From the New York Times Obituary
“In August 1969, he went to a War Resisters League meeting at Haverford
College in Pennsylvania and heard a speaker, Randy Kehler, proudly
announce that he was soon going to join his friends in prison for refusing
the draft.
“Profoundly moved, Mr. Ellsberg had reached his breaking point, as he was
quoted saying in “The Right Words at the Right Time” (2002), by the
actress Marlo Thomas. ‘I left the auditorium and found a deserted men’s
room,” he said. “I sat on the floor and cried for over an hour, just
sobbing. The only time in my life I’ve reacted to something like that.’
“Mr. Ellsberg began to oppose the war openly. He wrote letters to
newspapers, joined antiwar protests, composed articles and testified at
the trials of draft resisters. Mr. Ellsberg began to oppose the war
openly. He wrote letters to newspapers, joined antiwar protests, composed
articles and testified at the trials of draft resisters….”
[Ellsber also visited Kehler in prison, as part of his thinking about
whether to risk imprisonment himself. There’s more, including a joint
interview with Ellsberg and Kehler, in “The Boys Who Said No.”]
Summarized by Edward Hasbrouck. Photo by Jeff Paterson.
Other remembrances
Daniel in the Lion’s Den
by Erik Baker at the Baffler
Daniel Ellsberg, Who Leaked The Pentagon Papers, Dies At 92
RSN repost from Harrison Smith and Patricia Sullivan at the Washington Post
