Gale Encyclopedia Of American Law 3Rd Edition Volume 8 P45 doc

that justices be allowed to retire at age seventy at full pay. Any justice who declined this offer would be forced to have an assistant with full VOTING RIGHTS. The assistant, of course, as a Roosevelt appointee, would be more likely to be sympathetic to the president’s political ideals. This plan to “pack” the Court was met with hostility by Democrats and Republicans and rejected as an act of political interference. Despite the rejection of his plan, Roosevelt ultimately prevailed. In 1937 the Supreme Court upheld the Wagner Act in NLRB V. JONES AND LAUGHLIN STEEL CORP ., 301 U.S. 1, 57 S. Ct. 615, 81 L. Ed. 893, signaling an end to the invalidation of New Deal laws that sought to reshape the national economy. From Jones onward, the Court permitted the federal government to take a dominant role in matters of commerce. By 1937 the national economy appeared to be recovering. In the fall of 1937, however, the economy went into a recession, accom pa- nied by a dramatic increase in unemployment. Roosevelt responded by instituting massive FDR’s Court Packing Plan A B conservative bloc of judges emerged on the U.S Supreme Court during the 1920s. Their conservatism was marked by a restrictive view of the federal government’s power to enact a certain class of regulations falling under the heading of “administrative law.” Federal administrative law is an area of law comprised of orders, rules, and regula- tions that are promulgated by executive branch agencies that have been delegated quasi-lawmaking power by Congress. Justices Pierce Butler, James McReynolds, George Sutherland, and Willis Van Devanter denied that the federal Constitution gave Congress the power to delegate its lawmaking function, arguing that Article II of the Constitution expressly limited the executive branch to a law enforcement role. By the advent of the 1930s, Butler, McReynolds, Sutherland, and Van Devanter had become known as the “Four Horseman” because they consistently voted to strike down every federal law that involved any congressional delegation of lawmaking power to the executive branch. The Four Horsemen were usually joined by Justice Owen Roberts and Chief Justice Charles Hughes, two conservatives of a more moderate and centrist temperament. Pitted a gainst the conserva- tive block was the so-called “li beral wing” of the Court, comprised of Justices Benjamin Cardozo, Louis Brandeis, and Harlan Stone. The Court’s composition presented a potenti al problem for Democrat presidentia l candidate Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), who had promised voters a “New Deal” during the 1932 el ection. After FDR took the oath of office, it became clear that his New Deal entailed the creation of a vast federal regulatory bureaucracy designed to stimulate the U.S. econ- omy and pull it out of the depression. The potential problem FDR faced transformed into an immediate crisis during 1935, when the Supreme Court issued a series of decisions that struck bl ows at the heart of the New Deal. First, the Court struck down the Frazie r-Lemke Ac t, a law that provided mortgage relief to farmers. Louisville Joint Stock Land Bank v. Radford, 295 U.S. 555, 55 S.Ct. 854, 79 L.Ed. 1593 (U.S. 1935). Next the Court upheld a provision of the Federal Trade Commission Act that prohibited the president from replacing a commissioner except for cause, thereby thwarting FDR’s attempt to bring the agencies in line with his regulatory po licies. Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, 295 U.S. 602, 55 S.Ct. 869, 7 9 L.Ed. 1611 (U.S. 1935). Finally, the Court invalidated the National Industrial Reco ver Act, which authorized the presi- dent to prescribe codes of fair competition to bring about industrial recovery and rehabilitation. The Court said that Congre ss could not delegate such sweeping lawmaking powers to the executive branch without violating separation-of-powers prin- ciples in the federal constitution . A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corporation v. United States, 295 U.S. 495, 55 S.Ct. 837, 79 L.Ed. 1570 (U.S 1935). FDR postponed making an issue over the Court’s decisions during the 1936 presidential campaign. But the Court continued invalidating important New Deal programs, including the Agricultural Adjust- ment Act and the National Bituminous Coal Ac t. In some of these cases Chief Justice Hughes sided GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION 428 ROOSEVELT, FRANKLIN DELANO government spending, and by June 1938 the economy had stabilized. During the late 1930s Roosevelt had also become preoccupied with foreign policy. The rise of ADOLF HITLER and Nazism in Germany, coupled with a militaristic Japanese government that had invaded Manchuria in 1933, created international tensions that Roosevelt realized might come to involve the United States. U.S. foreign policy had traditionally counseled against entanglements with other nations, and the 1930s had seen a resurgence of isolationist thought. Roosevelt, while publicly agreeing with isolationist legislators, quietly moved to en- hance U.S. military strength. With the outbreak of World War II in Europe in August 1939, Roosevelt sought to aid Great Britain and France against Germany and Italy. The Neutrality Act of 1939 (22 U.S.C.A. § 441), howev er, prohibited the export of arms to any belligerent. With some difficulty Roosevelt secured the repeal of this provision so that military equipment could be sold to Great Britain and France. with the three dissenting liberal justices, leaving Justice Roberts as the swing vote. Emboldened by