President Eisenhower's refusal to grant executive clemency to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, convicted atomic bomb spies, brought a sharp divergence of opinion from members of the University faculty yesterday.
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. '38, associate professor of History, expressed approval of the decision, terming it "the only sensible thing to do." He added, 'For once, I agree with General Eisenhower."
In disagreement with Schlesinger, Mark DeWolfe Howe '28, professor of Law, called the President's action "a disappointment." While emphasizing that he was not "passionately concerned," Howe said, "I'd thought that a combination of mercy and courage would have led the President to commute the sentences. It would have been a credit to him to do it."
Howe concluded, "I thought Eisenhower was in a position to do it where Truman was not, on political grounds."
Arthur E. Sutherland, professor of Law, declined to comment directly on Eisenhower's rejection of the appeal, saying only, "I suppose that it lies within the President's power to do so."
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