Today in Labor History February 11, 1953: Cold War: U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower denied all appeals for clemency for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. The government executed them at Sing Sing in 1953. They had been convicted of espionage for the USSR. Their sons, Michael and Robert Meeropol (adopted by Abel Merepol, composer of the anti-lynching song “Strange Fruit,”), maintained their parents’ innocence. However, after the fall of the Soviet Union, decoded Soviet cables showed that their father had collaborated. They continued to fight for the mother’s pardon, but Obama refused to grant it.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #rosenbergs #espionage #deathpenalty #execution #ussr #soviet #communism #prison #coldwar #obama #eisenhower #StrangeFruit
Strange Fruit recorded by Billie Holiday (about the lynching days) written by Abel Meeropol (Lewis Allan)...
@MikeDunnAuthor@kolektiva.so A nicely sung song here and bit of haunting lyrics about the lynching days:
https://iv.melmac.space/watch?v=-DGY9HvChXk
(non-google Invidious YouTube link)
█Lyrics to Strange Fruit recorded by Billie Holiday
(written by Abel Meeropol under his pseudonym Lewis Allan)
Southern trees bear strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees
Pastoral scene of the gallant south
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh
Here is fruit for the crows to pluck
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop Here is a strange and bitter crop
#History #workingclass #LaborHistory #rosenbergs #espionage #deathpenalty #execution #russian #ussr #soviet #communism #prison #coldwar #obama #eisenhower #StrangeFruit
