Full-Length Talk
Filmed at Amherst College
Amherst, MA
November 10, 2003
49 minutes • VHS Video

       Daniel Ellsberg is America’s best known government whistle-blower for his release to the New York Times in 1971 of a top-secret Defense Department study, known as the Pentagon Papers, which exposed a long history of deception and deceit regarding U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam War.

      A Marine veteran, Defense Department consultant, and Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense during the Johnson administration, this former government-insider risked a possible sentence of 115 years for his action. However, the twelve felony counts against him were dismissed in 1973 on grounds of governmental misconduct against him, which led to the convictions of several White House aides and figured in the impeachment proceedings against President Richard Nixon.

      Since the end of the Vietnam War, Ellsberg has been a lecturer, writer, and activist on the dangers of the nuclear era and unlawful U.S. military interventions. His recent book about his government experiences, SECRETS: A MEMOIR OF VIETNAM AND THE PENTAGON PAPERS is winner of the 2003 American Book Award and the Pen Center USA Award for Creative Nonfiction.

      In this talk, Ellsberg describes his first-hand knowledge of Johnson administration officials lying during the Vietnam War and contrasts this to Bush administration lies which led up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Ellsberg then traces parallels between the war in Vietnam and the current U.S. military occupation of Iraq. He ends by emphasizing the importance of citizen activism and the role of whistle-blowers to demand the truth from government and reveal information kept hidden from the American public.

      For more information, contact: www.ellsberg.net

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