The Rosenbergs | The Implosion | 3

0:00Audible subscribers can binge new seasons of American Scandal early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts. American Scandal uses dramatizations that are based on true events. Some elements, including dialogue, might be invented, but everything is based on historical research.

0:30It's May 24, 1950, in New York City. David Greenglass stands in the kitchen of his Lower East Side apartment. He has a newborn daughter in one arm and a bottle of baby formula in the other. He sways gently from side to side as he feeds her. But David has more on his mind these days than just his family. A few months ago, British scientist Klaus Fuchs confessed to passing secrets to Soviet intelligence from inside Los Alamos, the same atomic weapons facility where David worked during the war. David never met Fuchs, but he's guilty of a similar crime. Back in 1944, David was recruited as a Soviet spy by his brother-in-law Julius Rosenberg.

1:12He then provided diagrams of the inner workings of the atomic bomb to a Soviet courier he knew only as Ben. David stopped spying for the Soviets years ago, and he'd like nothing more than to put it all behind him. But his past seems to be catching up with him. Klaus Fuchs has already been found guilty of espionage, and Julius has warned David that the FBI may be closing in on them too. So as David looks into his baby's eyes and ponders the future, he's startled by a knock on the door.

1:46David sets down the bottle and edges the door open with his daughter still in his hands. Julius Rosenberg stands outside, holding up the day's newspaper. Have you seen this? A roost taking a nap. Can we talk later? This can't wait. Before David can object, Julius steps inside. He closes the door quickly behind him and thrusts the newspaper at David. The headline near the top of the front page reads, Philadelphian seized as spy. Julius jabs a finger at the photograph underneath. You recognize him? David stops rocking the baby because he knows exactly who the pudgy-faced man in the photo is. That's Ben, the courier in Albuquerque.

2:26Yeah, his real name is Harry Gold. He met with Fuchs in New Mexico around the same time you were there. This says the feds know he was working with other people, too. David glances at the bedroom door where his wife is sleeping. Let's talk in the kitchen. David carries his daughter down the hall, reading the rest of the article as he goes. Julius trails after him. We have to leave as soon as possible. I can get you and Ruth passports and whatever medical papers you need. The docks here will be watched, so we can't use those. But if we slip into Mexico first, we can take a boat to Europe from there.

3:01Julie, I can't cross the Atlantic with a newborn. Well, she'll be fine. New York is full of people who came over as babies. How soon are we talking? Within the next few weeks, for sure. But if it gets too hot before then, you and I may just have to go along. What about Ruth and Ethel and the kids? We'd have to leave them behind. Julius reaches into his pocket and pulls out a thick envelope. He places it on the kitchen table. There's$1 ,000 here from Moscow, and I'll bring you another four later. $5 ,000? More than enough to start a new life. David reaches out a tentative hand and peels open the envelope.

3:39There's a thick wad of bills inside. That's twice my annual salary. You see, David, our comrades will look after us. We just have to do one more thing for them. We have to make sure the FBI never gets their hands on us. David Greenglass can't imagine his wife Ruth ever agreeing to flee the country. It would mean never seeing their families again and raising their kids in a strange foreign land. David would prefer to take his chances with the FBI, or if necessary, go into hiding somewhere on American soil. After all, there's a lot he could do with$5 ,000. But David doesn't say any of that out loud.

4:18He won't be able to keep the money if Julius knows what he's planning, so David keeps quiet. He takes the envelope of cash and lets Julius think he'll soon be packing his bags for Europe.

4:32With the Spark Cash Plus card from Capital One, you earn unlimited 2 % cash back on every purchase. And you get big purchasing power, so your business can spend more and earn more. Stephen, Brandon, and Bruno, the business owners of SandCloud, reinvested their 2 % cash back to help build the company's retail presence. Capital One. What's in your wallet? Find out more at CapitalOne.com slash SparkCashPlus. Terms apply. Police in Irvine, California are investigating the double murder of a young couple in the parking lot of their apartment complex. A double homicide grabs the public's attention by the throat.

5:10We have identified Christopher Dorner as a suspect in this double homicide. A former cop and still on the loose. Considered armed and extremely dangerous. And scariest of all, he left something behind. A particular interest is a multi-page manifesto. This manifesto on Facebook is 11 pages long. Trace, this manifesto from this suspect who's targeting cops, it's stunning. Listen to the show The New Yorker calls one of the best podcasts of the summer. Dan Taberski's Manifesto. And I tell you, this manifesto, it scares the hell out of me. Listen to Dan Taberski's Manifesto wherever you get your podcasts or binge the entire series right now, only with Audible.

6:05From Audible Originals, I'm Lindsey Graham, and this is American Scandal.

