White House Prepares for Pope Pius XII’s Appeal to Eisenhower for Clemency in the Rosenberg Case (1953)

Date: February 13, 1953

Original or Replica: Original

Era: The Presidency, The Rosenberg Case

Collection: Eisenhower Presidential Library

Citations: John Foster Dulles Papers, JFD Chronological Series, Box 1, Chronological – JFD February 1953 Telephone Calls; NAID #12608516

This February 13, 1953 memorandum of a telephone conversation records White House preparations for a message from Pope Pius XII concerning the fate of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. The document states that Mrs. Ann Whitman, President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s personal secretary, contacted Secretary of State John Foster Dulles after learning through the Associated Press and United Press that the Pope had intervened in the Rosenberg case. Whitman checked with White House staff and learned that no official communication from the Vatican had yet been received.

Whitman then asks Dulles for advice about what Eisenhower should say at his upcoming press conference if questioned about the Pope’s intervention. Dulles recommends that the president state that neither the White House nor the State Department had received the communication and that nothing further could be said until the message had been received and reviewed.

The memorandum also records that both Whitman and Dulles believed the Pope had made his appeal before Eisenhower announced his decision on the Rosenbergs’ request for clemency. The document provides a behind-the-scenes look at how the White House and State Department coordinated their public response to the intense international pressure surrounding the Rosenberg executions, including an appeal from one of the world’s most prominent religious leaders.