On this day, June 19, 57 years ago, at the age of eight and a half, current events, rather than history, began for the author!
I remember vividly watching television, and having whatever show I was watching, being suddenly interrupted by a news bulletin, declaring that “The Rosenbergs”, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, convicted atomic spies, had been executed, leaving behind two young sons!
For a little boy, the whole concept of execution was shocking enough and scary enough that it became the first real memory of current events that I would recall! I did not understand the whole case at that young an age, but as I studied it in later years, I became convinced that this couple were not given a fair trial, and doubts still exist even today as to the guilt of one or both of them!
Their sons have spent a lifetime trying to clear their parents’ names, but the fact is that it was unprecedented that President Dwight D. Eisenhower would NOT give them a pardon from the death penalty, and instead give them life without parole!
Why was it shocking what Ike did? Because NEVER before or since has any convicted spy been executed, with all of them having a life term instead! 🙁
Why did the Rosenbergs have to die? It is obvious that it was a “political” trial in the era of McCarthyism, and that the couple had to be the “sacrificial lambs” to quiet those led by Joseph McCarthy involved in promoting the Red Scare!
So for 57 years now, the author has been witnessing what others call “history”, but he considers “current events!” 🙂