Former Spy Says Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Were Innocent
https://highered.nbclearn.com/portal/site/HigherEd/browse/?cuecard=1541
General Information
Source:
Creator:
Event Date:
Air/Publish Date:
NBC Today Show
Margaret Larson, Jim
Maceda
05/13/1992
05/13/1992
Resource Type:
Copyright:
Copyright Date:
Clip Length
Video News Report
NBCUniversal Media,
LLC.
1992
00:01:38
Description
A former Soviet spy says that despite being executed for helping the Soviets steal U.S. atomic bomb
secrets during World War II, the Rosenberg's were not guilty of treason.
Keywords
Ethel Rosenberg, Julius Rosenberg, KGB, Files, Execution, Spies, Soviet Union, Russia, Espionage,
Atomic Bomb, Klaus Fuchs, Documents, Cold War, Senator Joseph McCarthy
Citation
MLA
"Former Spy Says Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Were Innocent." Jim Maceda, correspondent. NBC Today
Show. NBCUniversal Media. 13 May 1992. NBC Learn. Web. 31 March 2015
© 2008-2015 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Page 1 of 2
APA
Jim Maceda, . (Reporter), & Larson, M. (Anchor). 1992, May 13. Former Spy Says Julius and Ethel
Rosenberg Were Innocent. [Television series episode]. NBC Today Show. Retrieved from
https://highered.nbclearn.com/portal/site/HigherEd/browse/?cuecard=1541
CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE
"Former Spy Says Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Were Innocent" NBC Today Show, New York, NY: NBC
Universal, 05/13/1992. Accessed Tue Mar 31 2015 from NBC Learn:
https://highered.nbclearn.com/portal/site/HigherEd/browse/?cuecard=1541
Transcript
Former Spy Says Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Were Innocent
MARGARET LARSON, anchor:
For more than 40 years, controversy has surrounded the executions of convicted spies Julius and Ethel
Rosenberg. A former Soviet spy now says the Rosenbergs were not guilty of the charges that led to their
deaths. Jim Maceda has more.
JIM MACEDA reporting:
On Russian TV, former super spy Leni Kvasnikov dropped a bombshell. In charge of the Soviet spy net in
the United States during World War II, Kvasnikov cleared the names of a notorious American couple,
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. The Rosenbergs, accused of passing the secret of the atomic bomb to
Moscow, were executed in 1953. Defenders and family have always maintained that they were victims of
the anti-communist hysteria of the Joseph McCarthy years. Almost 40 years later, Kvasnikov agreed.
Mr. LENI KVASNIKOV (Through Translator): They had no direct involvement in obtaining documents
on the atomic question. Their lives were taken from them, but they were not agents.
MACEDA: There was a crucial female contact, but it was Helena Kruger, not Ethel Rosenberg. Kruger
snuck out documents detailing the construction of the atomic bomb by hiding them under her
handkerchief. The Soviets had the secret even before America's first nuclear test. Kvasnikov confirmed it
was Klaus Fuchs, a German immigrant scientist and a Communist, who gave the Soviets the A-bomb.
When, in 1950, Fuchs was arrested, he revealed a chain of American contacts, the Rosenbergs among
them. The Cold War over, the KGB now seems ready to shed light on other controversial files as well,
like the Cuban missile crisis and a certain Lee Harvey Oswald. Jim Maceda, NBC News, Moscow.
© 2008-2015 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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