Title: Michael Meeropol Speeches
Inclusive Dates: 1975

Creator:

• Meeropol, Michael

Call Number: Tape 835A

Quantity: 2 tape recordings

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Tape recording of a December 11, 1975 speech and press conference conducted in Madison, Wisconsin, by Michael Meeropol, son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, as part of the effort of the National Committee to Reopen the Rosenberg Case to induce the federal government to release all official files on the case.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-tape00835a

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Michael Meeropol (born 1943) is one of two sons of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. The Rosenbergs were convicted in 1951 of conspiracy to commit espionage, and were executed on June 19, 1953. On December 11, 1975, Meeropol appeared in Madison, Wisconsin on behalf of the National Committee to Reopen the Rosenberg Case. The group was attempting to induce the federal government to release all official files pertaining to the Rosenbergs, arrest and trial.

Julius Rosenberg was an engineer who worked during World War II for the U.S. Army Signal Corps as a product inspector in New York City. He was fired from his job with the Army in 1945 on the grounds that he was a communist. A year later Rosenberg and his brothers-in-law, Bernard and David Greenglass, established their own machine shop. Over the next three years the business gradually failed and Rosenberg and David Greenglass became increasingly hostile partners. In 1949 the Greenglasses took other jobs and left the business to Rosenberg.

Very soon after this break between the Greenglasses and Rosenberg, investigations commenced that eventually led to the arrests for espionage not only of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, but also of David Greenglass, Harry Gold, a chemist in Philadelphia, and Morton Sobell, an acquaintance of Julius Rosenberg. In February of 1950 Klaus Fuchs, a British physicist, admitted having given atomic secrets to the Soviet Union. In May, Harry Gold claimed that he had been Fuch's American courier. Within two more months, David Greenglass, who worked as a machinist at the Los Alamos Atomic Project during World War II, had confessed to being Gold's accomplice and had provided the FBI with evidence for the arrest of Julius Rosenberg as the person who had recruited Greenglass to engage in espionage. In August, Ethel Rosenberg was arrested as a conspirator for having been the spy ring's typist. Finally, one week after Ethel Rosenberg's arrest, the FBI brought charges against Morton Sobell.

The prosecution's contentions in the Rosenberg-Sobell case, as it came generally to be known, depended on the testimony of Harry Gold and David Greenglass and his wife Ruth and on a certain amount of physical and circumstantial evidence. Critics of the government's case, both before and after the executions of the Rosenbergs, claimed that the witnesses lied to protect themselves and that government employees coached them for months to assure that their evidence would be consistent. Critics also regarded the physical and circumstantial evidence as both irrelevant and contrived. The Rosenberg-Sobell case very quickly became an international cause celebre and has continued to inspire a regular output of published exposes and apologias.

Michael Meeropol [then Rosenberg] and his brother Robert (born in 1947), after a number of moves between homes of friends and relatives of the Rosenbergs, were placed with Abel and Anne Meeropol of New York City in December of 1953. The next September that arrangement was made permanent and in 1957 the boys were legally adopted by the Meeropols. Both sons of the Rosenbergs became active radical reformers in the 1960s and 1970s, both went through Ph.D. programs (Michael in economics at the University of Wisconsin, Robert in anthropology at the University of Michigan), and both settled, with their families, in Springfield, Massachusetts. In 1973 they ended their public anonymity to initiate a lawsuit against Louis Nizer, author of The Implosion Conspiracy, a book the Meeropols claimed reproduced private letters without their permission and misrepresented their parents and themselves. In February, 1974, the National Committee to Reopen the Rosenberg Case was founded and the Meeropols decided to co-operate with its members. Together they also wrote We Are Your Sons, a reminiscence and autobiography published in 1975.

These tapes record a press conference conducted in the office of Madison's Mayor Paul Soglin and a speech that Michael Meeropol presented in the Great Hall of the University of Wisconsin's Memorial Union. Meeropol also answered a few questions from the floor following his speech. The press conference is complete on Tape 1; the speech on Tape 2.

The Social Action Collection of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin includes many audio tapes of speeches, meetings, public gatherings, and other events that do not conform to the format of the one-on-one oral history interview. These tapes are among the first to have been abstracted by using the TAPE processing method modified to suit less standard and predictable formats than the structured interview.

The tapes have two tracks: a voice track containing the presentation and a time track containing time announcements at intervals of approximately five seconds. The abstract below lists, in order of presentation, the topics covered on the tapes, and indicates the time-marking at which point each particular segment begins. These time-markings are keyed to a time announcement, heard at five-second intervals, on the second track of the tape.

Thus, the researcher by using a tape recorder's fast-forward button may find expeditiously and listen to discrete segments without listening to all of the taped presentation. For instance, the user who wishes to listen to the remarks about “Justice Department Report (1956) About Jerome Tardico” should locate the place on the second track of tape one, side one where the voice announces the 06:15 time-marking (the voice says at this point, “six minutes, fifteen seconds”), and at this point switch to the first track to hear the commentary. The discussion on “Justice Department Report (1956) About Jerome Tardico” continues until approximately 10:25, at which point the next topic (“Compares Madison Police Affinity to FBI Files”) begins.

