Word: greenglasses
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...with having been ring-leaders of a Soviet spying organization which during the Second World War succeeded in pilfering what was then referred to as "the secret of the atomic bomb." They were tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. The case turned on two key witnesses. One was David Greenglass, Ethel Rosenberg's brother, who cooperated with the government and sent his sister and brother-in-law to the electric chair in return for a reduced sentence. The other was Harry Gold, a self-confessed spy who also traded his testimony for a lighter punishment. After two years of appeals...
...during the weeks preceding the executions massive protests took place in cities throughout the world (the first major anti-American demonstrations of the post-war period), the furor over the case died very quickly. The Rosenberg children, Michael and Robert, were adopted by a family whose name they took. Greenglass went to prison, served part of his time, and is presently living under an assumed name. Harry Gold died ten years ago, shortly after his release from prison...
Gold claimed that when he contacted David Greenglass in New Mexico to collect information his password was "I come from Julius." This was the only direct connection he ever made between himself and the Rosenbergs. Interestingly enough, the FBI man who interrogated him has admitted that at first Gold could not remember the name used in the password but thought it was something like "Benny" of "John." It was only when asked by the investigator if it might have been Julius that Gold suddenly recalled the exact phrase...
...Gold's story, Sobell's lawyers claimed that he never met Greenglass when he said he did. They said Gold's hotel registration card was forged (supposedly by the FBI). Wholly unproved, ruled Judge Weinfeld, quietly noting that Sobell's petition contained no affidavit from the one person who knows the facts-the still available room clerk who presumably handled the card...
Finally, the Sobell petition claimed that the Government suppressed recordings of 1950 interviews between Gold and his lawyer, which might have revealed perjury in his story of the Greenglass meeting. Such suppression, said Weinfeld, was impossible. Because the recordings were protected by the "lawyer-client privilege," they were not even given to the FBI until 21 years after the trial. Moreover, said the judge, "a careful reading of the transcripts of the recordings and all other material, rather than supporting petitioner's charges, strongly corroborates Gold's trial testimony." In short, ruled Weinfeld, Sobell has nothing to complain...