PASSINGS
Walter Schneir, 81, whose 1965 book “Invitation to an Inquest” on the Rosenberg spy case firmly proclaimed their innocence, died April 11 of thyroid cancer at his home in Pleasantville, N.Y., the New York Times reported.
Written with his wife Miriam, the book reignited the debate over whether Julius Rosenberg and his wife Ethel committed espionage by giving U.S. nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union.
The Rosenbergs were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage in March 1951 and executed June 19, 1953.
The Schneirs’ book presented evidence that key witnesses had changed their testimony after being prodded by federal prosecutors. The book also alleged that key evidence was forged by the FBI.
However, Schneir changed his view of the Rosenberg case in 1995 when the federal government began to release 3,000 Soviet intelligence documents that pertained to the case.
After reviewing the material, Schneir and his wife wrote in The Nation magazine that “no reasonable person” could doubt Julius Rosenberg’s role as a Soviet spy.
Schneir was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Dec. 14, 1927, and graduated from Syracuse University with a journalism degree.
He worked for many years as news editor of MD magazine and later worked as freelance writer. At the time of his death, he was working on a memoir that offered a new narrative of the Rosenberg case, the Times reported.
--
Sign up for our Book Club newsletter
Get the latest news, events and more from the Los Angeles Times Book Club, and help us get L.A. reading and talking.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
