The American Daniel Ellsberg, who in 1971 disclosed confidential documents on the planning of the war in Vietnam, the “Pentagon Papers”, died Friday at the age of 92.
This whistleblower, who helped change the outlook of American public opinion on the conflict in Vietnam “died of pancreatic cancer, which he had been diagnosed on February 17. He did not suffer and was surrounded of his beloved family,” his wife and children said in a statement.
Daniel Ellsberg, whose story inspired an American television movie in 2003 and a feature film by Steven Spielberg in 2017, himself announced in March that he had terminal cancer and that he only had “three to six months to live”.
“Hot chocolates, croissants, cakes, poppyseed and smoked salmon bagels gave her extra pleasure during her last months,” her family said. “He also took the opportunity to rewatch his favorite movies, including rewatching his favorite movie, Butch Cassidy and the Kid, several times.”
Former analyst for the State Department and the Rand Corporation linked to the Pentagon, Daniel Ellsberg rose to fame in the early 1970s after leaking 7,000 classified documents, the “Pentagon Papers”, which revealed that several American governments had lied to the public about the Vietnam War.
These documents revealed that, contrary to the assertions of various American officials, the war in Vietnam could not be won by the United States and that Washington had nevertheless played the card of military escalation.
Revelations which had made it possible to change the opinion of Americans on this conflict of decolonization and the Cold War, from 1955 to 1975, a real trauma for the two countries with 58,000 American soldiers killed and some 3.8 million civilian deaths and soldiers on the Vietnamese side.
In 1969, increasingly revolted by the situation in Vietnam, where he had gone to the scene of the conflict, Ellsberg had obtained a report of 7,000 pages. Working for Rand Corporation, he had photocopied the report page by page with the help of a couple of friends.
The story, which led to the revelation of the lies in the New York Times and then the Washington Post, is told in a film by Steven Spielberg, “Pentagon Papers” (“The Post” according to its original title in the United States) with Meryl Streep and 2018 Oscar nominee Tom Hanks.
Another American television film, “The Pentagon Papers”, follows Ellsberg’s journey, played by actor James Spader, from the Rand Corporation to his aborted trial for alleged espionage.
The New York Times had begun publishing the documents before the administration of Republican President Richard Nixon (1969-1974) obtained an injunction from a federal court to prevent them from doing so, on the grounds of national security.
The Washington Post had taken over, despite the risks of political, economic and legal reprisals.
Daniel Ellsberg won the 2018 Olof Palme Human Rights Prize.
06/16/2023 22:50:13 – New York (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
