Public Burning (41 page)
They have maneuvered the President into a position where if he did grant a stay it would be widely interpreted as succumbing to Communist pressure in this country and the pressure of Communist propaganda abroadâwhich is precisely what the United States cannot afford at this timeâ¦.
No, it cannot. The American press is unanimous: “The switch must be pulled!” The people, a poll shows, agree. “The will to execute them,” in the words of the Catholic weekly
America
, is “an affirmation by America, as the voice of humanity, of its will to surviveâ¦. Such conspirators against humanity must either die or relent if humanity is to live!” Eisenhower knows this. He's in complete agreement, he has said so. Then, why this strange titillation, this odd anxiety, this recurring note of impending doo-oom that makes one want to giggle and clutch his balls? Of course, there are precedents for last-minute clemency. During the Civil War, for example, General William Tecumseh Sherman, never one to fuck around about such things, arrested one of Horace Greeley's newspaper correspondents, charged him with spying, and was about to shoot the man, when Abraham Lincoln stepped in and saved the reporter's life. Of course, Abe himself got shot after that, the lessons should be clear. No, it's somethingâ¦ah! the woman perhaps! And the children, the two boysâ¦
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 forceâ¦. “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 orphansâ¦.
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 patheticâ¦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 Sundayâwho 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 mustâthis gallant lover from the border warsâkill a woman in cold blood. Could Bill Hart have strung up little Evaâor 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”â¦yet there is a softness here, deep in the heart of the American soul, that is being probed, pinched, palpatedâ¦
Oh to be torn âtwixt love and duty!
Supposin' I'd lose mah fair-haired beauty!
Look at that big hand move along,
Nearin' high noonâ¦!
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 headsâthen 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.
T
IME
say: “At the focus of pressure, / Dwight Eisenhower did not flinchâ¦.”
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
:Â Â Â Â Â
(
clearing his throat
) I have given earnest consideration.
PRIS
:Â Â Â Â Â
(
insistently
) FIRST: that we are innocent.
PRES
:Â Â Â Â Â I have made a careful examination.
PRIS
:Â Â Â Â Â Innocent, as we have proclaimed and maintained from the time of our arrest.
PRES
:     â¦into thisâ¦case.
PRIS
:     Innocent⦠This is the whole truth.
PRES
:Â Â Â Â Â 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
:Â Â Â Â Â 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 heartâ¦
PRES
:Â Â Â Â Â No judge has ever expressed any doubt.
PRIS
:     â¦that our proud defense of our innocence is arrogant, not proud, and motivated.
PRES
:
     The only conclusion to be drawn.
PRIS
:     â¦not by a desire to maintain our integrity, but to achieve the questionable “glory” of some undefined “martyrdom.”
PRES
:     â¦is that the Rosenbergs have received the benefit of every safeguard.
PRIS
:
     This is not so.
PRES
:     â¦which American justice can provide.
PRIS
:Â Â Â Â Â
We are not martyrs or heroes, nor do we wish to be.
PRES
:Â Â Â Â Â
Every safeguard.
PRIS
:Â Â Â Â Â
We do not want to die⦠We are young, too young, for death.
PRES
:Â Â Â Â Â
Every opportunity.
PRIS
:Â Â Â Â Â
We wish to live⦠Yes, we wish to live.
PRES
:Â Â Â Â Â
The fullest measure of justice and due process of law.
PRIS
:     â¦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
:     â¦their full measure of justice.
PRIS
:Â Â Â Â Â
â¦we are
innocent
of this crime.
PRES
:
     â¦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
:Â Â Â Â Â 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
:Â Â Â Â Â
(
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
:Â Â Â Â Â
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
:Â Â Â Â Â
(
flatly
) I will not intervene.
PRIS
:Â Â Â Â Â
(
after a moment's hesitation
) THIRD.
PRES
:Â Â Â Â Â
And I have determined that it is my duty.
PRIS
:Â Â Â Â Â
(
mustering strength
) THIRD: The Government's case.
PRES
:Â Â Â Â Â
My duty in the interest of the people of the United States.
PRIS
:Â Â Â Â Â
(
weakening, turning toward the
PRESIDENT
) The Government's case.
PRES
:     â¦not to set aside the verdict of their representatives.
PRIS
:Â Â Â Â Â
(
softly, to the
PRESIDENT
) It is chiefly the death sentence I would entreat you to ponder.
PRES
:Â Â Â Â Â
(
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
:Â Â Â Â Â
(
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
:Â Â Â Â Â (
more firmly again
) Over against this, however, must be placed one or two facts that have great significance⦠The first of these.
PRIS
:Â Â Â Â Â
(
dreamily
) And Dwight D⦠Eisenhower was “Liberator” to millions before he was ever “President.”
PRES
:Â Â Â Â Â The first of these is that in this instance it is the woman who is the strong and recalcitrant character.
PRIS
:Â Â Â Â Â Always, in the end, a certain innate shyness.
PRES
:Â Â Â Â Â The man is the weak one.
PRIS
:     â¦an embarrassment almost, comparable to that which the ordinary person feels in the presence of the great and the famous.
PRES
:Â Â Â Â Â She has obviously been the leader in everything they did in the spy ring.
PRIS
:Â Â Â Â Â
(
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
:Â Â Â Â Â (
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
:Â Â Â Â Â But now I ask this man, whose name is one with glory.
PRES
:
     A grave matter.
PRIS
:     â¦What glory there is that is greater than an offering to God of a simple act of compassion!
PRES
:Â Â Â Â Â But even graver is the thought of the millions of dead whose deaths may be directly attributable to what these spies have done.
PRIS
:Â Â Â Â Â
(
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
:Â Â Â Â Â 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.