Why do you think Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers

May 26, 2010

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Hi p43boutelle,

Ellsberg was one of very few individuals who had access to the Pentagon Papers. Further, the papers showed that high-ranking officials had a deep cynicism toward the public, as well as disregard for the loss of life and injury suffered by soldiers and civilians.

By 1969 Ellsberg began attending anti-war events while still remaining in his position at RAND. He experienced a strange feeling attending a War Resisters League conference at Haverford College in August 1969.

He was listening to a speech given by a draft resister named Randy Kehler, who calmly said he was "very excited" that he would soon be able to join his friends in prison (for resisting the draft).

Ellsberg felt that his government was involved in an unjust war that was going to continue and get larger. Thousands of young men were dying each year.

This experience made Ellsberg make photocopies of the Pentagon Papers and release the documents to New York Times, The Washington post and 17 other newspapers when his attempts to release them on the Senate floor failed.

The Pentagon Papers

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