The New York City Council issued a proclamation Monday honoring Ethel Rosenberg on what would have been the convicted Soviet spy’s 100th birthday. Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer joined the festivities, declaring Sept. 28 “Ethel Rosenberg Day of Justice in the Borough of Manhattan.”

The proclamations mentioned Rosenberg’s work as a labor organizer. But the emphasis was on showing that she was “wrongfully executed,” as the council said, when she and her husband, Julius, were put to death in 1953 for passing atomic secrets...