Today's Reading Assignment

From Opinion Journal. Joseph Rago, Assistant Features Editor of The Wall Street Journal's editorial page, recently attended a New York forum on the "artistic influence" of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. No kidding.

You may recall that Mr. and Mrs. Rosenberg were executed in the 1950s for stealing U.S. nuclear secrets for the Soviet Union. While some of the left continue to profess their "innocence," the guilt of the Rosenberg's was demonstrated conclusively in a number of sources, ranging from Kruschev's memoirs, to The Rosenberg File (Joyce Milton and Ronald Radosh's definitive account of their espionage activities) and most recently, the Vernona intercepts, declassified by the U.S. government in 1995.

Of course, the left never let the truth stand in the way of a pet cause. According to some of the luminaries at the forum, the Rosenbergs were "murdered, basically" (playwright Tony Kusher), and their prosecution part of a campaign to "persuade Americans to be afraid" (novelist E.L. Doctorow).

Rago concludes by noting that, during the Q&A session, "cold warriors" were warned "not to ask disrespectful questions." Predictably, no one did.

A fascinating--and frightening--look into the mindset of the radical left, and the 'artists" that embrace it.