Ronald Radosh in the NY Post:
June 19, 2003 -- Fifty years ago on this day, I stood with a few thousand largely Jewish and left-wing New Yorkers on a street off Union Square, vainly hoping that our vigil would call off the executions of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.It's hard to dent granite.
Tonight, the remnants of those who either believe in the Rosenbergs' innocence or still proclaim them heroic martyrs who died for their commitment to justice, peace and a "progressive" America are meeting at Manhattan Center to commemorate the day and to honor the legacy and memory of the Rosenbergs.
They will hear speeches from the Rosenbergs' sons, Robert and Michael Meeropol; from Harry Belafonte; from the ever-present Susan Sarandon, and (of course) from Pete Seeger, who seems to be devoting his senior years to heralding the long-lost causes of his youth.
This time, I will not be among those attending.
Writing in these pages in 1995, my late friend Eric Breindel, then The Post's editorial page editor, noted that "books, articles and documents have, for years, made . . . plain [that] . . . the Rosenbergs' guilt has certainly been a settled issue."
Here it is almost a decade later, and it seems that nothing will stop the Rosenbergs' defenders from carrying on and trying to renew their campaign. No amount of newly discovered evidence, no accumulation of new facts seems to have made a dent in their minds.
