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Rosenberg children
fight bogus history
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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1973
Send a message to Congress
THE IMPEACHMENT rally scheduled
for noon today on *the Diag repre-
sents an opportunity for all those who
desire the restoration of constitutional
government in this nation to demonstrate
their support for President Nixon's re-
moval from office. .
As news of administration scandal and
Presidential arrogance comes to light
daily, it is clear Nixon has sacrificed any
right to continue as Chief executive.
What is equally clear is that impeach-
ment is the only way to check this Presi-
dent's power. The argument that Nixon
has been sufficiently. crippled as to make
Impeachment unnecessary has little cre-
dence in light of the President's veto of
the war powers bill Tuesday.
THE FOCUS OF the impeachment rally.
is on Ann Arbor's Congressman Mar-
vin Esch. Pressure on Esch and other
representatives is important in that it is
doubtful the usually docile House will
impeach the President without firm ex-
pressions of public support. It is time for
Esch to live up to his rhetorical commit-
ment to just and honest government.
In addition to the call for impeach-
ment, the rally also demands the estab-
lishment of an independent investigation
of the administration and the end of U.
S. aid to dictatorial regimes in Indochina.
The relation between these two issues
should be clear, as the police state tac-
tics we have aided and abetted in other
countries have found their way into our
own body politic.
Through the rally today and the march
to Congressman Esch's office which will
follow we can express our outrage over a
government which uses force to rule at
home and abroad. At the same time our
message to Congress should be clear:
Nixon must go.
By TOM ENGELHARDT
ALONG WITH rock 'n roll, duck-
tail hairstyles and Marilyn
Monroe, the "atom spy" trial of
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg is hav-
ing a revival. From doctoral dis-
sertations to Hollywood movies, the
Rosenberg case is again claiming
attention after twenty years of
studied neglect.
On June 19, 1953, the Rosenbergs
diedI in the electric chair at Sing-
Sing prison. Convicted of conspir-
acy to commit espionage, they
were blamed in the press and in
public opinion for "stealing" the
secret of the atomic bomb a n d
turning it over to the Russians.
To the end, the Rosenbergs pro-
claimed their innocence. They left
many doubts behind them. Now,
their protestations of innocence,
attacked by noted attorney Louis
Nizer in a recent best-selling book,
are being reaffirmed by their
grown children.
In his first press interview, 26-
year-old Robby Meeropol (born
Robby Rosenberg) did not mince
words. 'I am absolutely certain
that my' parents were not guilty of
any crime. They were the victims
of a frame-up that was carried out
by the Internal Security Division of
the Justice Department, members
of the FBI, and the New York pro-
secutor's office."
ROBBY WAS ONLY three a n d
his brother Michael seven, when
their father Julius was arrested in
July 1950. Less than a month later,
their mother Ethel was taken into
custody by FBI agents.
Nine months before, President
Truman had informed the Amer-
ican public that Russia had ex-
ploded its first atom bomb. And
in June, the Korean war began
with a series of disastrous defeats.
Now, shocked Americans read over
their morning coffee how a poor
machinist and his wife were t h e
kingpins of a Rusian spy ring
which had managed to "steal"
America's greatest "secret" -
how to make the atom bomb.
Lurid press accounts of what the
FBI still calls the "crime of the
century" were matched by the
melodrama of the government's
case. The prosecution claimed that
the Rosenbergs' loyalty and alleg-
iance was "not to our country, but
that it was to Communism."
PROSECUTOR Irving Saypol
charged that the Rosenbergs had
convinced David Greenglass, Eth-
el's younger brother, to "play the
treacherous role of a modern Bene-
dict Arnold." Through David, a
GI technician assigned to the top-
secret Los Almos atom bomb pro-
ject, Saypol said, the Rosenbergs
stole "this one weapon that might
well hold the key to the survival
of this nation and means the peace
of the world, the atomic bomb."
The prosecution had no signifi-
cant physical evidence to back up
their case - no spying equipment,
no mini-cameras, no code books.
