Public Burning

by Robert Coover

  The Rosenberg case focuses attention once again on the fact that Communism is a profound spiritual and psychological evil as well as a conspiratorial and military force…. “He that loves a son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” Communism has proven to be a vicious caricature of Christianity. The Rosenbergs, who were willing to betray their people, their country, and humanity itself, stand ready now to leave their own two children orphans….

  Yes, The Commonweal is right, something so malignant here as to fall beyond a decent man’s understanding: who can account for a Spirit so perverse that it turns Jesus on His head and tears perniciously at the roots of parenthood all at once, mocks sainthood and the social contract at a stroke? These two boys, so cheaply exhibited these past few weeks, yet so pathetic…and the President himself is a father, is he not, a grandfather, an affectionate man who tragically lost his first little boy; only a day or so ago there was that touching scene with Smokey Bear, and now Father’s Day coming up Sunday—who in all this crowd can truthfully say he or she would deny these boys their parents, this family their longed-for reunion? And who is not, at the same time, flushed with awe and excitement at watching this real-life drama, its tragic end foretold, unfold inexorably before their very eyes? And listen, not only must the President orphan these two small boys, he must—this gallant lover from the border wars—kill a woman in cold blood. Could Bill Hart have strung up little Eva—or even the town trollop? Could old Lafe McKee or Bill Farnum bring such a judgment down on a lady, even were she Belle Starr herself? Of course, a lot of women died in the West, not all in their beds, but more often than not it was an accident, a stray bullet, or a whore’s impulsive sacrifice. Not even villains like Walter Miller or Arthur Kennedy ever dragged them out to the tree and slapped the horse’s rump. There’s only one woman who’s ever been put to death by federal authorities in American history before, and that was Mary Suratt for helping to murder a President. True, like the Judge says, a “crime worse than murder”…yet there is a softness here, deep in the heart of the American soul, that is being probed, pinched, palpated…

  Oh to be torn ‘twixt love and duty!

  Supposin’ I’d lose mah fair-haired beauty!

  Look at that big hand move along,

  Nearin’ high noon…!

  And then he appears: the President of the United States of America. High up on the White House balcony, surrounded by family and friends. Tall, gentle, handsome, shy, his blue eyes twinkling.

  The crowd is at first silent, momentarily awed, train wheels pounding through their heads—then they shake off the strange spell and break into thunderous cheers.

  “WE LIKE IKE! WE LIKE IKE!”

  Already, distantly, bells are tolling.

  “Put your trap on a short chain, Ike!”

  “Change trains for the future!”

  “Whoo! Whoo!”

  The President smiles, lifts his arms. “Friends…”

  The crowd falls silent. Expectant.

  TIME say: “At the focus of pressure, / Dwight Eisenhower did not flinch….”

  INTERMEZZO

  The Clemency Appeals

  A Dramatic Dialogue by Ethel Rosenberg and Dwight Eisenhower

  Bare stage. Dim figure of Justice in the background. Low distant hum of the world’s ceaseless traffic. At no time during the dialogue does the PRESIDENT address the PRISONER, or even acknowledge her presence on the same stage. The PRISONER, aware of this, sometimes speaks to him directly, but more often seems to be trying to reach him by bouncing echoes off the Audience:

  PRIS: (liturgically) Petitioner respectfully prays that she be granted a pardon or commutation for the following reasons: FIRST.

  PRES: (clearing his throat) I have given earnest consideration.

  PRIS: (insistently) FIRST: that we are innocent.

  PRES: I have made a careful examination.

  PRIS: Innocent, as we have proclaimed and maintained from the time of our arrest.

  PRES: …into this…case.

  PRIS: Innocent… This is the whole truth.

  PRES: And am satisfied.

  PRIS: Do not dishonor America, Mr… President, by considering as a condition of our right to survive the delivery of a confession of guilt of a crime we did not commit.

  PRES: I am convinced.

  PRIS: We told you the truth: we are innocent… The truth does not change.

  PRES: There is no question in my mind.

  PRIS: We have been told again and again, until we have become sick at heart…

  PRES: No judge has ever expressed any doubt.

  PRIS: …that our proud defense of our innocence is arrogant, not proud, and motivated.

  PRES: The only conclusion to be drawn.

  PRIS: …not by a desire to maintain our integrity, but to achieve the questionable “glory” of some undefined “martyrdom.”

  PRES: …is that the Rosenbergs have received the benefit of every safeguard.

  PRIS: This is not so.

  PRES: …which American justice can provide.

  PRIS: We are not martyrs or heroes, nor do we wish to be.

  PRES: Every safeguard.

  PRIS: We do not want to die… We are young, too young, for death.

  PRES: Every opportunity.

