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Photo: Wally Fong/Associated Press

Daniel Ellsberg

In Memory of a Man Named Daniel

By Steven Schmidt

June 17, 2023

The moon was bright that night as I visited Daniel Ellsberg at his house on the beach in Southern California. It was mid 1970 and Dan was surrounded by boxes. "Papers," he called them. He was packing to leave for Cambridge and a new position at MIT and he was worried that night as he showed me the study he had put together at the Rand Corporation in Santa Monica.

As we sorted through documents I noticed some had Top Secret stamped on some of them. I learned later that these were part of the 7000 page, forty plus volume report soon to be called the "Pentagon Papers."

Dan spoke of President Nixon and famed advisor, Henry Kissinger with first-hand knowledge. He mentioned he had met with Kissinger recently at Nixon's San Clemente estate. I remember his fear, both that Nixon and Kissinger were repeating mistakes of previous administrations as "the Papers" demonstrated, and how the truth needed to go public. He broke off from the packing and said let's go, "I need to swim".

Dan was depressed, I knew, and I was not going to convince him not to go into the loudly crashing night surf. I watched as he plunged into the waves. He then reappeared for a moment in the moonlight. He swam straight out, then disappeared. I waited on shore looking out at the dark ocean. Time passed, no sign of Dan. I began worrying. Is this the end of Dan Ellsberg? Did I just witness Dan ending it all? Did a riptide take him? I walked up and down the beach searching. Suddenly, Dan walked out of the surf, nodded then sprinted back toward the house. He quickly shifted back into work mode. Something happened, he had new resolve.

Today as I reflect on the life of Dan Ellsberg and the announcement of his death, I can say he lived life like few others. He pursued the truth and facts in a way that was astounding and committed. He went on to prove in his actions that he was brave to put his life on the line for the sake of the American people. His decision was purposeful. He thought deeply about the consequences. That night under the moon I saw his fear, and I saw his resolve.

A few months later, when Daniel released the Pentagon Papers to a NY Times writer, Neil Sheehan, the truth came out. Dan's history of the war study subsequently led to the end of the Nixon presidency and, as a consequence, the end of the Vietnam War. Dan would later say the Pentagon Papers themselves didn't directly end the war, but the American people learned of the “evidence of a quarter-century of aggression, broken treaties, deceptions, stolen elections, lies, and murder”. This, with Nixon's resignation, brought on the end of the war.

I learned over the course of our relationship that Dan Ellsberg was gifted, literally. I still say he is the smartest man I've ever known. His 2002 book "Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers" is a must read. "On the evening of October 1, 1969, I walked out past the guards' desk at the Rand Corporation in Santa Monica," he writes, "carrying a briefcase filled with top secret documents, which I planned to photocopy that night… How I came to do this is the focus of this memoir." Dan's memoir is a true American story.

Beyond the Pentagon Papers and resulting demise of the Nixon presidency, Dan Ellsberg's follow-on 2017 book "The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner" later explained the inner machinations of the nuclear war complex. He was, as a younger man, a systems man and followed orders. His nuclear war gaming was a Pentagon nuclear plan that he, as an old man, brought into the light with this revelatory book. The extent of humanity's threat to life on earth is part of Dan Ellsberg's legacy now.

Daniel Ellsberg's life is a testament to what generations to come have to deal with -- perpetual wars, the realities of nuclear weapons, modern states with awesome powers for good and bad. Dan Ellsberg revealed and pointed us to harsh realities.

Will we listen to Dan Ellsberg's message that he, risking all, brought to us?

Daniel Ellsberg, after all is said and done, was a man who taught us. He was a man of peace. Dan was a believer in the power each of us has to make a difference and move toward a better world.