6:29By 1950, Julius Rosenberg had been working for Soviet intelligence for eight years. But his greatest achievement as a spy remained the recruitment of his brother-in-law, David Greenglass. During the war, David had worked on the Manhattan Project, and Julius had convinced him to provide the Soviets with detailed sketches of the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki. Both men had justified their actions as sharing information that had wrongfully been kept from America's allies. But after World War II, relations between the United States and the Soviet Union had quickly soured. Amid a growing atmosphere of anti-communist paranoia in America, the FBI stepped up its efforts to find Soviet spies.

7:10Deciphered messages had already led the Bureau to scientist Klaus Fuchs and courier Harry Gold. Now, investigators were wondering where the trail would take them next. This is Episode 3, The Implosion.

7:26It's June 1st, 1950, inside a courthouse in downtown Philadelphia. Harry Gold and his lawyer are shown into a cool, dark, wood-paneled conference room. Waiting for them there are two FBI agents. Gold and his lawyer take their seats. By now, this is a familiar scene. Gold has been in custody for the past week, and he's already met with these agents several times. He's been advised that if he shares details of his work as a Soviet spy, he may get a lighter sentence. But it's a long process. Gold worked for Soviet intelligence for a decade, and there is a lot to discuss. At the top of the agenda today is a trip Gold made to New Mexico in June 1945.

8:09The agent asks Gold to start from the very beginning. Gold thinks for a moment. He remembers that before that trip, he rendezvoused with his Soviet handler, a Russian who called himself John. He instructed Gold to meet with British physicist Klaus Fuchs at a railroad station in Santa Fe. But as Gold tells the agents this, he remembers something else about the conversation with John. Something he had forgotten until now. It was not just Fuchs that Gold was instructed to meet. The FBI agents lean forward in their chairs because this is new. They abandon their original line of questioning and immediately ask about this second contact.

8:47Gold thinks. John told him to meet with Fuchs first, then take a bus an hour south to Albuquerque. Gold remembers grumbling at this request. He didn't want to add more time to his trip, but he still agreed to do as he was asked. John then did something strange. He reached into his briefcase and pulled out a portion of a cardboard Jell-O box that had been cut in half in a zigzag pattern. He explained that this was a security measure. Gold's contact in Albuquerque would have the other half of the box. The FBI agents write down everything Gold says and pepper him with more questions. They want names, descriptions, addresses.

9:26Gold closes his eyes and tries to reimagine the scene in Albuquerque. He recalls that he actually met two people. They were a young married couple living in a small apartment. Before he met them, Gold had assumed that the husband would be a top scientist like Fuchs, so he was surprised to find that he was just a regular enlisted man, someone who worked with his hands, an engineer perhaps. The husband gave him a list of names and sketched out a component of the atomic bomb for him, and in return, Gold gave him$500. Gold tries to remember the couple's name. It's on the tip of his tongue, but for the life of him, he just can't place it.

10:03So the agents ask what he can recall about the apartment. Gold remembers it was about a half-mile walk from the Hilton he was staying at, and he crossed the train tracks on the way there. The street name escapes him, but it was on a quiet, tree-lined block. The building itself was an ugly, gray, two-story structure with pink windows. The couple lived on the top floor. But that's all he can remember, so Gold opens his eyes. He assumes the agents will be disappointed he wasn't able to provide more details, but he's surprised to see the wide grins on their faces. Gold has given them everything they need.

10:38Based on his description of the apartment, FBI agents in Albuquerque are soon able to find the right building. The landlord tells them that in 1945, apartment 4 was occupied by Ruth Greenglass and her husband David, who was a soldier at Los Alamos. Agents then find the Greenglass's account at a local bank in Albuquerque. Records there show that Ruth deposited$400 just a day after Gold claimed he gave them$500 in cash. Since David Greenglass worked on the Manhattan Project, the government already has plenty of information on him. They know his age, ethnicity, physical appearance. They have a long list of former employers and family members.

11:18And they have extensive records of where he traveled on leave and when. They cross-reference all of this with Harry Gold's evidence and intercepted Soviet cables. Taken together, the FBI determines that David is likely the American asset that Soviet intelligence codenamed Calibra. So on June 5th, 1950, David Greenglass is put on round-the-clock surveillance. For the next 10 days, FBI agents trail him as he meets with friends and family. They watch as he picks up groceries from the store, and they carefully note down how often he takes his wife Ruth to and from the doctor's office. She's being treated for burns suffered when her nightgown caught fire on her radiator in the Green Glass's apartment.

12:00And on June 13th, her condition takes a turn for the worse, and she's admitted to the hospital. That leaves David alone to care for their newborn daughter and four-year-old son. By then, the FBI is convinced that David is guilty of spying, but less confident there's enough to make the charge stick in court. The evidence against him is still mostly circumstantial, so they continue to watch and wait. Then, on June 15th, FBI agent Leo Fruytkin and his partner are assigned to monitor David's movements. They watch him leave the apartment around noon and travel to the hospital to visit his wife. After about an hour at her bedside, he then stops by Ruth's parents' house to pick up his two children before heading back to the apartment.