  PRIS: We wish to live… Yes, we wish to live.

  PRES: The fullest measure of justice and due process of law.

  PRIS: …but in the simple dignity that clothes only those who have been honest with themselves and their fellow men… Therefore, in honesty, we can only say that.

  PRES: …their full measure of justice.

  PRIS: …we are innocent of this crime.

  PRES: …in the time-honored tradition of American justice.

  PRIS: SECOND: We understand, however, that the President considers himself bound by the verdict of guilt, although, on the evidence, a contrary conclusion may be admissible.

  PRES: Now, when.

  PRIS: But many times before there has been too unhesitating reliance on the verdict of the moment and regret for the death that closed the door to remedy when the truth, as it will, has risen.

  PRES: (firmly) Now, when in their most solemn judgment the tribunals of the United States have adjudged them guilty and the sentence just, I will not intervene in this matter.

  PRIS: You may not believe us, but the passage of even the few short months since last we appealed to you is confirming our prediction that, in the inexorable operation of time and conscience, the truth of our innocence would emerge.

  PRES: (flatly) I will not intervene.

  PRIS: (after a moment’s hesitation) THIRD.

  PRES: And I have determined that it is my duty.

  PRIS: (mustering strength) THIRD: The Government’s case.

  PRES: My duty in the interest of the people of the United States.

  PRIS: (weakening, turning toward the PRESIDENT) The Government’s case.

  PRES: …not to set aside the verdict of their representatives.

  PRIS: (softly, to the PRESIDENT) It is chiefly the death sentence I would entreat you to ponder.

  PRES: (as though to himself) I must say that it goes against the grain to avoid interfering in the case where a woman is to receive capital punishment.

  PRIS: (gently) At various intervals during the two long and bitter years I have spent in the Death House at Sing Sing, I have had the impulse to address myself to the President of the United States.

  PRES: (more firmly again) Over against this, however, must be placed one or two facts that have great significance… The first of these.

  PRIS: (dreamily) And Dwight D… Eisenhower was “Liberator” to millions before he was ever “President.”

  PRES: The first of these is that in this instance it is the woman who is the strong and recalcitrant character.

  PRIS: Always, in the end, a certain innate shyness.

  PRES: The man is the weak one.

  PRIS: …an embarrassment almost, comparable to that which the ord
inary person feels in the presence of the great and the famous.

  PRES: She has obviously been the leader in everything they did in the spy ring.

  PRIS: (sighing, turning away) True, to date, you have not seen fit to spare our lives.

  PRES: The second thing is that if there would be any commuting of the woman’s sentence without the man’s then from here on the Soviets would simply recruit their spies from among women.

  PRIS: (to the PRESIDENT, more firmly) Be that as it may, it is my humble belief that the burdens of your office and the exigencies of the times have allowed of no genuine opportunity, as yet, for your more personal consideration.

  PRES: The execution of two human beings is a grave matter.

  PRIS: But now I ask this man, whose name is one with glory.

  PRES: A grave matter.

  PRIS: …What glory there is that is greater than an offering to God of a simple act of compassion!

  PRES: But even graver is the thought of the millions of dead whose deaths may be directly attributable to what these spies have done.

  PRIS: (angrily) No one, other than the trial judge, has even pretended that the atom-bomb material allegedly transmitted in the course of the instant conspiracy was of any substantial value to the Soviet Union!

  PRES: The nature of the crime for which they have been found guilty and sentenced far exceeds that of the taking of the life of another citizen; it involves the deliberate betrayal of the entire nation and could very well result in the death of many, many thousands of innocent citizens.

  PRIS: Specifically, in relation to this case, the Government itself, after the trial, conceded that: “Greenglass’s diagrams have a theatrical quality,” and because he was not a scientist, “must have counted for little.”

  PRES: By immeasurably increasing the chances of atomic war, the Rosenbergs may have condemned to death tens of millions of innocent people all over the world.

  PRIS: It is perfectly clear that such valueless information could have had little effectiveness “in putting into the hands of the Russians the A-bomb,” even had they not possessed the “secret.”

  PRES: By their act these two individuals have in fact betrayed the cause of freedom for which free men are fighting and dying at this very hour.

  PRIS: (a bit desperately) We submitted documentary evidence to show that David Greenglass, trapped by his own misdeeds, hysterical with fear for his own life and that of Ruth, his wife, fell back on his lifelong habit of lying, exploited by his shrewd-minded and equally guilty wife, to fabricate, bit by bit, a monstrous tale that has sent us, his own flesh and blood, down a long and terrible path toward death!

  PRES: (oblivious to this outburst) When democracy’s enemies.