Notice that in many cases sentences beneath each headline explain more about the content of the topic. For example, the sentences underneath “Justice Department Report (1956) About Jerome Tardico” give further details on what appears on the tape between 06:15 and 10:25.

Statements, questions, and answers that have been transcribed verbatim from the tape to the abstract are given in quotation marks. Other entries in the abstract are either paraphrases or condensed topical statements. At certain points the abstract may give the researcher information about the quality of the sound on the tape, the identity of a speaker, the continuity of a discussion or answer, or other aspects of the recorded presentation as they occur. Information of that kind appears in brackets.

The abstract is designed to provide a brief outline of the content of the tapes and cannot serve as a substitute for listening to them. However, the abstract will help the researcher easily locate distinct topics among the many minutes of presentation.

The State Historical Society of Wisconsin holds the Records (1946-1969 of the Committee to Secure Justice for Morton Sobell. There are also documentary references to Sobell and the Rosenbergs in the Papers (1880-1969) of Alexander Meiklejohn. See also the legal brief of Marshall Perlin in the case of the Meeropol brothers against Louis Nizer and the Doubleday Company, charging them with violation of copyright and invasion of privacy.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Richard Mahler, University of Wisconsin News and Publications Service, December 29, 1975. Accession Number: M75-608

Processing Information

Processed by Thomas S. Flory, July 18, 1980.

