Secretary of State John Foster Dulles Discusses Justice Douglas’s Stay of Execution in the Rosenberg Case with Allen Dulles (1953)

Date: June 17, 1953

Original or Replica: Original

Era: The Presidency, The Rosenberg Case

Collection: Eisenhower Presidential Library

Citations: John Foster Dulles Papers, Telephone Conversation Series, Box 1, Telephone Memo May-June 1953 (1); NAID #12608522

This June 17, 1953 memorandum records a brief telephone conversation between Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and his brother, CIA Director Allen Dulles, concerning a sudden development in the case of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. The conversation occurred after Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas granted a stay of execution, temporarily preventing the Rosenbergs’ scheduled execution. John Foster Dulles informed Allen Dulles of the decision and expressed frustration over the uncertainty it created.

According to the memorandum, Allen Dulles responded that the stay had put the situation “in a hell of a mess.” He believed the matter might not be resolved until October unless Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson called the Supreme Court into a special session. The document captures the immediate reaction of two senior Eisenhower administration officials to an unexpected legal intervention in one of the most controversial espionage cases of the Cold War. Although extremely brief, the memorandum demonstrates the uncertainty surrounding the Rosenbergs’ fate during their final days and the attention the case received at the highest levels of the federal government. The Supreme Court was ultimately called into a special session, Douglas’s stay was overturned, and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed on June 19, 1953.