his landslide victory, FDR unveiled what critics called the “Court Packing Plan.” The plan, which F DR an nounced on February 5, 1937, would have given the president the power to add one justic e for every Supre me Court justice over age 70, up to a total of six. The older justices were not able to handle the increasing workload, FDR explained, so the additional justices would improve the Court’s efficiency. Much of the nation saw through FDR’s explana- tion. Newspaper editors, Republicans, southern and moderate Democrats, leaders of the organized bar, and even the three liberals on the Supreme Court condemned the plan as a blatant effort to politicize the Court. Roosevelt, however, remained committed to the plan and continued pushing Congress to enact it. By April the Supreme Court appeared to have r eceived the president’s message. In NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp., 301 U.S. 1, 30, 57 S.Ct. 615, 621, 81 L.Ed. 893 (1937), the Supreme Court by a 5–4 vote upheld the constitu- tionality of the National Labor Relations Board, a federal regulatory agency that investigates and remedies unfair labor practices. Justice Roberts cast the deciding vote. Thereafter Roberts typically voted to uphold t he constitutionality of New Deal legislation that was challenged before the Court. Journalists called Roberts’ change of heart “the switch in time that saved nine.” Combined with Van Devanter’s retirement later that year, which allowed FDR to replace him with a justice more amenabl e to federal regulatory programs, Roberts’ move to the left of the political spectrum doomed the Court Packing Plan, as both Congress and the American people realized that the president had achieved his goal without subverting the Court. Throughout U.S. history presidents have sought to mold the federal courts in their own political image. On balance presidents have filled the courts with high quality judges possessing strong intellects and fair- minded temperaments. On occasion, however, pre- sidents have also become frustrated with the federal bench, especially the Supreme Court. But never has any president attempted to do what President Roosevelt tried to accomplish through the Court Packing Plan, namely change the rules of the game by which vacancies on the Court are created and filled. Neither death nor resignation on the Court was giving the president the opportunity to shape the Court in the fashion he desired. By proposing to expand the court to as many a s 15 justices, FDR could have wielded influe nce over the Court’s jurisprudence for the next generation or t wo. But he c ould also have compromised the independence of the federal judiciary by turning it into an overtly political branch. Article III of the U.S. Constitution gives federal courts the power to interpret and apply the laws passed by Congress and enforced by the executive branch. F ederal judges are given li fe tenure to insulate them from political pressures. FDR tried to alter that equation with the Court Packing Plan. Although the Supreme Court eventu- ally placed its imprimatur of approval on the New Deal, the Court Packing Plan was defeated in what history has deemed a victory for the independence of the federal judiciary. FURTHER READING McKenna, Marian C. 2002. Franklin Roosevelt and the Great Constitutional War: The Court-Packing Crisis of 1937. New York: Fordham Univ. Press. B GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION ROOSEVELT, FRANKLIN DELANO 429 In 1940 Roosevelt took the unprecedented step of seeking a third term. Although there was no constitutional prohibition against a third term, President GEORGE WASHINGTON had estab- lished the tradition of serving only two terms. Nevertheless, Roosevelt was concerned about the approach of war and decided a third term was necessary to continue his plans . He defeated the Republican nominee, Wendell L. Willkie, pledging that he would keep the United States out of war. Roosevelt’s margin of victory in the popular vote was closer than in 1936, but he still won the ELECTORAL COLLEGE vote easily. Following his reelection, Roosevelt became more public in his support of the Allies. At his urging, Congress moved further away from neutrality by passing the LEND-LEASE ACT of 1941 (55 Stat. 31). Lend-Lease provided munitions, food, machinery, and services to Great Britain and other Allies without immediate cost. The United States entered World War II following the Japanese attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. Roosevelt rallied a stunned citizenry and began the mobilization of a wartime economy. In his public speeches and “fireside chats” on the radio, Roosevelt imparted the strong determination that the United States would prevail in the conflict, and he led the nation in a now-famous prayer during the D-Day invasion. He met with Win ston Churchill, the prime minister of Great Britain, and JOSEPH STALIN, the leader of the Soviet Union, several times during the war to discuss military strategy and to plan power-sharing in the postwar world. Roosevelt, who needed the Soviet Union’s cooperation in defeating Germany, sought to minimize conflicts with Stalin over postwar boundaries in Europe. In 1944 Roosevelt decided to run for a fourth term. Though his health had seriously declined, he wished to remain commander in chief for the remainder of the war. The REPUBLICAN PARTY nominated Governor THOMAS E . DEWEY of New York for president, but again Roosevelt turned back the challenge, winning 432 electoral votes to Dewey’s 99. In February 1945, Roosevelt traveled to Yalta in the Crimea to meet with Churchill and Stalin. Germany was