  PRIS: We ask you, Mr… President, the civilized head of a civilized nation, to judge our plea with reason and humanity—and remember! we are a father and a mother!

  PRES: (pressing on) When democracy’s enemies have been judged guilty of a crime as horrible as that of which the Rosenbergs were convicted.

  PRIS: (rising to full power) Our sentences violate truth and the instincts of civilized humanity! The compassion of men sees us as victims caught in the terrible interplay of clashing ideologies and feverish international enmities… As Commander-in-Chief of the European theater, you had ample opportunity to witness the wanton and hideous tortures that such a policy of vengeance had wreaked upon vast multitudes of guiltless victims… Today, while these ghastly mass butchers, these obscene racists, are graciously receiving the benefits of mercy and in many instances being reinstated in public office, the great democratic United States is proposing the savage destruction of a small unoffending Jewish family, whose guilt is seriously doubted throughout the length and breadth of the civilized world! We appeal to your mind and conscience, Mr… President, to take counsel with the reasons of others and with the deepest human feelings that treasure life and shun its taking… The facts of our case have touched the conscience of civilization!

  PRES: (momentarily weakening) My only concern is in the…area of statecraft… The effect of the action.

  PRIS: (seizing on this) If you will not hear our voices, hear the voices of the world! Hear the great and humble for the sake of America!

  VOICES: (rolling in behind the PRISONER’S last speech, overlapping each other, slowly augmenting in volume, then diminishing when the PRESIDENT interrupts) We the undersigned rabbis and religious leaders of the Holy Land… Our committee is today comprised of men who you know, Mr… President, to be of the highest character… Will you express in my name the deep revulsion… I, an Orthodox rabbi… I had the honor to fight with the American Army…spiritual and executive leaders in their respective denominations… Is it customary for spies to be paid in wristwatches and console tables?…utterly disproportionate to the offense for this couple with two young children to be put to…sinister threat of fascism and a new world war…Mr… President, all of us, as pastors…aggressive pressure of the anti-Semites, Negro-haters…hope thus to honor and render justice to the memory of my brother Bartolomeo Vanzetti, who before dying said…indeed regrettable…profoundly moved by the death sentence pronounced on Ethel and…the extreme severity…a tragic event for all lovers of the…when conducted in a climate of fear and suspicion which breeds reckless and irresponsible action… I cannot but deplore… My conscience compels me…without precedent in the West… I pray the Lord and hope the cruel sentence passed…contemplate with horror…obtained during a period of mounting hysteria…never before imposed… Together with nearly twenty-three hundred other clergymen…cruel, inhuman and barbaric in the extreme…in the name of God and the quality of mercy…your deep religious feeling and your awareness of the spirit of good within you…in the very name of our common ideal of justice and generosity which we derive from the Bible…political murder…to use the power which the Constitution of the United States gives you…urge you to commute…in the spirit of love which casts out fear…your prerogative of clemency…to reconsider your refusal…this savage verdict…would it not be embarrassing if, after the execution of the Rosenbergs, it could be shown that.

  PRES: (interrupting fiercely, VOICES fading) I am not unmindful of the fact that this case has aroused grave concern both here and abroad in the minds of serious people.

  PRIS: (to the PRESIDENT, trying to hang on to the momentum) The guilt in this case, if we die, will be America’s! The shame, if we die, will dishonor this generation!

  PRES: (as though calling out to the vanished VOICES) But what you did not suggest was the need for considering the known convictions of Communist leaders that free governments—and especially the American government—are notoriously weak and fearful

  PRIS: Mr… President—

  PRES: …and that consequently subversive and other kinds of activities can be conducted against them with no real fear of dire punishment on the part of the perpetrator.

  PRIS: (urgently, almost amorously) Take counsel with your good wife; of statesmen there are enough and to spare.

  PRES: It is, of course, important to the Communists to have this contention sustained and justified.

  PRIS: Take counsel with the mother of your only son; her heart which understands my grief so well and my longing to see my sons grown to manhood like her own.

  PRES: In the present case, they have even stooped to dragging in young and innocent children in order to serve their own purpose!

  PRIS: …with loving husband at my side even as you are at hers!

  PRES: The action of these people has exposed to greater danger literally millions of our citizens.

  PRIS: Her heart must plead my cause with grace and with felicity!

  PRES: Within the last two days, the Supreme Court, convened in a special session, has again reviewed a further point which one of the Justices felt the Rosenbergs should have an opportunity to present.

  PRIS: (on her knees, pleading) I approach you solely on the basis of mercy.

  PRES: (edging away) This morning the S
upreme Court ruled that there was no substance to this point.

  PRIS: …and earnestly beseech you to let this quality sway you rather than any narrow judicial concern, which is after all the province of the courts.