Tape/Side   1/1 Time   00:00	Introduction
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   00:30	Introduction of Michael Meeropol by Mayor Paul Soglin Scope and Content Note: Compares Madison Police affinity files, recently publicized, to methods used by government to convict Rosenbergs.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   02:10	Preliminary Remarks by Michael Meeropol
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   03:25	False Impression in Press That Meeropols Have Access to All Government Files on Rosenbergs Scope and Content Note: Most material still not released. Government asked exemption from Freedom of Information Act.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   05:50	Government Has Tried to Release Only Material Supporting Its Case Scope and Content Note: Only new evidence is confession of Jerome Tardico [?], FBI informer.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   06:15	Justice Department Report (1956) on Jerome Tardico[?] Scope and Content Note: Tardico labelled “of unknown reliability”. Not called as witness. Justice Department and right-wing columnists now bring up Tardico's confession to discredit effort to reopen case.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   10:25	Compares Madison Police Affinity Files to FBI Files
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   10:50	Meeropols, Lawsuit Based on Freedom of Information Act Scope and Content Note: Judge's order that government provide inventories of records and justifications for not supplying records.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   12:10	Current Issue over Compliance with Judge's Order Scope and Content Note: FBI has tampered with original documents. Request for contempt judgments against FBI and CIA.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   14:20	Question: “How Much Is This Costing You?”
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   14:25	Answer: National Committee to Reopen Rosenberg Case Adopted Budget of $600,000 Scope and Content Note: Details of budget.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   15:40	Question: Were Rosenbergs and Sobell Prosecuted “to Lend Credence to the Arms Race”?
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   16:10	Answer: Rosenberg Case Provided “the National Security Justification for Anything” Scope and Content Note: Dissent identified with disloyalty beginning with Truman loyalty program in 1947.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   17:55	[Answer Continues.] Antiwar Activists of 1960s Did Not Understand Persistence of Cold War Mentality Scope and Content Note: Lacked understanding of feeling that dissent means disloyalty. Reopening Rosenberg-Sobell case will teach origins of that “mindset”.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   19:25	Question: What Will You Do if Government Files Confirm Fraud in Rosenberg-Sobell Case?
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   19:45	Answer: Bring Civil Suit for Wrongful Death Scope and Content Note: Suit will give subpoena power.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   21:10	Question: How Will You Get Further Access to Government Files?
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   21:15	Answer: Have Filed Suit for Access to All Files
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   21:40	Question: You Want Legal Determination of Entitlement to All Files?
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   21:45	Answer: Yes Scope and Content Note: Much evidence of Rosenbergs' innocence even without government files.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   22:40	Question: Why Do You Think the CIA and FBI Framed Your Parents?
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   22:45	Answer: Don't Know if They Framed Them Scope and Content Note: Government agents framed them, but “I don't know exactly how high the frame-up goes.”
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   23:15	[Answer Continues.] In Conspiracy Case, Requirements of Evidence Are Lax Scope and Content Note: Defects in Greenglasses' testimony.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   25:55	[Answer Continues.] Collusion Between Atomic Energy Commission and Prosecutors to Assure Death Penalty Scope and Content Note: Wanted death penalty to scare Rosenbergs into confessing. Before trial Judge agreed to impose death penalty.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   26:45	Question: Has Anti-Semitism Affected Public Attitudes towards Case?
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   26:55	Answer: In Political Trials Defendants Vulnerable if Members of Minority Groups Scope and Content Note: Gives examples.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   28:40	End of Tape 1, Side 1
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   00:00	Introduction
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   00:30	Comment from Press: No Jews in Rosenberg Jury. Tried by Jury of Neighbors, Not Peers
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   00:40	Response: Jurors Influenced by Press and by Rosenbergs Invoking Fifth Amendment Scope and Content Note: Jurors still feel they made right decision.
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   01:15	Question: How Much Interest in the Country in What You Are Doing?
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   01:20	Answer: Tremendous Interest in the Files Scope and Content Note: Many feel files should be released.
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   02:45	Question: When Government Gave You Information about Greenglasses' Testimony, Was It Intentional or Mistake?
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   02:55	Answer: Mistake Scope and Content Note: Information came from Criminal Division of Justice Department, not FBI.
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   03:05	Question: “Was That the Biggest Thing So Far?”
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   03:05	Answer: Other Information in Same Report Scope and Content Note: David Greenglass inconsistent about Ethel Rosenberg's role; Harry Gold about Julius Rosenberg's role. Prosecution knew about discrepancies and did not inform judge.
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   06:00	Question: When You Became Known as Rosenbergs' Son, Did You Feel Public Hostility?
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   06:15	Answer: No
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   07:55	Question: Have You Tried to See David Greenglass? What Would You Say to Him?
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   08:15	Answer: Haven't Seen Him. “I Don't Know What I Would Say” Scope and Content Note: Wants to see him in court.
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   08:40	Question: How Will You Combat News Reports that Government Files Support Government Case?
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   09:05	Answer: With Press Releases and Willingness to Speak to Media Scope and Content Note: A function of local committees.
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   09:45	Question: “How Do You Account for the Newspaper Articles Coming Out in the First Place?”
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   09:50	Answer: “The Justice Department Is Doing a Good Snow Job.” Scope and Content Note: New York Times has been “especially bad”.
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   11:40	Comment from Floor: ABC Network Worried that Press Conference Called to Promote Meeropols' Book
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   11:50	Response: “Now?” Book Promotion Held Last May
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   12:10	Question: “How Was the CIA Involved in this Case?”
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   12:10	Answer: “We Don't Know.” Scope and Content Note: British spy Klaus Fuchs supplied all necessary information, thus Rosenbergs not needed. CIA files supplied so far mainly about Fuchs.
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   12:55	Question: “How High” in U.S. Government Did Conspiracy Against Rosenbergs Go?
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   13:00	Answer: “We Have No Way of Knowing.” Scope and Content Note: J. Edgar Hoover, Atomic Energy Commission knew about it. Maybe an attorney general. Crimes of government prosecutors.
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   14:35	Closing Remarks by Michael Meeropol
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   15:25	End of Press Conference
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   00:00	Introduction
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   00:30	[Speech Joined in Progress.] Rosenberg Case Reveals Origins of “Anti-Communist Mindset” Scope and Content Note: Ignorance of 1960s. Frauds in case against Rosenbergs: idea of atom bomb “secrets”; connection between domestic radicalism and Soviet espionage.
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   01:25	Julius Rosenberg Never Contrived a “Cover” Scope and Content Note: Spies try to be inconspicuous; Rosenberg a public radical.
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   03:35	Klaus Fuchs Only Definite Spy in Case Scope and Content Note: Had adequate access to secrets alone.
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   05:30	Political Trial Scope and Content Note: Rosenbergs good scapegoats. Others in case did not suit government's purpose. Attempt to intimidate Rosenbergs with death penalty.
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   08:15	Conspiracy Trial Requires Little Proof Scope and Content Note: Espionage also requires little proof compared to treason. Evidence that Greenglasses and Gold lied. Reference to Senate Bill 1 under consideration.
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   11:20	Current Fight to Open Files Scope and Content Note: Rulings in Meeropols' favor. Government not complying. Atomic Energy Commission files show Gold not Fuchs's courier. Asking contempt judgment against FBI and CIA.
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   16:00	Fight Just Beginning Scope and Content Note: Local and national organizing to publicize Meeropols' case. Need public support.
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   18:55	Need for Critical Thinking About Government Scope and Content Note: Rosenberg case shows precedents for recent scandals in government.
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   20:50	Call for Questions
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   21:15	Question: “How Do You Feel This Relates to Your Parents Being Jewish?”
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   21:20	Answer: In Political Trial Defendants Vulnerable if Members of Minority Group Scope and Content Note: Trial a “field day,” for anti-Semites. Jewish judges went to extremes to appear impartial.
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   22:15	Question: What Is Senate Bill 1?
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   22:15	Answer: Supposed Re-Drafting of Criminal Code Scope and Content Note: Actually attempt to legalize practices Supreme Court has ruled illegal. Crimes in “national interest” allowed.
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   24:35	End of Presentation and Responses to Questions