Fatal error : the miscarriage of justice that sealed the Rosenberg's fate by Joseph H. Sharlitt - 1989

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons,, 1989. First Edition, First Printing. 1/4 cloth. Near fine/very good +. A very near fine first edition, first printing in a near fine dust jacket. Complete number line. Red paper-covered boards under black quarter cloth. One bumped corner, otherwise fine. Dust jacket shows toning, but no tears, chips or creases. Bright gilt title stamping on spine. xi, 274 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, portraits. Octavo. Just days before Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were electrocuted, their lawyers obtained a stay of execution. Because the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 states that the death penalty must be recommended by a jury, the Rosenbergs' defense counsel, at the last minute, argued before the Supreme Court that the scheduled executions were illegal. With McCarthyist sentiments raging, the Court rejected their motion. In a totally fresh look at the Rosenberg case, Sharlitt, editorial chairman of the Harvard Crimson, convincingly argues that the highest court of the U.S. acted in a highly politicized way in its rush to have the Rosenbergs executed. He cites grave procedural improprieties, and charges that an internal vendetta against maverick Justice William O. Douglas helped seal the convicted conspirators' doom. He also argues that the death sentence was inappropriate, since convicted Communist spy Klaus Fuchs had already given the Russians vital atomic secrets, making the Rosenbergs' alleged leaks minor scientific redundancies--a point never argued by the couple's lawyers at their trial. Photos." --Publisher's Weekly