on the edge of defeat, but Japan’s defeat did not appear imminent. Stalin accepted Roosevelt and Churchill’s offer of territorial concessions in Asia in return for his promise that the Soviet Union would enter the war against Japan once Germany was defeated. At Yalta the leaders reaffirmed earlier agreements and made plans for the establishment of democratic governments in eastern Europe. The Yalta agreements were not clearly written, however, and therefore were open to differing interpretations by the Allies. Within a month after Yalta, Roosevelt sent a sharp message to Stalin concerning Soviet accusations that Great Britain and the United States were trying to rob the Soviets of their legitimate territorial interests. Early in the war, Roosevelt decided that an effective international organization should be established after the war to replace the LEAGUE OF NATIONS . At Yalta, Roosevelt pressed for the creation of the UNITED NATIONS as a mechanism to preserve world peace. A conference attended by 50 nations was scheduled to begin on April 25, 1945, in San Francisco, California, to draft a United Nations charter. Roosevelt had planned to attend, but his health had steadily declined since the 1944 election. Instead, Roosevelt went to his retreat in Warm Springs, Georgia, where he had begun his rehabilitation from polio in the 1920s. He died there on April 12, 1945. Vice President HARRY S. TRUMAN succeeded Roosevelt. On May 7, the war in Europe ended with Germany ’s surrender; four months later, on September 2, Japan also surrendered, ending the war in the Pacific. FURTHER READINGS Jenkins, Roy. 2003. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. New York: Times Books Kline, Stephan O. 1999. “Revisting FDR’s Court Packing Plan: Are the Current Attacks on Judicial Independence So Bad?” McGeorge Law Review 30 (spring). McElvaine, Robert S. 2002. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press. CROSS REFERENCES “First Inaugural Address” (Appendix, Primary Document); New Deal. v ROOSEVELT, THEODORE Theodore (“Teddy”) Roosevelt served as the 26th president of the United States from 1901 to 1909. A writer, explorer, and soldier, as well as a politician, Roosevelt distinguished himself as president by advocating conservation of natural resources, waging leg al battles against economic monopolies and trusts, and exercising leader- ship in foreign affairs. An energetic man with a colorful personality, Roosevelt later sought to reclaim the presidency in 1912 as the head of the PROGRESSIVE PARTY. GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION 430 ROOSEVELT, THEODORE Roosevelt was born on October 27, 1858, in New York City, a descendant of a wealthy and aristocratic family that first settled in New York in the 1600s. A sickly boy, Roosevelt developed a regimen of diet and exercise that transformed him into a vigo rous young man. He graduated from Harvard University in 1880 and was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1881. Roosevelt resigned in 1884, following the death of his wife, and spent two years at his ranch in the Badlands of the Dakota Territory. During this period he developed both his association with the Wild West world of cowboys and his appreciation of the wilderness. He returned to New York City in 1886 and ran unsuccessfully for mayor. From 1889 to 1895 Roosevelt served as a CIVIL SERVICE commissioner in Washington, D.C. In 1895 he was appointed as a reform-minded New York City police commissioner. His main occupation, however, was that of writer: he wrote many magazine articles and twelve books between 1880 and 1900. Roosevelt’s rise to national prominence came during the SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR of 1898. Anxious to be a part of the forces that would go to Cuba, he organized a group of cowboys and New York aristocrats into a cavalry regiment nicknamed the Rough Riders. As a lieutenant colonel, Roosevelt became a national hero and darling of the national news media when he led his Rough Riders to victory at the Battle of San Juan Hill in July 1898. The New York REPUBLICAN PARTY, under the leadership of Senator Thomas C. Platt, nomi- nated Roosevelt for governor in 1898, in the hope that his popularity could rescue a party plagued by scandal. Roosevelt was easily elected but soon offended party leaders by asserting his political independence. Platt became so frus- trated with Roosevelt’s reform agenda that he persuaded President WILLIAM MCKINLEY to make Roosevelt his vice presidential running mate in 1900. Reluctantly, Roosevelt accepted the nomination. His popularity helped McKinley Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Theodore Roosevelt 1858–1919 ▼▼ ▼▼ 18501850 19251925 19001900 18751875 ❖ ❖ ◆ 1858 Born, New York City 1861–65 U.S. Civil War 1880 Graduated from Harvard University 1884–86 Retreated to his ranch in the Badlands of the Dakota Territory after death of first wife 1889–95 Served as civil service commissioner in Washington, D.C. ◆◆◆◆◆◆ ◆ 1895 Appointed New York City police commissioner 1901–09 Served as U.S. president 1914–18 World War I 1919 Died, Oyster Bay, N.Y. 1912 Ran unsuccessful campaign for president with the Progressive party 1906 Pressured Congress to pass the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act; won Nobel Peace Prize 1905 Negotiated end to Russo-Japanese War 1902 Initiated construction on the Panama Canal; negotiated settlement of coal miners' strike 1898 Led the Rough Riders to victory at the Battle of San Juan Hill during the Spanish-American War; elected governor of New York 1901 President William McKinley assassinated; Roosevelt