At age thirteen, a young girl learns that her parents had been Communists during the 1930s and '40s while working for the U.S. Government. Her father is called before the House Committee on Un-American Activities and must decide how he will testify. His decision breaks his spirit and changes his family's life forever.
>> Read more about Legacy of a False Promise by Margaret Fuchs Singer.
CONTACT:
Order Legacy of a False Promise online at any of these retailers:
As the younger son of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, the two communists executed in 1953 for supposedly giving what was called the secret of the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union, I've read the stories of dozens of 'red diaper babies' who paid a high price for their parents' refusal to cooperate with government investigating committees during the McCarthy period witch-hunts. Until reading Margaret Singer's, Legacy of a False Promise, I'd never imagined that children of those who cooperated with the House Un-American Activities Committee and 'named names' also suffered. Although
I come at this issue from a very different political perspective, I found Margaret Singer's journey of self-discovery fascinating. Margaret navigates dangerous currents as she addresses both the possibility that her parents spied for the Soviet Union, and that her father committed an unforgivable sin by betraying his friends' trust. This groundbreaking book is must reading for anyone interested in this subject matter.
Robert Meeropol
Executive Director, Rosenberg Fund for Children