12:43It's nothing out of the ordinary. But when Fruytkin reports in, he's given new orders. His superiors have decided it's time to put David under more pressure. So Fretken and his partner grab their things and head up to the Greenglass's apartment. As they climb the stairs, Fretken reminds his partner that David doesn't have to cooperate. They don't have a warrant. And if they want anything useful, they'll have to get him to invite them in.

13:11They pause a moment in front of David Greenglass's door. All right, let me do the talking. Once we're in, just stay quiet and look around. Fretken turns and knocks on the door. After a few moments, David Greenglass answers. Hello, can I help you? Fruitkin and his colleague flash their badges. Mr. Greenglass, I'm FBI agent Leo Fruitkin. Can we come in? What's this about? We're investigating some uranium that went missing from Los Alamos after the war. A flicker of relief crosses David's face. I spoke with one of your colleagues about that months ago. We've been asked to follow up. This is mostly routine.

13:49A few questions, a quick check of the apartment, and then we can eliminate you from the investigation permanently. Well, I just put my kids down for a nap. It won't take long, and we'll keep our voices down. David thinks for a moment, and then steps aside. All right, if it won't take long. Frutkin and his partner enter the apartment. There are piles of laundry and children's toys scattered over the floor. David starts picking things up. My wife's in the hospital. I'm sorry to hear that. If you consent to a quick search of the property, we can get right out of your way. We don't even have to look in your kid's room.

14:24Would that be okay? Well, you're not going to find anything, but fine if this gets me off the list. Good. Great. Frutkin reaches into his suit pocket and pulls out a consent form. This will allow the FBI to search the home and take anything relevant to the investigation. I just need your signature on this. David signs the paper on a nearby table. Fratkin takes it, holds it, and puts it in his jacket pocket, and then gets down to business. All right, my partner will look around the living room, and why don't you show me to the bedroom? Sure. It's just down here. The bedroom is small, with an armoire and dresser tucked in tight around the bed.

15:00Fratkin goes to the nightstand first. He immediately spots something interesting. An old registration card for the International Workers Order. This group has communist ties, you know that? We just signed up for the health insurance. You know how it is. We weren't going to meetings or anything. I don't remember seeing it on your file. Well, I left before I even joined the army, so I didn't think to bring it up. Frucken pockets the card and closes the nightstand drawer. As he looks around the room again, he sees a photo of David and Ruth on the dresser. This must be your wife? Yeah, that's me and Ruth during the war.

15:34When you were at Los Alamos? Yeah, that's a good picture. That's when a realization hits Frucken. This photo shows the green glasses around the time Harry Gold met them. If it could be shown to Gold, he could positively identify them. Frutkin picks up the photo. Do you have any others of you from back then? You know, I'm not sure I do. They didn't exactly want us carrying cameras around the base, you know? Well, then I'm afraid I'm going to need to take this one. There's no photograph of you from those days in your file, and we need one. To help eliminate me from the investigation? Yeah, that's right.

16:08It's a nice photo of us. Well, we'll look after it, and you'll get it back, of course. I tell you what, I'll run it straight down to the car, make sure it doesn't get misplaced while we're looking around. How does that sound? With the framed photograph in his pocket, Agent Frootgen heads down to the street below. But he doesn't leave the photo in his car. Instead, he hands it off to another agent with instructions to get the picture to Harry Gold in Philadelphia right away. Frootgen then heads back inside to continue the search. After a few hours in the apartment, Fruitkin explains he has just a few more questions for David and suggests they all head down to the FBI office to finish up.

16:46David agrees, and after confirming his mother can look after the children, he hops in a car with Fruitkin for the short ride across Lower Manhattan. David is taken to the 29th floor of the courthouse building and sat down with four FBI agents. It's an intimidating scene, but David still feels relatively calm. So far, the agents have been nothing but polite and friendly with him, and there's been no mention of espionage, the Soviets, or his communist past. And even if they do start asking tougher questions, David is confident he'll be able to get through them unscathed. He'll just play dumb and deny everything.

17:22At around 9 p.m., another FBI agent arrives with dinner for David. He hasn't eaten since before noon, so he tears right into the pair of hamburgers from a deli around the corner. While he eats, Froken excuses himself to take a phone call. David is just biting into the second burger when Froken returns with a more serious look on his face. He asks if David has ever met a man named Harry Gold. David thinks through his response as he finishes chewing and confidently replies that he's read about Gold in the newspapers, but that's it. The report said Gold was from Philadelphia, so there was no reason they would ever have crossed paths.

