September 28, 1915 Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg born
March 1917 The Russian Revolution begins
1917 Espionage Act that the Rosenbergs are convicted of violating is enacted
May 12, 1918 Julius Rosenberg born
1929 Communist Party of the United States is founded
Early 1930's Julius Rosenberg is member of Young Communist League; campaigns for Scottsboro Boys
1934 Julius Rosenberg enters City College of New York; is involved in radical politics
Summer 1939 Julius and Ethel Rosenberg married
December 7, 1941 United States enters World War II after the attack on Pearl Harbor
1942 Julius Rosenberg becomes member of U. S. Signal Corps
1943 Rosenbergs cease open activities with Communist Party; Daily Worker subscription stops
1943 Soviet spymaster Feklisov first meets with Julius Rosenberg
July 1944 David Greenglass chosen to work on the Manhattan Project
November 1944 Julius Rosenberg recruits aid of Greenglasses in obtaining information about the Manhattan Project
December 1944 Julius Rosenberg provides Soviets with a proximity fuse
January 1945 David Greenglass provides his own notes and a sketch of a high-explosive lens from the Manhattan Project
June 1945 Harry Gold meets with Greenglass in Albuqurque
July 16, 1945 United States explodes first Atom bomb at Alamogordo, New Mexico
August 6, 1945 United States drops Atom bomb at Hiroshima
September 2, 1945 World War II ends with the Japanese surrender
September, 1945 Greenglass meets with Rosenberg while on forlough in New York
1945 Julius Rosenberg is dismissed from U. S. Signal Corps
1946 Feklisov meets with Julius Rosenberg for the last time
Late 1946

The Venona Code is broken

1947 Rosenberg's machine shop business fails
June 30, 1948 Max Elitcher and Morton Sobell drive to Catherine Slip where Sobell met with Julius Rosenberg to exchange microfilm
August 28, 1949 Soviets detonate their first Atom bomb
January 21, 1950 Alger Hiss convicted of perjury in denying that he passed secret documents to Communist agent Whittaker Chambers
February 2, 1950 Klaus Fuchs arrested
March 1950 Julius Rosenberg warns Greenglass to flee country
May 1950 Rosenberg asks his physician about what kind of shots are necessary for trip to Mexico
May 22, 1950 Harry Gold confesses to the FBI
May or June 1950 Rosenbergs visit a photographer to obtain passport photos
June 15, 1950 David Greenglass names Julius as the man who recruited him to spy for the Soviet Union
June 16, 1950 Julius Rosenberg is first interviewed by FBI; Joel Barr disappears in Paris
June 30, 1950 United States forces engage in the Korean War
July 17, 1950 Julius Rosenberg arrested while shaving
August 11, 1950 Ethel Rosenberg arrested
August 1950 Sobell and family are kidnapped by Mexican thugs and delivered to U. S. authorities at border
January 31, 1951 Grand jury indicts Rosenbergs, Sobell, David Greenglass, and Yakolev
February 1951 Greenglasses change their story, implicating Ethel Rosenberg in spy activities
March 6, 1951 Trial begins
March 15, 1951 William Perl is arrested on espionage charge
March 28, 1951 Trial ends
March 29, 1951 Jury returns verdict: Guilty of conspiracy to commit espionage
April 5, 1951 Judge Kaufman imposes the death sentence on Rosenbergs, sentences Sobell to 30 years
January 10, 1952 Appeal before the United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
February 25, 1952 Appeal denied by Second Circuit Court of Appeals in opinion by Judge Jerome Frank
October 13, 1952 Supreme Court announces that it ruled against granting certiorari on the Rosenberg's appeal
June 13, 1953 Supreme Court denies stay of execution
June 17, 1953 Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas grants stay of execution
June 19, 1953 Supreme Court, in special session, vacates Justice Douglas's stay of execution
June 19, 1953 Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are executed
June 21, 1953 Funeral of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
1960 Proximity fuse enables Soviets to shoot down American U-2 spy plane over Soviet territory
1969 Martin Sobell is released from prison
1970- 1974 Khrushchev tape records his memoirs containing observations on the Rosenbergs spy role
1985 Barr and Sarant flee to Soviet Union
1990 Khrushchev memoirs are published, suggesting that Rosenbergs helped Soviets acquire the A-bomb
July 11, 1995 Decoded Venona cables indicating Rosenberg's involvement in espionage are released by NSA and CIA
1997 Soviet spymaster Feklisov admits in interviews that he met with Julius Rosenberg between 1943 and 1946
2001 David Greenglass admits that the trial testimony of the Greenglasses concerning Ethel Rosenberg's role in the conspiracy was perjured.
2008 Martin Sobell finally admits that he spied for the Soviet Union. Also, newly released grand jury testimony suggests that the Greenglasses may have lied in their trial testimony when they stated that Ethel Rosenberg typed up the secret information provided to the Soviets. In her grand jury testimony, Ruth Greenglass said that she wrote the secret information in longhand--testimony that is consistent with decoded Soviet cables indicating that the material came to them in longhand form.

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