assumed the presidency GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION ROOSEVELT, THEODORE 431 win a second term. On September 6, 1901, an anarchist named Leon F. Czolgosz shot McKinley when he visited the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. Eight days later McKinley died and Roosevelt assumed the presidency. As president, Roosevelt sought to attack corruption and to promote economic and political reform. He insisted that government should be the ARBITER of economic conflicts between capital and labor. He demonstrated his convictions by negotiating a settlement of a strike between coal miners and mine operators in 1902, the first time a president had intervened in a labor dispute. Roosevelt referred to his platform for business and labor as the Square Deal. Roosevelt won public accla im for being a “trust buster.” By the early twentieth century, a few large co mpanies in key industries, including railroads, oil, and steel, had stifled competition and created monopolies. In one of his first major acts, Roosevelt filed suit to dissolve the Northern Securities Company, a trust con- trolled by the three major railroads in the Northwest. Using the SHERMAN ANTI-TRUST ACT OF 1890 (15 U.S.C.A. § 1 et seq.), the Roosevelt administration successfully broke up Northern Securities; antitrust lawsuits against 43 other major corporations soon followed. In 1904 the Republican Party nominated Roosevelt for a second term. He easily defeated the Democratic candidate Alton B. Parker of New York. In his second term Roosevelt helped enact several groundbreaking pieces of federal legislation. Spurred in part by public concern over the unsanitary food packing methods revealed by Upton Sinclair’s 1906 novel The Jungle, Roosevelt pressured Congress and the meat packing industry to support the Meat Inspection Act of 1906 (21 U.S.C.A. § 601 et seq.). In 1906, Congress also passed the Pure Food and Drug Act (21 U.S.C.A. § 301 et seq.), which criminalized the misleading and harmful sale of patent medicines that made false claims about their medicinal effects. The act estab- lished the FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, putting in place a federal agency dedicated to CONSUMER PROTECTION. Roosevelt also was instru- mental in the passage of the Hepburn Act of 1906 (34 Stat. 584), which increased the powers of the INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION (ICC), allowing the ICC to inspect the business records of railroads. Roosevelt became the first president to play a major international role in foreign policy. His favorite motto, based on an African proverb, was “speak softly and carry a big stick.” The motto epitomized Roosevelt’s foreign policy, as he increased the size of the U.S. Navy and sent the fleet around the world in 1908 to demon- strate both U.S. military strength and U.S. involvement in world affairs. Roosevelt initiated the construction of the Panama Canal in 1902, reduced domestic discord by making an agreement with Japan on limiting the number of Japanese immigrants to the United States, and negotiated the end of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905 at a peace conference held in Portsmouth, Maine. He earned the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 for mediating the peace agreement. Perhaps the most innovative aspect of Roosevelt’s presidency was his commitment to the conservation of natural resources. He lobbied successfully for funds to convert large portions of federal land into natio nal forests. In seven years 194 million additional acres of federal land were closed to commercial development, five times more than his three predecessors had reserved for conservation purposes. Roosevelt also approved the Newlands Act of 1903 (32 Stat. 388), which called for part of the receipts from the sale of PUBLIC LANDS in the western states and territories to be reserved for dams and reclamation projects. The legislation saved much western wildlife from extinction. Despite his relative youth and energy, Roosevelt declined to run for another term. His progressive reforms had angered many conservative Republicans in Cong ress. In addi- tion, his public comments on “race suicide,” in which he lamented the declining birthrate of U.S. citizens of northern European ancestry and the accelerating birthrate of Russian and southern European immigrants, troubled many people. He approved the Republican presiden- tial nomination of his secretary of war, WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT , in the belief that Taft was a progressive Republican. Taft won the presi- dency in November 1908. After leaving office in March 1909, Roose- velt spent ten months in Africa on a hunting trip and then visited Europe. Upon his return to the United States in 1910, he was shocked at Taft’s capitulation t o the conservati ve Republicans NO MAN IS ABOVE THE LAW AND NO MAN IS BELOW IT ; NOR DO WE ASK ANY MAN ’S PERMISSION WHEN WE ASK HIM TO OBEY IT . —THEODORE "TEDDY" R OOSEVELT GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION 432 ROOSEVELT, THEODORE in Congress. His animosity toward Taft grew, and in 1912 Roosevelt declared his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination. Although he won most of the primaries, the Republican Party leaders controlled enough votes to give the nomination to Taft. Un- daunted, Roosevelt formed a THIRD PARTY, called the Progressive Party. Following a failed ASSASSI- NATION attempt against him in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in October 1912, he said that it would take more than that to kill a bull moose. Thereafter, the Progressives were nicknamed the Bull Moose Party. Roosevelt won more votes than Taft, but the division of Republican strength allowed Demo- crat WOODROW WILSON to be elected president. Roosevelt grew to despise Wilson and his policies, leveling harsh criticism against Wil- son’s foreign policy. Incensed when Wilson denied him the opportunity to form a regiment and fight in WORLD WAR I, Roosevelt denounced Wilson’s proposal for the LEAGUE OF NATIONS, even though Roosevelt himself had once advocated such an organization. Roosevelt’s health deteriorated rapidly in his last years. He died on January 6, 1919, at his home in Oyster Bay, New York. FURTHER READINGS Burns, James MacGregor. 2001. The Three Roosevelts: Patrician Leaders Who Transformed America. New York: Atlantic Monthly. Holmes, James. 2003. “Police Power: Theodore Roosevelt, American Diplomacy, and World Order.” Fletcher Forum of World Affairs 27 (winter–spring). Posner, Theodore R., and Timothy M. Reif. 2000. “Homage to a Bull Moose: Applying Lessons of History to Meet the Challenges of Globalization.” Fordham International Law Journal 24 (November–December). Rauchway, Eric. 2003. Murdering Mckinley: The Making of Theodore Roosevelt’s America. New York: Hill and Wang. CROSS REFERENCES Antitrust Law; Monopoly. ROSENBERGS TRIAL In 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of CONSPIRACY to commit ESPIONAGE for helping the Soviet Union acquire the secrets to the atomic bomb from the United States during WORLD WAR II. Judge Irving R. Kaufman, who presided at the trial, sentenced the Rosenbergs to death after concluding that their “betrayal undoubtedly altered the course of history to the disadvantage of [the United States].” The Rosenbergs maintained their innocence from the time of their arrest until they were executed. Their two sons, Michael and Robert Meeropol, have spent much of their adult lives attempting to clear their parents’ names. However, during the mid-1990s evidence of their espionage was revealed when the National Security Agency (NSA) released inter- cepted messages of their Soviet handlers. Morton Sobell (born April 11, 1917), a former employee of the Naval Bureau of Ordnance, was also indicted for conspiracy to commit espionage with the Rosenbergs and was named as a codefendant. During June 1950 Sobell fled to Mexico with his wife under an assumed name. After being apprehended and extradited back to the United States, Sobell was convicted of conspiracy and sentenced to 30 years in prison. He was paroled in January 1969. Both of the Rosenbergs were members of the American Communist Party. Julius had come from an impoverished background. He had received a degree in electrical engineering from City College of New York but had had trouble obtaining and keeping employment. At the time of his arrest, he was struggling to run a small machine shop with Ethel’s brother, David A New York jury convicted Julius and Ethel Rosenberg of conspiracy to commit espionage. They were executed in 1953. AP IMAGES GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION ROSENBERGS TRIAL 433 Greenglass. Like her husband, Ethel had come from a poor family. The Rosenbergs’ trial has been the subject of legal, political, and historical controversy for nearly half a century. Some view the Rosenbergs as martyred victims of the communist hysteria that menaced the political landscape in the United State s during the 1950s. Others see them as criminals who were singularly responsible for ending the U.S. nuclear monopoly and compromising the security of millions of people. The picture painted by historians has always been incomplete because many documents concerning the Rosenbergs remain classified. The U.S. government did not indict the Rosenbergs for TREASON and might have encoun- tered constitutional difficulties if it had pursued such an INDICTMENT. Article III, Section 3, of the Constitution defines treason as giving “aid and comfort” to the enemies of the United States. During WORLD WAR II, the Soviet Union was an ally, not an enemy, of the United States. Further, the Constitution requires that every “overt act of treason” be witnessed by two persons. Yet, as the trial revealed, many of the conspiratorial acts committed by the Rosen- bergs were witnessed by only one person. The Rosenbergs’ trial began on March 6, 1951, at the federal courthouse in New York City. Spectators and members of the press packed the gallery, the hallways, and the courthouse steps in an effort to catch a glimpse of the so-called atom spies in what some observers called the “trial of the century.” Judge Kaufman conducted the VOIR DIRE and impaneled a jury in less than two days. Irving Saypol was the chief prosecuting attorney and was assisted by ROY COHN and James Kilsheimer. Julius Rosenberg was represented by Emanuel Bloch, while Emanuel’s father, Alexander Bloch, repre- sented Ethel. The Prosecution’s Case The first witness against the Rosenbergs was Max Elitcher, a 32-year-old electrical engineer employed by the Naval Bureau of Ordnance during the 1940s. Elitcher testified that in June 1944 Julius asked him to assist the Soviet Union by providing classified information about naval equipment. Over the next several years, Elitcher said, Julius had made other references to his central role in a Soviet espionage ring with members scattered across the United States. Nonetheless, Elitcher maintained that he had never disclosed any confidential information to the Rosenbergs. Elitcher also provided the only testimony against Sobell. Elitcher told the jurors that on several occasions Sobell had attempted to entice him to commit espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union. Elitcher recalled one instance when he had accompanied Sobell on a drive to Knickerbocker Village, where the DEFENDANT had delivered a can of film to Julius Rosenberg. Although Elitcher was unable to tell the court what, if anything, had been inside the can, he did testify that Sobell had described the contents as “too valuab le to be destroyed and too dangerous to keep around.” David Greenglass, the 29-year-old brother of Ethel Rosenberg, was the prosecution’s second witness. Greenglass, a member of the American Communist Party, had enlisted in the army as a machinist in 1943. In July 1944, he had been assigned to the Manhattan Project, the top secret Allied program based in Los Alamos, New Mexico, for the development of the atomic bomb. As part of his job, Greenglass had performed research on high explosives. Greenglass testified that he had learned about the nature of the Manhattan Project in November 1944, when his wife, Ruth, had visited him in Albuquerque. Before leaving for New Mexico , Ruth had been invited to the Rosenbergs’ apartment in New York City, where Ethel had disclosed that Julius had been sharing classified information with the Soviets. During the same visit, Julius had informed Ruth that her husband had been working on a project to develop an atomic bomb and proposed that David help the Soviets by stealing secrets from Los Alamos. Upon learning of Julius ’s invitation from Ruth, David testified that he had agreed to engage in atomic espionage for the Soviet Union. In January 1945, David went home to New York City on furlough and met with the Rosenbergs. David testified that during one visit he had provided Julius with a verbal description of the atomic bomb, explaining that the Los Alamos scientists were designing a high- explosive lens mold. David had accompanied this description with a packet of sketches outlining the mold. He also had provided Julius with a list of the scientists who had been working on the Manhattan Project and an GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION 434 ROSENBERGS TRIAL overview of the Los Alamos facilities. Because some of the written material had been illegible, David told the jury, Ethel had typed his notes. A few days later, the Greenglasses had eaten dinner at the Rosenbergs’, where they had designed a plan for David to exchange informa- tion in New Mexico with a courier whom Julius would send. To enable David to identify this courier, Julius had cut a Jell-O brand gelatin box into two irregularly shaped pieces, given one piece to David, and said the other piece would be given to the courier. The next summer, Ruth had rented an apartment in Albuquerque, where David usually had spent the weekends. During the first weekend in June, a man had visited the Greenglass apartment, identifying himself as “Dave from Pittsburgh.” The man had told the Greenglasses that he was a courier sent by “Julius.” After the courier had produced the matching half of the Jell-O box, David had given him some additional sketches of the lens mold experiments. In September 1945 David had returned to New York City on a second furlough. Meeting with Julius and Ethel at the Rosenbergs’ apartment, David had drawn a cross section of the atomic bomb and had described the implosion principle underlying it. David testi- fied that Ethel again had typed up the written material, correcting spelling and grammar where necessary. The prosecution asked David to draw a replica of the sketches that he had given to the Ros enbergs and the courier. The prosecution then called Walter Koski, a physical chemist, who testified that the sketches were “reasonably accurate” and revealed much of what the government had been attempting to keep secret at Los Alamos. Ruth Greenglass, who testified next, corrob- orated the central elements of her husband’s testimony. She testified that she had assisted David in procuring classified information from Los Alamos for the Rosenbergs. She also testified that the Rosenbergs had showed her a mahogany table that they had received from the Soviets as a token of their appreciation. A portion of the table was hollow, Ruth said, and a lamp had been inserted so that microfilm pictures could be taken. As the FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION (FBI) had been closing in on the Gre englasses and the Rosenbergs, Ruth told the jurors, Julius had developed a plan for David and Ruth to elude law enforcement. The plan had called for David and Ruth to travel to Mexico, where a Soviet agent would be waiting with passports and cash. The agent would then escort the Greenglasses to Czechoslovakia or Russia. Although Julius had given the Greenglasses more than $4,000 to defect from the United States, Ruth testified that neither she nor David had ever left the country. The primary corroborating witness for the Greenglasses’ testimony was Harry Gold, a 40-year-old chemist who testified that he had been spying for the Soviet Union since 1935 and that he had been working with Anatoli Yakovlev, a Soviet agent, for a number of years. Gold said that Yakovle v had sent him on a vital mission to New Mexico during the first weekend of June 1945. On Saturday, June 2, Yakovlev had instructed Gold to travel to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he would meet with Klaus Fuchs, a nuclear scientist from Great Britain, who had been working on the Manhattan Project. During their meeting, Fuchs had provided Gold with diagrams and had written descriptions of the atomic bomb. On a previous occasion, Fuchs had given Gold a complete set of his notes from