By Eric Garris / Antiwar.com
Daniel Ellsberg, (born April 7, 1931, Chicago, Illinois), American military analyst and researcher who, in 1971, leaked portions of a classified 7,000-page report that detailed the history of U.S. intervention in Indochina from World War II until 1968. Dubbed the Pentagon Papers, the document appeared to undercut the publicly stated justification of the Vietnam War.
Daniel Ellsberg is probably the patron saint of them all whistleblowers. Anyone who knows anything about America’s misguided war in Vietnam knows his name to this day, because of one giant leap of courage and conscience. Leaking the Pentagon Papers in 1971, at great personal risk, changed the course of that history by revealing America secretly knew the war was unwinnable. Since 1971 Daniel has consistently spoken truth to power and is an American hero admired for his integrity, humanity, and brilliance.
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Fifty years later, Ellsberg is still deeply committed to peace and transparency.
On this occasion, peace activist David Hartsough presented Daniel Ellsberg with the Sam Adams Associates award for integrity for shining light into dark places.