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Steven J Schmidt is Founder/Siterunner of GreenPolicy360

Read more @GreenPolicy360 about Dan Ellsberg --

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/mw/index.php?title=Special:Search&search=daniel%20ellsberg&fulltext=Policy+Search&profile=images&redirs=0

News of the life and passing of Dan Ellsberg --

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Ellsberg
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2023/06/16/daniel-ellsberg-pentagon-papers-dead/
• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/mw/index.php?title=Special%3ASearch&profile=default&search=daniel+ellsberg&fulltext=Search
• https://apnews.com/article/daniel-ellsberg-vietnam-war-pentagon-papers-12f57b417c372c1b8760a21d447cb502
• https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/16/us/daniel-ellsberg-dead.html
• https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/16/politics/daniel-ellsberg-dies/index.html
• https://www.npr.org/2023/06/16/1162158609/daniel-ellsberg-obituary-pentagon-papers
• https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/daniel-ellsberg-antiwar-left/
• https://www.newyorker.com/news/postscript/daniel-ellsbergs-life-beyond-the-pentagon-papers
• https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2023-06-16/daniel-ellsberg-pentagon-papers-vietnam-dead
• https://www.salon.com/2023/06/16/daniel-ellsberg-is-gone--but-he-left-us-an-important-message/

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In Memory of the legal Defense of Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo

Letter to the New York Review of Books

By Stanley Sheinbaum

May 1972

Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo have been indicted for conspiracy, espionage, and larceny. The government is spending millions of dollars to put Dan in jail for 115 years and Tony for 35 years.

Their “crime”? Giving the American people the government’s—our government’s—private history of how we were eased into the longest, costliest, and most shameful foreign war in the history of this country. By their action the Pentagon Papers now belong to the citizens who paid for them with their sons and their resources.

Dan Ellsberg and Tony Russo struck a blow for all of us when they gave the Pentagon Papers to the press and to the Senate: against the war in Vietnam and against new adventures in Cambodia, Laos, or elsewhere; against secrecy in government, so that it is now a hundred times more difficult for any administration to hoodwink the people, on foreign or domestic policy; and they struck a mighty blow—which reached right up to the Supreme Court—for freedom of the press, freedom of the American people to be informed of what crimes their government might be committing in their name.

Only days after their brave release of the Pentagon Papers they were indicted. Then, further grand jury hearings—an unheard-of procedure in the American legal system after an indictment had been obtained. Questioning of friends, relatives, even of Dan’s fifteen-year-old son. Finally, a second round of indictments, this time on fifteen counts, including conspiracy—the last and murky resort when the government is on uncertain ground.

It was clear that the initial charges of theft and espionage could not be made to stick. Nothing had been stolen—and it was absurd to suggest that there had been dealings with foreign governments.

Now the charge includes “conspiracy.” Conspiracy against whom? The American people to whom the documents belonged in the first place? The press to whom the Pentagon Papers were given—not sold—so that they could better inform the people on how a succession of administrations had deceived them and wasted this country’s lives, resources, and honor?

Incidentally, you may be interested in the peculiarities of this case. No one has ever been convicted in the United States for making classified information public for the simple reason that it is not a crime to do so. “Leaks,” after all, are a common Washington practice. They are used by officials to influence legislation, to propagandize, and indeed to obtain for Lyndon Johnson a million-dollar cash advance when he published some of those same Pentagon Papers in his memoirs. Dan Ellsberg and Tony Russo weren’t paid a cent by anyone for making the Pentagon Papers public.

They deserve the best possible defense against the vindictiveness of this Administration. The trial is scheduled to begin May 9 in Los Angeles. If they go to jail, whether for one year or 115 years, then all of us who opposed the war in Vietnam—who believe in freedom of the press and the right of the people to know—are affected. Indeed, who is to say who will be next?

Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo deserve better of the American people. They have good legal counsel. Their trial will be a crucial test of the right of the people to know about illegal actions of government officials.

But this will be a long and complicated trial and an estimated $250,000 is needed for their defense against the Justice Department. Dan and Tony don’t have that kind of money and preparations for the trial don’t leave much time for fund-raising speeches. That leaves it to us.

That’s the way it should be because all of us who applauded when the Pentagon Papers made headlines—who bought over a million copies of the paperbound edition of the Papers—we are on trial with them. We benefited from their courageous action.

If you think that Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo should not be imprisoned for doing their duty as citizens—or simply that they deserve a full hearing in the courts—then I hope you will contribute as much as you can toward their legal expenses. Mail checks to The Pentagon Papers Fund, PO Box 1630, Grand Central Station, New York, New York 10017. Please give even more than you can afford. What we cannot afford is to abdicate our right to be informed, nor can we afford to leave the lives of our own and other people’s children to the mercy of secret decisions in Washington.

Stanley K. Sheinbaum

Chairman

The Pentagon Papers Fund

New York City

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