By Robert Romano — Sunday, June 17 marked the 40th anniversary of the Watergate scandal that brought down the Nixon Administration. The Voice of America, the propaganda wing of the federal government, heralded the event as “the most consequential political scandal in U.S. history”.
Certainly, the botched break-in of Democrat Party headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. in 1972 leading to the resignation of Richard Nixon in 1974 has its place in history. Certainly, the liberal media and D.C. political establishment never fails to remind us all of the notorious crimes that were committed.
But, there are other days in history that warrant the attention of the American people that probably are even more important to determining the course of history.
For example, today, June 19, marks the 59th anniversary of the execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for committing treason. For those who may not recall, specifically, the Rosenbergs were found guilty of engaging in espionage, and divulging the nation’s nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union.
For over forty years, the liberal establishment has professed the Rosenbergs’ innocence despite a mountain of evidence until 1995, when after the Soviet Union fell, it was confirmed in the decoded Venona cables released by the National Security Agency (NSA) that both were implicated in the Soviet penetration of the Manhattan Project.
Nonetheless, marking the execution’s 50th anniversary in 2003, the New York Times in an editorial lamented “The Rosenberg case still haunts American history, reminding us of the injustice that can be done when a nation gets caught up in hysteria.”
Injustice?
The Rosenbergs delivered thousands of classified documents to the Soviets in the 1940’s, including plans for the atomic bomb, that were a part of a broader KGB penetration of the U.S. government that proved critical to assisting in arming the Russians with the ultimate weapon. Thanks to that espionage, the USSR detonated its first atomic device in 1949, begetting the nuclear arms race and proliferation throughout the world.
Now, with well over 20,000 nuclear warheads worldwide, that espionage may yet prove fatal for the human race. If deployed simultaneously, those weapons could result in an extinction-level event and remain mankind’s greatest threat to itself.
The Rosenbergs did not act alone, and probably did not even deliver the most critical documents to the Soviets that tipped the scales in favor of building the bomb.
But so what? They were found guilty of aiding and abetting the enemies of the U.S., and certainly provided nuclear secrets to the Soviets — back when we still had enough gumption to defend ourselves and our homeland. And now we know they really were spies who had indeed delivered that type of information.
Their execution on this date in history was richly deserved. They were traitors, refused to cooperate with authorities, maintained their innocence to the end, and thus died traitors’ deaths. What should we have done, given them medals?
Their decision and that of other traitors still endangers not just American lives — but now the lives of every single person on this planet. The genie’s out of the bottle on nuclear proliferation.
It neither should be celebrated nor excused. To paraphrase Alan Moore, I know of no reason why the Rosenberg treason should ever be forgot.
Robert Romano is the Senior Editor of Americans for Limited Government.