18:00But then Fruitkin leans over the table and lets David in on a secret. Earlier this afternoon, Fruitkin handed off the photo of David and Ruth in New Mexico to another agent who drove it to Philadelphia. While David was eating, Fruitkin got some news. The photo has been shown to Harry Gold, and he's identified David and Ruth as the couple he met with in Albuquerque in 1945. David suddenly feels sick and wishes he hadn't scarfed down those burgers. Quickly, he thinks through his options. He could claim that Gold is lying, or it's a case of mistaken identity. It's certainly what Julius would tell him to do.

18:36But David is not the only one in danger now. His wife Ruth is implicated too. If she goes down with him, then their two children would be left parentless. David wants to stick with Julius, but his immediate family has to come first. So David confesses. He admits that he met with Gold in 1945 and says that he's willing to fully cooperate. But first, he wants to make one thing clear. His wife was just an innocent bystander. If he's going to answer any more of the agent's questions, he wants to make sure that Ruth will stay out of jail.

19:22Thirty chapters later, you've accidentally run a half marathon. You lost track of how far you've run, somewhere just past the city limits. You can't stop. You have to find out what happens next. Then it's over. The universe seems bigger. You feel different. You feel like you have no idea where you are. Audible. Stories that speak to you. Imagine you're reading Pride and Prejudice. Except you're not reading it. Harris Dickinson and Marissa Abella are reading it to you on Audible. Her barbs sting you. His coldness sends a shiver up your spine. Your heart aches. Your ears burn. You yearn for Elizabeth and Mr.

20:00Darcy to profess their undying love for one another. You can't bear it any longer. Well, maybe a chapter longer. Performance is so good, you'll give love a second chance. Audible. Stories that speak to you.

20:26David Greenglass's confession to the FBI takes hours. But David isn't entirely honest with the men interviewing him. He's promised his full cooperation, but he thinks he can outsmart investigators and protect his wife from prosecution. He's so confident in his abilities that he doesn't even request a lawyer. Under questioning, he tells the agents he didn't know he was working on the atomic bomb until late 1944, just eight months before he was dropped on Japan. In reality, he knew much sooner. David also says he can't remember how he came into possession of the torn jello box used in his meeting with Harry Gold, and he claims that his wife was out of the room during that encounter.

21:06Both of those statements are also lies. But David is mostly truthful about one thing, how the scheme began. David explains that his brother-in-law, Julius Rosenberg, first approached his wife Ruth in New York, and she then pitched the idea to David on a trip to New Mexico. Then, when the interview finally wraps after 1 a.m., David is placed under arrest and given one phone call. He dials a male relative and asks him to tell Ruth he's in custody but not to worry. Then David spends the night on a cot in the FBI office. Around 8 a.m. the following morning, Julius Rosenberg is at home in Knickerbocker Village, when two FBI agents come knocking.

21:45At this point, Julius is unaware of David's arrest, but he's not surprised to see the agents. He's suspected this day would come eventually. So he remains calm and agrees to accompany the men to an FBI office to answer their questions. And there, as Julius takes a seat, the FBI agents reveal that they've talked with his former employer, the Army Signal Corps. They've learned about the investigation into Julius and his wife, Ethel, over their suspected ties to communism. Julius confidently brushes off the issue, saying it was all just a big misunderstanding. He explains that he did previously belong to a communist-affiliated labor unit, but that was a decade ago.

22:24Julius then looks the agents in the eye and swears that he and his wife are not communists and never have been. Julius hopes that will satisfy the men, but they remain stone-faced. The agents then ask if he ever talked to his brother-in-law David Greenglass about atomic weapons during the war. Julius lies and says he barely saw David back then. He has only the vaguest idea that they were working on something secret in New Mexico. He insists he only learned about the nuclear program after the first bomb was dropped, just like everyone else. But from there, the agent's questions only get more pointed.

23:00They ask if Julius ever approached Ruth Greenglass about recruiting David as a spy, or if he arranged for a courier to meet with the Greenglasses in New Mexico. Julius tries to remain calm, but inside, he's fuming. The only way the FBI could know all of this is if David told them. And just days ago, David promised he would play dumb and admit to nothing. Julius won't give in easily, though. Instead, he takes the rage he's feeling toward David and uses it to fuel a passionate defense. He unequivocally denies any involvement with espionage. And then he loudly demands that David be brought into the room to make his accusations to Julius' face.

23:39The agents explain that that's not going to happen. Instead, they ask if they have permission to search the Rosenberg's apartment. After all, if Julius is as innocent as he says he is, they'll find nothing incriminating. Julius denies the request, and then he refuses to answer any more questions until he can talk to a lawyer. The agents allow Julius to use the phone in the room. The lawyer's first question to Julius is whether he's under arrest, and Julius turns to the FBI men. They say he's not, so the lawyer tells Julius not to answer any more of their questions and to leave the office immediately.