Instead they relied on witnesses
like Elizabeth Bentley, already
well-publicized in the pres as an
aleged Communist "spy queen."
She gave "expert' testimony on the
wilingness of domestic Communists
to commit any deed at the bidding
of Moscow.
Harry Gold, a Walter Mittyesque
Philadelphia chemist who claimed
a long and confusing career as a
"Soviet currier," was a Rey wit-
ness. Gold testified that on June
3, 1945, using the recognition sig-
nal "I come from Julius," he
contacted David Greenglass in Al-
buquerque, New Mexico. There, he
picked up' a series of sketches
from Greenglass (which, the gov-
ernment later claimed, were of
the atom bomb), gave him an en-
velope with $500 and turned the
sketches over to Russian officials
in New York city.
FINALLY .DAVID and his wife
Ruth,who was named as a co-con-
spirator but never indicted or
brought to trial, took the stand and
identified Ethel and Julius as the
brains behind his actions.
At the sentencing, Judge Irving
R. Kaufmann accused the Ros2n-
bergs of being solely responsible
for the deaths of 50,000 Americ ns
in Korea."After two years of legal
struggles, both went to their deaths
insisting onrtheir innocence. .T.
Edgar Hoover, Attorney Generil
Brownell and others joined a
"deathwatch" at the Justice De-
partment waiting for either Rusen-
berg to "break" and pick up a
special phone installed in the death
house to name the Communist
higher-ups who allegedly gave
them their orders. President Eisen-
hower stood by at the White House
prepared to grant clemency.
Walter and Miriam Schneir, in
their book Invitation to an I7-
quest, have compiled evidence.
which throws the prosecutiGn's
case in a dubious light.
THE SCHNEIRS got their hands
on some records of the extensive
pre-trial questioning of both Bar-
ry Gold (FBI and other agents
talked to him for hundred3 of
hours) and David Greenglass. They
found that both witness' f i n a 1
testimony differs significantly
from their earlier account3.
Among many other questions
they raise, the Schneirs t h r o w
grave doubt on the authenticity of
a hotel registration card used by
the government to nail down Gold's
account of his meeting with Green-
glass. On the basis of newly dis-
covered evidence, they assert that
the card was an FBI forgery.
Can the Rosenberg case be soft-
ened enough to blend into the pre-
sent mood of fifties nostalgia?
Prominentrattorney and author
Louis Nizer has tried. He h a s
turned a screenplay he wrote for
an upcoming Otto Preminger mov-
ie into a bestselling book, The
Implosion Conspiracy.
The book was advertised as "the
final verdict" on the Rosenberg
case. In its 495 pages, Nizer re-
convicts the Rosenbergs, portray-
ing them as fanatics who psycholo-
gically mistreated and exploited
their own children for political
ends. He upholds the trial itself as
a victory for the whole American
judicial system.
IT WAS NIZER's book which
led Robby and his brother Michael,
30, to expose their true identity as
the Rosenberg's children. They
have sued Nizer for infringement
of copyright, as . his book drew
heavily on letters written by Julius
and Ethel Rosenberk whose copy-
right belongs to their children.
Robby Rosenberg and others like
the Schneirs who havequestioned
the basis of the-case, see a larger
governmental purpose behind the
trial. The Rosenbergs were arrest~
ed just after the start of the Kor-
ean war, just after a secret U.S.
decision was made to build the
H-bomb and massively increase
arms spending, and soon after the
Russians exploded their owl A
bomb.
Ethel during the trial
Epitaph for landmark ruling
ALMOST 20 YEARS ago, the Supreme
Court ruled that school segregation
was unconstitutional.
Since that time, the decision has been
sanctified to such an extent that it has
seemingly become one of the landmark
rulings in Supreme Court history.
Yet, recently a new suit has been filed
in the same city affected by the original
Supreme Court ruling, Topeka, Kan. It
alleges that the city is still "systematic-
ally" discriminating against black stu-
dents.
Though the city's population is less
than 10 per cent black, some of Topeka's
public schools are still - predominantly
black, the suit contends. Moreover, the
suit says these schools are in disrepair,
contain inferior equipment, and have
substandard facilities.
