TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Rosenberg Friend Admits Spy Role

ADVERTISEMENT

The New York Times

Published: September 12, 2008

NEW YORK - In 1951, Morton Sobell was tried and convicted with Julius and Ethel Rosenberg on espionage charges. He served more than 18 years in Alcatraz and other federal prisons, then traveled to Cuba and Vietnam after his release in 1969 and became an advocate for progressive causes.

Through it all, he maintained his innocence.

But on Thursday, Sobell, 91, dramatically reversed himself, shedding new light on a case that still fans smoldering political passions. In an interview, he admitted for the first time that he had been a Soviet spy.

And he implicated his fellow defendant Julius Rosenberg in a conspiracy that delivered to the Soviets classified military and industrial information and what the American government described as the secret to the atomic bomb.

In the interview with The New York Times, Sobell, who lives in the Bronx, was asked whether, as an electrical engineer, he turned over military secrets to the Soviets during World War II when they were considered allies of the United States and were bearing the brunt of Nazi brutality.

Was he, in fact, a spy? "Yeah, yeah, yeah, call it that," he replied. "I never thought of it as that in those terms."

Sobell also concurred in what has become a consensus among historians: that Ethel Rosenberg was aware of her husband's espionage, but did not actively participate. "She knew what he was doing," he said, "but what was she guilty of? Of being Julius' wife."

Sobell made his revelations Thursday as the National Archives released most of the grand jury testimony in the espionage conspiracy case against him and the Rosenbergs.

Sobell's admission bolsters what has become a widely held view among historians: that Julius Rosenberg was, indeed, guilty of spying, but that his wife was at most a bit player in the conspiracy.

Both Rosenbergs were electrocuted.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT