Daniel Ellsberg was a political activist who exposed the Pentagon Papers, top-secret documents that analyzed U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.

• Died: June 16, 2023 (Who else died on June 16?)
• Details of death: Died at his home in Kensington, California of pancreatic cancer at the age of 92.
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Daniel Ellsberg’s legacy

Ellsberg was working at the Rand Corporation as a strategic analyst in the 1960s; in this capacity, he was part of the group who created the Pentagon Papers. Not long after the completion of that document, he began exploring the anti-war movement, becoming angry about the progress of the war. Ellsberg later said that he had an epiphany while listening to a speech by a draft resister who was shortly going to be sent to prison for his activism. Ellsberg – himself a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who had served in the 1950s – grew increasingly frustrated with U.S. involvement in Vietnam, to the point where he was determined he must act.

In 1969, Ellsberg secretly photocopied the Pentagon Papers, which contained evidence that the U.S. government was aware that the Vietnam War was likely unwinnable. They also noted that the government had concealed information from the public regarding the high numbers of U.S. military troops sent to Vietnam. It was a damning report, and when Ellsberg tried to share it with U.S. senators, he had no takers. But when he sent the report to the New York Times, it...

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