Most Deserved Executions

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg (1953):

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were American communists who were convicted and executed in 1953, for conspiracy and spying during a time of war. Their charges were connected with the passing of information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. This was the first execution of civilians for espionage in U.S. history.

The end of World War II began the beginning of the Cold War. An era dominated by the U.S. and its Western allies facing off against the Soviet Union and its allies, the Cold War was brought home by the Red Scare. Americans feared an arrival of Soviet spies in the U.S. and there was public protest to identify and punish those responsible for espionage against the U.S. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were the highest profile persons to have been convicted and executed for selling nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union. The couple met their end in an electric chair.