Daniel Ellsberg
(1931-)

American Whistleblower, Peace & Anti-Nuclear Activist
Former Military Analyst, Released Pentagon Papers

2006 Right Livelihood Award Winner
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation's Peace Leadership Award
Gandhi Peace Award Winner

birthdate: April 7
birthplace:
Detroit, Michigan

Daniel Ellsberg is a former American military analyst who became the most well-known whistle-blower in 1971 when he released he released the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret Pentagon study about secret US policies during the Vietnam war, first to members of the US Senate, and then to the news media. This action caused the public to turn against the war opinion, and it also caused him to face a sentence of more than 100 years in prison. After President Nixon's administration was caught illegally raiding Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office as part of the Watergate scandal, the case against Ellsberg was dismissed. For the past 35 years, Ellsberg has continued to be a leading voice through writing, lecturing and nonviolent protests in support of government accountability, peace and the abolition of nuclear weapons. Strongly believing that truth-telling is the most courageous and patriotic way to serve our country, in 2004 Daniel Ellsberg launched the Truth-Telling Project, urging insiders to come forth about government lies and cover-ups before the US becomes involved in another war. The following year the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation awarded their first Fellowship to Daniel Ellsberg for his lifetime commitment of working for peace, nuclear disarmament, and truth-telling. In 2006 he received the Right Livelihood Award (often called the “Alternative Nobel Prize”) “for putting peace and truth first, at considerable personal risk, and dedicating his life to a movement to free the world from the risk of nuclear war.”

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