A number of national and local organizations were created in response to the Rosenberg and Sobell espionage cases in which Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted and sentenced to death, and Morton Sobell was sentenced to 30 years in prison. These national and local organizations engaged in community and political activism to defend, save, secure justice for, and secure clemency for the Rosenbergs. Following the conviction of the Rosenbergs and Sobell in 1951, the journalist William A. Reuben wrote a series of investigative articles for the National Guardian, and was involved in the formation of the National Committee to Secure Justice in the Rosenberg Case (NCSJRC) with David and Emily Alman. Their grassroots campaign focused on preventing the couple's execution. They organized mass protests, letter campaigns, clemency petitions, fundraisers for legal fees and child care for the Rosenberg's two young sons, and the creation and distribution of publications to present new evidence to raise questions about the legitimacy of the Rosenberg trial and death sentence.

The controversy surrounding the Rosenbergs' sentencing continued after their executions, and the grassroots campaigns of the 1950s underwent several transformations. Some groups shifted their focus to Morton Sobell, the other defendant in the case. In 1973, the Rosenbergs' two sons, Michael and Robert Meeropol, continued the work of the NCSJRC, forming the National Committee to Reopen the Rosenberg Case (NCRRC). A major initial focus of the organization was the release, under the Freedom of Information Act, of the FBI files on the Rosenbergs. The Meeropols sued the FBI and in 1975 won the release of hundreds of thousands of previously secret documents pertaining to their parents' case. The NCRRC sought to exonerate Julius and Ethel from the charge of atomic espionage and prove their innocence, and push for recognition from the United States government that the judicial system had not given the Rosenbergs due process. From the mid-1970s to the early 2000s, the NCRRC continued to seek an official review of the Rosenberg case and the exoneration of the couple through outreach and publicity campaigns and events.