The outcome of the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Trial for espionage in 1951 and their subsequent execution in 1953 was directly related to the political climate at that time. The governments evidence against the Rosenbergs was not over whelming but due to a combination of fear and political pressure the guilty verdict was inevitable. Even though Julius did not deliver the secrets of the bomb to Moscow and nor did they cause the Korean war, as Judge Kaufman claimed, they were sentenced to death. Their death confirmed their guilt because America would never kill innocent people. Their execution also reinforced the heinous nature of their crime and other soviet spy's crimes as well. The fear of communism and the cold war sealed the fate for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

             "The cold war was the general term for the post 1945 political, ideological, strategic and military conflict between the western allies led by the United States and the Soviet Union and other communist countries (Fontain 4)." This global confrontation was fuel by mutual fear and distrust. Both camps defaulted on postwar agreements which led to further alienation(Flemeing 6). The end of WWII saw Europe economically devastated and in political turmoil(Parrish 147). The defeat of Germany left the European continent vulnerable to outside influence. In addition to the economic strength shown by the western allies, the United States not only had nuclear capabilities but without hesitation used it twice(Fontaine 8).

             The Soviet Union, in an effort to contract the economic and military might of the United States and its allies, set about tightening its grasp on the east European countries it had occupied during WWII (Infopedia). Between 1945 and 1948 the Soviet Union gained control of Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Rumania, and Yugoslavia(Parrish 210). The Soviet Union hoped that by adding these separate governments and militaries it could off set the United States nuclear capabilities and provide its western boarder with a buffer zone(Parrish 210).