascist tactics used in his case and inferred\nthe sentence was not what one could expect of & great democracy, that he\nand his wife were of such small importance peoples abroad would never be\nable to understand our action in condemning them to death.\nI next went to the women's cellblock where I saw Mrs. Rosenberg.\nI followed about the same approach in telling her that the purpose of my\nvisit was to see how she was getting along and also to ascertain whether\nshe by any chance desired me to put her in touch with the proper Government\nagents so that she could have an opportunity to make any statement or give\nany information about her case that would be helpful to the Government in\nsolving some unanswered questions relating to the whole matter. Evidently\nshe and Julius had anticipated some such inquiry because her attitude and\nher statements were substantially the same as those of her husband, al-\nthough she wasn't quite as verbose or excited as he was. She said that\nobviously the Government could not prove whatever suspicions they had\nabout certain aspects of the case or we would not be turning to her for\ncooperation and that she had no intention of putting her finger on somebody\nelse or giving false or misleading information even though it might have the\neffect of staying her own execution. She said that if the Government\nwanted her testimony on any matter she would have to be brought into open\ncourt.\nRealizing that I wasn't getting anywhere, I asked the Warden to\nbring in Julius and to be present while I again repeated the purpose of\nmy presence in the institution and told him that I would appreciate it if\nhe would transmit promptly any message that either Julius or Ethel wished\nto have brought to the attention of the Department. Both Julius and Ethel\nagain protested that they would have no messages and no information and\nthat the only thing I could do for them would be to present to the Attorney\nGeneral a recommendation that their sentence be commuted. My final word\nAMOUNT\nRUL\n-3-\nto Julius was that I would be around the institution for an hour or so\nand that if he wished to see me again before I left to notify the guard.\nHe said that he only wished to see me in the event I had some good news\nfor him.\nIn the course of the interview Julius asked me if I had con-\nsulted his attorney or advised him of my visit. When I told him I had not\nhe requested me to do so which I did later. I informed Mr. Bloch by\ntelephone as soon as he could be reached, which was about 6 P. M., June 2,\nof my visit and my offer to expedite any request the Rosenbergs had bearing\non a further explanation of the facts involved in their activities.\nMr. Bloch expressed surprise that he had not been informed of the visit\nand invited to be present. I told him I was merely acting as intermediary\nand in my official capacity as the one to whom responsibility for their\nsafekeeping had been delegated. He made no further protest and merely\nsaid something to the effect that he would see the Rosenbergs the next\nday about some new legal moves he had in mind.\nDirector\nJVB:mt"
}