Letter from Michael Rosenberg to President Dwight Eisenhower

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Description

In a letter to President Eisenhower, 10-year-old Michael Rosenberg and 6-year-old Robert Rosenberg pleaded for the lives of their parents, convicted spies Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, stating, “We love them very much.” Julius and Ethel were U.S. citizens sentenced to death for passing secret information on the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. Supporters of the Rosenbergs lobbied for an executive pardon, but it was not granted. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed on June 19, 1953. After their parents’ deaths, the Rosenberg children were adopted by Abel and Anne Meeropol.

Transcript

Dear Mr. President,

Please don’t leave my brother and I without a Mommy and Daddy.
They have alwas [sic] been good to us. We love them very much.

Micheal and Robert Rosenberg
36 Laurel Hill Terrace
New York, N.Y.

New York, NY
Feb 16
6 PM
1953

SAVE THE EASY WAY
BUY U.S. BONDS ON
PAYROLL SAVINGS

President Dwight D. Eisenhower
White House
Washington, DC

Personal

Citation

This primary source comes from the Records of the Office of the Pardon Attorney.

National Archives Identifier: 7861671

Full Citation: Letter from Michael Rosenberg to President Dwight Eisenhower; 2/16/1953; Rosenberg, Julius and Ethel; Case Files for Significant Pardon Cases, 1925–1999; Records of the Office of the Pardon Attorney, Record Group 204; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. [Online Version, https://docsteach.org/document/letter-from-michael-rosenberg-to-president-dwight-eisenhower/, January 27, 2026]

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