The Rosenbergs

Our NY Times was delivered early today - the paper “boy” accidentally got it to us before noon today. In the Times, there was a story about a sad anniversary this week; it’s been 50 years since Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for treason on flimsy, secret evidence, leaving two small children.

Not a great way to start Father’s Day. But the linkage goes a bit deeper. What’s that? Tell you more? Glad you asked. Howard Fast was my grandfather’s neighbor in the Bronx in the 1950s. Together, they were two leading members of the Communist Party in New York, and they started a “Free the Rosenbergs” campaign. From Democracy Now:

The death sentence was reserved for the Rosenbergs. And there's much I could say about the Rosenberg case. The movement to save the Rosenbergs was begun by a man called Julian Trupin, T-R-U-P-I-N, a wonderful, wonderful man, who was one of my dearest friends, and myself. We began that movement, and it grew from there, and we did it because we felt that under the circumstances, they were not guilty.

Happy Father’s Day.