Robert Coover - Public Burning

PRIS: Do not dishonor America, Mr… President, by considering as a condition of our right to survive the delivery of a confession of guilt of a crime we did not commit.

PRES: I am convinced.

PRIS: We told you the truth: we are innocent… The truth does not change.

PRES: There is no question in my mind.

PRIS: We have been told again and again, until we have become sick at heart…

PRES: No judge has ever expressed any doubt.

PRIS: …that our proud defense of our innocence is arrogant, not proud, and motivated.

PRES: The only conclusion to be drawn.

PRIS: …not by a desire to maintain our integrity, but to achieve the questionable “glory” of some undefined “martyrdom.”

PRES: …is that the Rosenbergs have received the benefit of every safeguard.

PRIS: This is not so.

PRES: …which American justice can provide.

PRIS: We are not martyrs or heroes, nor do we wish to be.

PRES: Every safeguard.

PRIS: We do not want to die… We are young, too young, for death.

PRES: Every opportunity.

PRIS: We wish to live… Yes, we wish to live.

PRES: The fullest measure of justice and due process of law.

PRIS: …but in the simple dignity that clothes only those who have been honest with themselves and their fellow men… Therefore, in honesty, we can only say that.

PRES: …their full measure of justice.

PRIS: …we are innocent of this crime.

PRES: …in the time-honored tradition of American justice.

PRIS: SECOND: We understand, however, that the President considers himself bound by the verdict of guilt, although, on the evidence, a contrary conclusion may be admissible.

PRES: Now, when.

PRIS: But many times before there has been too unhesitating reliance on the verdict of the moment and regret for the death that closed the door to remedy when the truth, as it will, has risen.

PRES: ( firmly ) Now, when in their most solemn judgment the tribunals of the United States have adjudged them guilty and the sentence just, I will not intervene in this matter.

PRIS: You may not believe us, but the passage of even the few short months since last we appealed to you is confirming our prediction that, in the inexorable operation of time and conscience, the truth of our innocence would emerge.

PRES: ( flatly ) I will not intervene.

PRIS: ( after a moment’s hesitation ) THIRD.

PRES: And I have determined that it is my duty.

PRIS: ( mustering strength ) THIRD: The Government’s case.

PRES: My duty in the interest of the people of the United States.

PRIS: ( weakening, turning toward the PRESIDENT) The Government’s case.

PRES: …not to set aside the verdict of their representatives.

PRIS: ( softly, to the PRESIDENT) It is chiefly the death sentence I would entreat you to ponder.

PRES: ( as though to himself ) I must say that it goes against the grain to avoid interfering in the case where a woman is to receive capital punishment.

PRIS: ( gently ) At various intervals during the two long and bitter years I have spent in the Death House at Sing Sing, I have had the impulse to address myself to the President of the United States.

PRES: ( more firmly again ) Over against this, however, must be placed one or two facts that have great significance… The first of these.

PRIS: ( dreamily ) And Dwight D… Eisenhower was “Liberator” to millions before he was ever “President.”

PRES: The first of these is that in this instance it is the woman who is the strong and recalcitrant character.

PRIS: Always, in the end, a certain innate shyness.

PRES: The man is the weak one.

PRIS: …an embarrassment almost, comparable to that which the ordinary person feels in the presence of the great and the famous.

PRES: She has obviously been the leader in everything they did in the spy ring.

PRIS: ( sighing, turning away ) True, to date, you have not seen fit to spare our lives.

PRES: The second thing is that if there would be any commuting of the woman’s sentence without the man’s then from here on the Soviets would simply recruit their spies from among women.

PRIS: ( to the PRESIDENT, more firmly ) Be that as it may, it is my humble belief that the burdens of your office and the exigencies of the times have allowed of no genuine opportunity, as yet, for your more personal consideration.

PRES: The execution of two human beings is a grave matter.

PRIS: But now I ask this man, whose name is one with glory.

PRES: A grave matter.

PRIS: …What glory there is that is greater than an offering to God of a simple act of compassion!

PRES: But even graver is the thought of the millions of dead whose deaths may be directly attributable to what these spies have done.

PRIS: ( angrily ) No one, other than the trial judge, has even pretended that the atom-bomb material allegedly transmitted in the course of the instant conspiracy was of any substantial value to the Soviet Union!

PRES: The nature of the crime for which they have been found guilty and sentenced far exceeds that of the taking of the life of another citizen; it involves the deliberate betrayal of the entire nation and could very well result in the death of many, many thousands of innocent citizens.

PRIS: Specifically, in relation to this case, the Government itself, after the trial, conceded that: “Greenglass’s diagrams have a theatrical quality,” and because he was not a scientist, “must have counted for little.”

PRES: By immeasurably increasing the chances of atomic war, the Rosenbergs may have condemned to death tens of millions of innocent people all over the world.

PRIS: It is perfectly clear that such valueless information could have had little effectiveness “in putting into the hands of the Russians the A-bomb,” even had they not possessed the “secret.”

PRES: By their act these two individuals have in fact betrayed the cause of freedom for which free men are fighting and dying at this very hour.

PRIS: ( a bit desperately ) We submitted documentary evidence to show that David Greenglass, trapped by his own misdeeds, hysterical with fear for his own life and that of Ruth, his wife, fell back on his lifelong habit of lying, exploited by his shrewd-minded and equally guilty wife, to fabricate, bit by bit, a monstrous tale that has sent us, his own flesh and blood , down a long and terrible path toward death!

PRES: ( oblivious to this outburst ) When democracy’s enemies.

PRIS: We ask you, Mr… President, the civilized head of a civilized nation, to judge our plea with reason and humanity — and remember! we are a father and a mother!