Los Alamos. In February 1950, Fuchs was captured by British intelligence and confessed to his role in the atomic espionage conspiracy. Fuchs, who received a 14-year sentence, identified Gold as the Soviet liaison he had met in Santa Fe. Gold also testified that the day after meeting with Fuchs, he had traveled to Albuquerque, where he was scheduled to meet a man whom Yakovlev had described only as “Greenglass.” Yakovlev had given Gold the matching half of the Jell-O box and had told him to bring Greenglass greetings from “Julius.” When Gold had arrived at the Greenglasses’ apartment, a man whom Gold identified as David Greenglass had given him an envelope of drawings and other materials in exchange for $400. Gold testified that he had turned this envelope over to Yakovlev, who had immedi- ately transmitted it to the Soviet Union. Gold said that Yakovlev had subsequently thanked him for obtaining such “excel lent” and “valu- able” data. The prosecution introduced two exhibits to bolster Gold’s testimony, a receipt indicating that Ruth Greenglass had deposited $400 into her account at the Albuquerque GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION ROSENBERGS TRIAL 435 National Bank on June 4, 1945, and a registra- tion card from the Albuquerque Hilton Hotel, signed by Harry Gold on June 3, 1945. The final witness for the prosecution was Elizabeth Bentley, a 44-year-old former Soviet spy who was known to the public as the “Red Spy Queen.” Bentley bragged that as a top- ranking member of the Communist Party in the United States, she had been responsible for pilfering a wide variety of industrial, military, and political secrets. Bentley then had become a double agent for the FBI and had been assigned to infiltrate and expose domestic communist espionage networks. In addition to testifying at the Rosenbergs’ trial, Bentley had testified in a number of cases involving the prosecution of her former com- rades in the American Communist Party. In each case, Bentley’s testimony had verged on the theatrical. At the Rosenbergs’ trial, she testified that she had received a numb er of late-night, espionage-related phone calls from a man who had called himself “Julius.” Bentley admitted that she had never met this man, however, and that she could not identify his voice. The Defense Whereas the prosecution’s theory of the case seemed relatively straightforward, the defense’s strategy was enigmatic. The defendants’ case was fraught with errors, ranging from minor to monumental. Most of these mistakes have been attributed to lead defense attorney Emanuel Bloch. Bloch’s first major mistake occurred during the DIRECT EXAMINATION of David Greenglass. When the prosecution sought to introduce one of the sketches that Greenglass had drawn, Bloch made a motion, asking the court to impound the exhibit. When the prosecution attempted to question Greenglass about his notes that accom panied the sketches, Bloch asked the court to clear the press and spectators from the courtroom to prevent any further leaks of atomic secrets. The prosecution, who had been expecting Bloch to challenge Greenglass’s qualifications to testify as an expert regarding the scientific significance of the sketches, happily concurred with Bloch’s dual motions. As it turns out, the prosecution had reason to be relieved. Several nuclear physicists vehemently disputed whether an ordinary machinist such as Greenglass possessed sufficient experience and educational backgroun d to testify or to explain the complex principles behind the atomic bomb. In an effort to obtain executive CLEMENCY for the Rosenbergs in 1953 , for example, Nobel Prize-winning physi cist Harol d Urey told President DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER that a “man of Greenglass’s capacity is wholly inca- pable of transmittin g the physics, chemistry, and mathematics o f the bomb to anyone.” Other physicists wondered why the Soviets would even want Greenglass’s sketches, as they already had received diagrams of the bomb from Fuchs, a nuclear s cientist. Bloch ne ver called any scientists to challenge Greenglass’s test imony. Historians have argued that by failing to challenge Greenglass’s scientific expertise and by asking the court to impound his sketches, Bloch convinc ed the jury that it was about to hear the secret of the atomic bomb. At least one of the Rosenberg jurors agreed with this analysis, stating that it was not until Bloch had asked the court to keep the Greenglass exhibits confidential that he had become impressed with the importance of the trial. A second major mistake occurred when Bloch failed to cross-examine Gold. Gold was an admitted liar. During a prior legal proceed- ing, he had told the court that as a result of his espionage activities he “had become so tangled up in a web of lies that it was easier to continue telling an occasional lie than to try and straighten out the whole hideous mess.” When the IMPEACHMENT value of this prior testimony is coupled with the large number of glaring inconsistencies between Gold’s testimony dur- ing the Rosenbergs’ trial and his pretrial accounts of the same events, Bloch’s decision against cross-examining Gold looms larger. The Controversy Continues Why Bloch made these mistakes is a question that remains unanswered. Although some historians claim that he was simply a bumbling attorney, Bloch had defended a number of defendants who had been accused of espionage and had developed a reputation as a competent litigator. Other historians have suggested that Bloch purposely botched the trial in an effort to make martyrs of the Rosenbergs as part of a larger socialist