Ethel Rosenberg
Definition
Ethel Rosenberg was an American citizen who, along with her husband Julius, was executed for espionage in 1953 after being accused of sharing secrets about nuclear technology with the Soviet Union during World War II.
Analogy
Imagine if you were playing a game where everyone had their own secret recipe for making cookies. Ethel would be like someone who shared her secret recipe (in this case, nuclear secrets) with another player (the Soviets), which is against game rules.
Related terms
McCarthyism: The practice named after Senator Joseph McCarthy characterized by allegations without proof or based on slight evidence regarding disloyalty or subversion; often associated with anti-communist hysteria.
Red Scare: The fear that communists both outside and inside America were working to destroy American life, leading to a range of actions that had profound and enduring effects on U.S. government and society.
Venona Project: A counterintelligence program initiated by the United States Army's Signal Intelligence Service (later the National Security Agency) that discovered Julius and Ethel Rosenberg's espionage activities.
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