Ronald Radosh

Ronald Radosh (b. 1937, New York City) is an American historian specializing in the Cold War. He is best known for his work on the espionage case of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. In the 1983 book, "The Rosenberg File", he and co-author Joyce Milton conclude that Julius Rosenberg was guilty of espionage and that Ethel was aware of his activities. A second edition in 1997 incorporates newly obtained evidence from the former Soviet Union. Radosh also condemns prosecutorial misconduct in the case.

Career

Radosh was born in New York City to parents who were both members of the Communist Party USA. He has descibed himself as a Red Diaper Baby who attended the Little Red Schoolhouse and Elisabeth Irwin High School. For most of his academic career was intimately associated with leftist causes, e.g., an intellectual defense of the Rosenbergs, initial support for the FMLN and opposition to the Contras, etc., he gradually evolved into a neoconservative polemicist in the mold of his colleagues, David Horowitz and Peter Collier.

Two pivotal moments that solidified this change of philosophy were his decision to collaborate with Joyce Milton on an examination of the Rosenberg files—which led him to conclude that Julius Rosenberg was indeed guilty of the espionage charges he would ultimately be convicted of, with his wife potentially being an important accomplice in this scheme—and a visit to Central America during the 1980s. This was done because he was considering writing a piece for "The New Republic", which he had intended as a balanced portrait of the government led by Daniel Ortega and the Sandinistas.

However, after examining the composition of the government—and its policies—he came to the conclusion that it was infiltrated by Stalinists, and was not moving in a democratic direction.

These two events—which Radosh describes as being crucial in the evolution of his political philosophy—led him to be ostracized from his former allies, and for both sides to begin a reciprocal-and often vituperative-public war of words that continues to this day.

Radosh's critics accuse him of exaggerating the significance of Soviet espionage in the US, while he maintains that they are naive, doctrinaire leftists, who haven't reconciled themselves to the crimes committed on behalf of Communism, and whose enmity stems from that fundamental flaw.

Radosh is the father of journalist Daniel Radosh.

Current Status

Radosh is currently an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C., [http://www.hudson.org/learn/index.cfm?fuseaction=staff_bio&eid=RadoshRon] and professor of history emeritus at Queensborough Community College of the City University of New York [http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/History/] . His commentaries on the Rosenbergs and other topics have appeared in "The New Republic", "The Weekly Standard" and "National Review", and the blog Frontpagemag.com. His memoirs are entitled "Commies: A Journey Through the Old Left, the New Left, and the Leftover Left."

Bibliography

* Ronald Radosh and Murray Rothbard eds., "A New History of Leviathan", New York: E.P. Dutton, 1972
*"Prophets On The Right: Profiles of Conservative Critics of American Globalism", 1975
* Ronald Radosh and Joyce Milton, "The Rosenberg File", New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993. ISBN 0-300-07205-8
* Harvey Klehr and Ronald Radosh, "The Amerasia Spy Case: Prelude to McCarthyism", University of North Carolina Press,1996. ISBN 0-807-82245-0
*"Divided They Fell: The Demise of the Democratic Party", Free Press, 1996. ISBN 0-684-82810-3
*"Commies: A Journey Through the Old Left, the New Left, and the Leftover Left", Encounter Books 2001. ISBN 1-893554-05-8
*"Spain Betrayed: The Soviet Union in the Spanish Civil War", Yale University Press 2005. ISBN 0-300-08981-3
* Ronald Radosh and Allis Radosh, "Red Star Over Hollywood: The Film Colony's Long Romance With The Left", Encounter Books 2005. ISBN 1-893554-96-1

External links

* [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/rosenb/ROS_BRAD.HTM Brief biography]
* [http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/authors.asp?ID=11 FrontpageMag.com Profile and Author Archive]
* [http://www.slate.com/id/3679/ McCarthyism] Debate between Ellen Schrecker and Ronald Radosh.
* [http://www.lewrockwell.com/stromberg/stromberg12.html The ‘Red Diaper Babies’] - a review of "Commies: A Journey..." by Joseph R. Stromberg
* [http://www.nationalreview.com/weekend/books/books-schwartz051901.shtml "Up from Bohemia—Journey with Ronald Radosh"] - a review in "National Review" of "Commies: A Journey..." by Stephen Schwartz

Essays and Reviews

* [http://hnn.us/articles/1116.html The Sandbagging of Robert "KC" Johnson]
* [http://hnn.us/articles/10493.html Why Conservatives Are So Upset with Thomas Woods's Politically Incorrect History Book]
* [http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft0002/reviews/radosh.html Books in Review. The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression]

Criticism

* [http://eserver.org/clogic/2003/furr.html Anatomy of a Fraudulent Scholarly Work: Ronald Radosh's Spain Betrayed]
* [http://www.antiwar.com/justin/j101402.html The Two Faces Of Ronald Radosh]
* [http://www.thenation.com/doc/20011008/webletters20010927 Haunted by the Cold War, Part II]
* [http://www.thenation.com/doc/20010716/duberman A Fellow Traveling]