American Traitors: The Rosenbergs

American History Hit

History Hit

America, History

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 28 August 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week we’re stepping heart of Cold War America with the story of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Accused of espionage and executed at the height of anti-communist paranoia, their trial gripped the nation due to the controversy, family betrayal, and questions of justice that still echo today.

Join host Don Wildman and historian Professor Lori Clune as they unravel the secrets, the courtroom drama, and the enduring legacy of a case that changed history forever.

You can find out more about Professor Clune's work here.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi there, it's your host Don Wildben just jumping in to say that this episode includes a description of execution.
0:06.1	So if you're not up to that today, please feel free to check out some of our many other episodes in our back catalog.
0:12.4	Thanks.
0:15.0	We are back in court, full of dread and doom.
0:18.6	A heavy weight sits in our stomachs.
0:20.8	The last time here, the attorneys delivered their final arguments. full of dread and doom. A heavy weight sits in our stomachs.
0:24.4	The last time here, the attorneys delivered their final arguments.
0:27.1	Then the jury delivered its verdict.
0:29.7	And that verdict was guilty.
0:33.0	Well, we've beaten the odds.
0:37.4	Of the 40 treason cases charged since this nation's founding, only 13 have ended in conviction.
0:40.6	Lucky us.
0:41.9	Now we wait to be sentenced.
0:44.0	The possibilities are limited and run the gamut.
0:48.1	We will be barred from holding public office without question.
0:52.0	We may be fined, no less than $10,000.
0:55.5	We may be imprisoned, a minimum of five years.
0:59.7	And then there is the final option.
1:02.6	One exercised only three times in American history.
1:06.5	William Bruce Mumford hanged in 1862 and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, executed in 1953.
1:31.0	Hello and welcome to American History Hit. I'm Don Wildman.
1:35.0	There's a lot of grim history wrapped up in the Cold War.
	...

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