Official statistics show that more than
a dozen of the city's 50 public schools are
at least 95 per cent white; five schools,
on the other hand, are predominantly
black.
RUT THE MAIN POINT is not only the
segregation itself-caused by the us-
ual factors of housing segregation-but
the fact that the education black stu-
dents receive is clearly inferior to that
of whites in the same city.
Discrimination, says the director of the
Topeka Human Relations Commission, is
"there in the form of old buildings, limit-
TODAY'S STAFF:
News: Mike Duweck, Chris Parks, Gene
Robinson
Editorial Page: Marnie Heyn, Ted Hart-
zell, Zach Schiller
Arts Page: Diane Levick
Photo Technician: Allison Ruttan
ed curricula, bad libraries - all the
subtle things that make up racism in the
1970s."
Rene Johnson, 10-year-old plaintiff in
the class action suit, is more direct. "You
should have to eat the food they serve
us," she said. "You should see how the
kids run wild."
Topeka, obviously enough, is merely
one example of the continued inferior
status of minorities, inside the schools
and out. It makes all the hoopla about
the "historic" 1954 court decision a bit
ironic.
The suit itself, because of the direct
parallels to its counterpart almost two
decades ago, may attract some attention.
There will be another round of conster-
nation, and probably some more feeble
governmental ploys to direct our atten-
tion away from the topic.
THE SOLUTION DOES not lie in a half-
hearted bussing program, which is in
fact one of the suggestions of the suit.
Rather, it will have to be found in an
overhaul of the educational system itself,
in the building and maintenance of fa-
cilities for communities which will pro-
vide quality education in each local area.
But more than that, the housing and
job discrimination which lies at the heart
of segregation in the schools must event-
ually be changed if there is to be real
educational equality. Once that discrimi-
nation is eliminated, we will have taken
a long step towards eradicating educa-
tional inequality.
Perhaps the new Topeka suit will high-
light the problem once again. The least
that can be hoped for is that it will punc-
ture the mythology over the high court's
1954 decision. That ruling will only take
on real meaning when there is no need
for more suits like the present one in To-
peka.
"The case was basically needed
for two things," says Robby. "To
whip up public support for Ameri-
can cold war policies and to de-
stroy the left in America once-and
for all. It made scapegoats out of
these two people, my parents.
THE ROSENBERG children ob-
viously feel that their parents,
"tried by the times," will be judg-
ed quite differently in post-Water-
gate America. As Bobby points
out, "If (ex-FBI director) Pat
Gray can destroy files, why
couldn't the FBI forge a hotel
card?"
In the break-ins, forge ies, cover-
ups and other activities whichi the
Watergatehaffair has brought to
light, the Rosenberg children see
familiar terrain.
"What the government was say-
ing at that time was, 'The Com-
munists are everywhere d o i n g
horrible things. What we need is
more power to combat them.' They
created, right then, what I call the
false national security argument.
This is where the linkage gets to
Watergate.,
"It has been this very same jus-
tification that has led to all sorts
of secrecy, surveillance, and in-
vasions of people's privacy. The
exact same things that are coming
out in Watergate, the same tactics
were used in my parents' trial, and
have been part of a fabriz~ of in-
ternal policies which have gone on
unchecked for the past twenty
years."
Tom Engelhardt is editor of
Pacific News Service. Copy-
right, Pacific News Service,
1973.
Re bozo: Some
problems of middle ,age
By DICK WEST
AGREE with the White House that there was nothing improper
about Bebe Rebozo accepting $100,000 from Howard Hughes as a
"potential campaign contribution" for President Nixon.
It is true that Nixon wasn't running for anything in 1970 when
Hughes made the contribution. But when you reach middle age,
as both Hughes and Rebozo have done, little details like that tend
to slip your mind.
Being middle aged myself, I can easily understand how Hughes,
preoccupied with trying to keep himself out of the public eye, could
have gotten mixed up as to the date of the next election.
