Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were married American citizens who were convicted and executed for conspiracy to commit espionage. They were the first American civilians to receive the death penalty during peacetime. The couple grew up in immigrant families on Manhattanβs Lower East Side and met while in high school. They became active members of the Communist Party in the 1930s. Julius worked as an electrical engineer and later as a civilian engineer for the U.S. Army Signal Corps, while Ethel worked as a clerk. During World War II, they became involved in passing U.S. military and nuclear information to the Soviet Union. Arrested in 1950, they were convicted in March 1951 and in April 1951 they were sentenced to death. After several years of failed clemency appeals, they were executed in the electric chair at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York, on June 19, 1953.
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