Scope and Content Note
The papers of Fyke Farmer (1901-1997), span the years 1875-1997, with the bulk dating from 1945 to 1953, and consist of correspondence, court documents and legal papers, speech material, writings, notes, press clippings, journal articles, and other printed matter. Farmer was a lawyer and activist who became interested in the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg espionage case. Convinced of the Rosenbergs' innocence, Farmer argued that the couple was tried under the wrong law, claiming that the Atomic Energy Act, which did not carry a death penalty, should have been applied rather than the Espionage Act of 1917. On the basis of Farmer's arguments, a temporary stay was granted to the Rosenbergs by Justice William O. Douglas on 17 June 1953. The Supreme Court vacated Douglas's stay by a 6-3 vote, and the Rosenbergs were executed on 19 June 1953.
The majority of the collection focuses on the Rosenberg case and includes correspondence with the lawyers who represented the couple and other supporters, court documents, partial trial transcripts, drafts and filings of complaints, briefs and petitions, and other legal filings by Farmer. Also in the Rosenberg legal papers are files relating to Farmer's law suit (United States ex rel. Farmer v. Kaufman) in 1990 against Irving R. Kaufman, the judge who presided over the Rosenbergs' trial. There are also extensive press clippings about the Rosenberg case and documents released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation under the Freedom of Information Act relating to other accused spies David Greenglass and Morton Sobell. Correspondents in the Rosenberg files include Ethel Rosenberg Appel, Emanuel H. Bloch, Irwin Edelman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Marshall Perlin, and Norman A. Plotkin.
The collection reflects Farmer's endeavors to create a “one world government” and his advocacy for international control of atomic energy. In the writings file is an untitled book by Farmer advocating those philosophies. Also in the papers is material relating to Farmer's unsuccessful law suit against the Internal Revenue Service defending his refusal to pay federal income tax based on the argument that the Korean War was illegal.