agenda. In any event, Bloch later expressed regret for his mistakes, attributing them, in part, to the politically charged legal climate of the times. GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION 436 ROSENBERGS TRIAL Indeed, during the early 1950s, hysteria over COMMUNISM pervaded almost every aspect of life in the United States. As a result, criminal defendants who were associated with commu- nist influences often received less-than-impartial hearings from judges and jurors. This paranoid fear of communism began to manifest itself shortly after World War II. Several events contributed to the concern about communism. In 1948 Greece, Turkey, and Czechoslovakia were under siege by com- munists. China came under communist control in the spring of 1949. On January 21, 1950, ALGER HISS, a former member of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration, was convicted of PERJURY for statements he had made in response to espionage charges that had been lodged against him. A few weeks after the Hiss conviction, Senator JOSEPH R. MCCARTHY from Wisconsin startled the nation by brand- ishing a list of 205 communists who, he asserted, were employed by the federal govern- ment. In June 1950, the KOREAN WAR erupted, and the Rosenbergs were arrested. This series of events affected the FBI’s investigation of the Rosenberg conspiracy. J. Edgar Hoover, the director of the FBI, had become concerned about public percept ion of his organization. Some officials had begun to question whether Hoover and the FBI were acting with sufficient vigilance to extinguish the internal communist threat. With each new revelation about communist spies in the U.S. government, Hoover took more severe mea- sures to shore up what some perceived as national security breaches. The Rosenberg case was an example of the most extreme measures taken by the FBI. Government files demonstrate that the FBI had expressed little interest in prosecuting Ethel Rosenberg until her husband refused to confess and implicate others in his spy ring. “There is no doubt,” Hoover wrote to the attorney general J. Howard McGrath, that “it would be possible to proceed against other individuals” if “Julius Rosenberg would furnish details of his extensive espionage activities.”“Proceeding against his wife,” Hoover emphasized, “might serve as a lever in this matter.” Shortly after this letter was written, Ethel was arrested and charged with the same crime as her husband. When Julius refused to cooperate with the FBI, the government informed the defendants that the death penalty would be sought in the event of their conviction. The FBI never relented from its use of Ethel as a “lever” against Julius, ultimately executing Ethel for her role as an accessory to the crime committed by her husband and brother. Declassified docu- ments show that the entire testimony relating to Ethel’s role as a typist for her husband’s espionage ring, which was the only evidence offered to implicate her in the conspiracy, had been concocted by the FBI and the Greenglasses just eight days before the trial began. Historians have raised other suspicions with regard to the FBI’s investigation of the Rosen- bergs. On May 22, 1950, Gold submitted an initial, written confession to the FBI. The confession made a passing reference to Albu- querque but made no assertion that he had been sent by “Julius” to see a man named “Green- glass” from whom he had acq uired secret information about the atomic bomb. Nor did the confession allude to irregularly shaped pieces of a Jell-O box or a Soviet agent named Yakovlev. After a number of subsequent interviews with the FBI, some of which had been conducted in the presence of David Greenglass, Gold said that he was able to remember each of the missing details that he had earlier “forgotten.” Walter and Miriam Schneir, authors of Invitation to an Inquest, have argued that these allegedly “forgot- ten” details were supplied to Gold by the FBI so that his story would corroborate the Green- glasses’ testimony. The FBI has steadfastly maintained that it did nothing improper, unethical, or illegal to jog Gold’smemory,and declassified government files from the case have offered no “smoking gun.” Many supporters of the Rosenbergs who have long suspected that the FBI manufactured evidence to strengthen its case do not deny tha t Julius was involved in some form of espionage for the Soviet Union. In 1995 the NSA released 49 decoded Soviet intelligence messages that it had intercepted during World War II. These messages offered proof that Julius, whose code name was “Liberal,” was the ringleader of an espionage network of young U.S. communists who pro- vided the Soviets with documents relating to classified radar and aircraft information. The intercepted messages imply that Julius might have been involved in efforts to obtain information from the Manhattan Project but GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION ROSENBERGS TRIAL 437 . "Teddy" Roosevelt. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Theodore Roosevelt 185 8–1919 ▼▼ ▼▼ 185 0 185 0 19251925 19001900 187 5 187 5 ❖ ❖ ◆ 185 8 Born, New York City 186 1–65 U.S. Civil War 188 0 Graduated from Harvard University 188 4 86 Retreated. as the head of the PROGRESSIVE PARTY. GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION 430 ROOSEVELT, THEODORE Roosevelt was born on October 27, 185 8, in New York City, a descendant of a wealthy. Coal Ac t. In some of these cases Chief Justice Hughes sided GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION 4 28 ROOSEVELT, FRANKLIN DELANO government spending, and by June 19 38 the economy had