Civil rights & activism / Politics
Daniel Ellsberg
1931–2023 · military analyst, whistleblower, activist
The Pentagon Papers whistleblower grew up in the Detroit area and graduated from Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills.
- Born
Chicago, Illinois- Died
Kensington, California
aged 92- Detroit years
- 1930s–1948
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Daniel Ellsberg was born in Chicago in 1931, but his family moved to Detroit when he was a small child, and he grew up there during the Depression and the war years. A gifted pianist and student, he won a place at the Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills, graduating before entering Harvard on a scholarship. He went on to become a Marine officer, a RAND Corporation analyst and a Pentagon adviser on Vietnam. In 1971 he leaked the Pentagon Papers, the secret history of U.S. decision-making in the war, to The New York Times and other newspapers. Charges against him under the Espionage Act were dismissed in 1973 because of government misconduct. He spent the rest of his life campaigning against nuclear weapons and defending later whistleblowers, and received the Right Livelihood Award in 2006.
Highlights
- Released the Pentagon Papers in 1971
- Espionage Act charges dismissed in 1973 over government misconduct
- Formulated the Ellsberg paradox in decision theory
- Right Livelihood Award (2006) and Olof Palme Prize (2018)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · 1940s–1948
Cranbrook School
The private preparatory school he attended before going to Harvard.