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.