Daniel Ellsberg, a heroic figure, the former military analyst and anti-war activist whose 1971 disclosure of the so-called Pentagon Papers revealed the systemic US government lies and deception regarding the Vietnam War, profoundly changing the political landscape and profoundly changing the course of that war, and furthermore safeguarding the freedom of the press and of First Amendment Rights, has died, his family announced today, of pancreatic cancer. He was 92.
His obituary in the New York Times may be read here
Further obituary notices:
The Washington Post
LA Times
The Guardian
BBC
NPR
CBC
DW
Reuters
AP
UPI
Al Jazzera
Democracy Now
and so many more..
We would draw your attention to this remarkable interview from March 2023 (Ellsberg fully aware of his limited time and the diagnosis)
and the Beat connection – a chance meeting in Kyoto, Japan, in 1960, with Gary Snyder. Read more on that serendipitous connection – here
A profoundly moral man, like we said, a hero.
From The Guardian obituary:
“On Friday, the family said Ellsberg “was not in pain” when he died. He spent his final months eating “hot chocolate, croissants, cake, poppyseed bagels and lox” and enjoying “several viewings of his all-time favourite (movie), “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”
“In his final days, surrounded by so much love from so many people, Daniel joked, ‘If I had known dying would be like this, I would have done it sooner …’”
“Thank you, everyone, for your outpouring of love, appreciation and well-wishes”, declared the family, “It all warmed his heart at the end of his life.”