Most likely he telephoned Rebozo and said, "Hey, amigo, I've
got a little something here to help the President get re-elected. Where
shall I send it?"
"THAT'S MIGHTY nice of you, Howard. But the President won't
be up for re-election until 1972."
"Doggone it, I should have written that down. Well, I've already
taken off my disguise so I can't take the money back to the bank
- * without being recognized. I might as well send it along to you
S:"anyhow."
That sort of thing happens all the time in middle age.
With the campaign still two years away, the contribution had to
be stored away somewhere. And since Rebozo had a safe deposit box
big enough to hold a sum of that magnitude, he was the logical cus-
todian.
But Rebozo apparently was as absent-minded as Hughes. Despite
writing a note to remind himself what the money was for, he some-
how neglected to remove it until sometime this year.
AP Photo
d MOST LIKELY he came across it one day when he was rummaging
through the safe deposit box looking for the blueprints for a sauna bath
the Secret Service was building on Key Biscayne for the President's
e n tprotection.
ea c h m en t "Gosh darn it!" he likely exclaimed. "I knew I was forgetting
something."
With the election already over by several months it ,was too late
g ro u n s forthe money to qualify as a campaign contribution. So there, was
nothing to do but return it to Hughes.
in the arrests of thousands of persons on "Uh, Howard, you remember that hundred grand you sent me three
71nd n mrres otheoasiponsyears ago to help the President win a second term? Well, I've got good
71 and on many other occasions. news and bad news.
surped the war-making powers of Con- "First, the good news: Nixon won. Now the bad news: He
the bombing of neutral Cambodia and did it without your helpw"
tely concealed the bombing from Con-
he people of the United States; and he ALTHOUGH I'M confident there was no impropriety, you never
ced he would do so again under similar know what the reaction will be in the highly sensitive post-Watergate
yes. -
atmosphere.
shed within the White House a personal Enough pressure may build up to force Rebozo to resign as Nixon's
e (the "plumbers"), operating outside be nr
ts of the law, which engaged in crim- best friend.
ncluding burglaries, warrant-less wire-
age and perjury. Dick West is a writer for United Press International.
I
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ACLU calls for imp
on constitutilonal
(Editor's Note: The following article was writ-
ten by the Board of Directors of the American
Civil Liberties Union. It was released Oct. 4).
WHEREAS, there is now substantial public evi-
dence of President Nixon's participation in high
crimes and misdemeanors; and
Whereas, these acts have violated the civil liber-
ties of the people of the United States and the rule
of law;
Therefore, the American Civil Liberties Union calls
upon the House of Representatives of the Congress
of the United States to initiate impeachment pro-
ceedings against Richard M. 'Nixon.
Impeachment should be predicated on the follow-
ing grounds affecting civil liberties:
He and his closest aides have organized and con-
ducted a deliberate assault on civil liberties by au-
thorizing massive invasions of the First Amendment
rights of citizens of the United States. On July
25, 1970 he personally approved the "Huston plan"
for domestic political surveillance and espionage by
such methods as burglary, wiretapping and eaves-
dropping, mail covers, and military spying on
civilians. These methods of political surveillance
protest as i
Mayday, 19
He has u
gress as in
he delibera
gress and t
has announc
circumstanc
He establi
secret polic
the restrain
inal acts i
taps, espion
HE AND A principal aide offered a high federal
post to the presiding judge during the Ellsberg trial
and, for a prolonged period, he withheld from the
court knowledge of the burglary of the office of
Dr. Ellsberg's psychiatrist.
He and his aides interfered with and distorted the
administration of justice through such acts as his
effort to limit the scope of the FBI investigation of
the Watergate break-in. He and his aides caused the
politically motivated and unjustified prosecutions
of mdiC.PGa ntir rrn e the nsiutional func -
Contact your reps-
Sen. Phillip Hart (Dem), Rm 253, Old Senate Bldg., Capitol
Hill, Washington, D.C. 20515.
Sen. Robert Griffin (Rep), Rm 353, Old Senate Bldg., Capitol
Hill. Washington, D.C. 20515.
I