“The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers” has been nominated for an Oscar in the documentary category, 2010 Academy Awards.
Here is the official trailer:
The film is opening this weekend in San Francisco, and around the nation in coming weeks. Check here for opening dates, cities and times.
Here are media clips about the film and the nomination:
New York Times: “Daniel Ellsberg, Film Buff”
Here’s Woody Harrelson talking about the film:
{ 34 comments… read them below or add one }
Mr. Ellsberg
Thank you for being the personification of integrity. I am a young, successful entrepreneur who was thrusted into the business world made up of mostly older, less idealistic people. I see that I cannot sustain a life in business nor politics, as I believe strongly in standing up for a principal. You are an inspiration to me, and my group of friends who are always digging for more knowledge. I send you a lot of positive energy, and I hope you have a wonderful day.
Dear Mr. Ellsberg,
I don’t often feel compelled to write to a producer/writer about a film or book I find fascinating/inspiring. However, your documentary rises above the ordinary or even the extraordinary for it’s impact on the course of U.S. policy in Vietnam after the release of the Pentagon Papers. As with many others before me, I thank you for your courage and the strength of your conviction. I would like to say that most Americans are appreciative of individuals like yourself, but, I’m not entirely certain. I see America today as more concerned with its financial well-being and maintaining its economic superpower status than it is about foreign policy. Many polls and studies have shown that a majority of Americans understand very little of the issues surrounding our involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq. How do we as a nation overcome this political apathy? How do we get people to see beyond the demagoguery of tv political talk show hosts? How do we get people to think critically and ask more probing questions? I applaud your generation for the passion and zeal you and others of your era had for pricking the national conscience, but, I’m afraid that these attributes are a figment of the past not to be seen again.
Dear Mr. Ellsberg,
Everything I could possibly say to compliment you on the content of your character and your courage has already been said by the people who posted a comment before me.
You TRULY are a unique and outstanding individual and it is sad to see that the governments of today don’t have more men like you within their ranks.
Last Sunday I saw the conversation you had with Ann Beeson and John Dean at the Open Society Institute online on FORA TV, and I also found a link to the BBC broadcast of “The Most Dangerous Man In America”. I have a website that I use to ‘broadcast’ educational and informative documentary films. I posted the interview on FORA TV and the link to “The Most Dangerous Man In America” in the “Lessons From History” section this Monday.
I really feel that your words and actions can (and in my opinion should) be an inspiration for generations to come.
With kindest regards,
Ms. Randy Thym
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Dear Mr. Ellsberg I just saw your documentary, and I want to say thank you, thank you, thank you! it’s one of the most important and one of the greatest documentary I have ever seen (trust me I have seen a lot), I have never heard of you or the pentagon papers until after I saw the film.
I have always known that governments lie to their people, but just never knew to what extent and now after watching this film you have confirm my believes.
My name is Tuan Le, In 1971 when the paper was published, I wasn’t born yet, until July 1973 in Hanoi Vietnam, if it wasn’t for you I might not have been born today, my kids would not be here today also.
As a kid growing up in Hanoi in the 70s, I was told that the big holes in front of people’s houses and on the streets were to avoid being kill by bombs, I also heard many stories from my parents, uncles and people about how badly the city was bombed, I didn’t really quite understand how bad it was and who was responsible until much later when I came to Canada at the age of 10, and now I know who helped ended the massacre.
Mr. Ellsberg, thank you, you are my hero, you are a hero to millions of people, not just Vietnamese, American, but to the whole world, one day I will tell my kids about you and get them to watch your docucmentary, Thank you.
Just saw this wonderful documentary tonight at the Bainbridge Island, WA theatre. What a beautiful gift Mr. Ellsberg has given us. And a big thank you to all who contributed to its production.
Hi I’m doing a research paper on the Pentagon Papers, and I’m supposed to do an interview or visit a museum relevant to my topic. Since Mr. Ellsberg is quite busy, does anyone have a good idea of who would be willing to do an interview, or a good museum w/ a Pentagon Papers display in San Francisco? Please respond with any information, thanks!
By the way, the newest documentary about Mr. Ellsberg and the Papers is phenomenal and gave me a lot of insight into my topic, compared to articles I read before. I highly recommend it!
Thanks to ARTE TV (french/german TV Channel) I had the chance to see this interesting documentary on you and your family & friends.
What amazes me “as a european” is to see that despite what you did and revealed, Americans citizen re-elected Nixon for a 2nd presidency mandate and did it again with W.Bush some 30 years later despite knowing that “mass destruction weapons” threat was a lie. Knowing is not understanding !?
Wish you all the best
Dear Mr. Ellsberg,
i’ve just finshed watching The Most Dangerous Man in America on german tv channel ARTE and could not believe all that.
I did’nt even had a clue how things went in Vietnam War. I proof, till yesterday, i as a german in the age of 48 years, wasn’t teached in any german school about the real thing happend in that time.
I guess you would have been 100 % more worth the nobel price than the actual
president who was selected.
And thank you a lot to offer this plattform for bringing the thoughts to you.
Please be patient with my english, it’s quite a while since i learned and used it.
Thank you for your job.
Josef
Hi, I am from germany. I have seen the film two days ago in german television and I am very impressed of what you did (and what you are doing today for peace)!
) with psychohistory theses und theories like Lloyd deMause in New York or Alice Miller in germany published. Also I write in an own german internet-blog about war and reasons for it.
But what is missing in the film and in textes about your biography which I have read are more details about your childhood. I be concerned (as a hobby
To me It seems so, that your main reason for what you did during the war in Vietnam was emotional sort, had to do witch empathy und well thinking. As person and as father you appeal to me emotional too.
So I would be glad, if you will add your biography data at your homepage or if you like via personal email to me. What was your father and mother like? How was their relationship, before your mother died? What was your family atmosphere like? Did you experiencend some form of violence or neglect? And if so was it often or rarely, hard or less hard? Was one of your parents the most emotional one? Have you been some times in other familys where you got help in growing up? And so on and so on.
For me this personal background of your childhood is very important. If you don t think so, it would be real pity.
Greetings from germany and I wish you and your family all the best!
Sven
Mr. Ellsberg, you are truly a beacon and an inspiration to us all. I am 56 now and was terribly unpopular at the time our country first invaded Iraq. At the time, I worked in a large call center with many young, uninformed people and stubbornly kept insisting that it was more patriotic to be against that invasion than to condone the inevitable loss of thousands of lives.
Here is what I wrote:
Warning: The following may be disturbing and controversial to some. It is an emotional open letter to young people about my opinions of government and war that I originally wrote back in March 2008. When the whole gulf war thing started my son pointed out that his generation was born after Viet Nam and they had never seen our country involved in a war and so their viewpoint was not terribly realistic. That, plus the fact that one of my brothers was killed in Viet Nam and the other came back emotionally scarred, spurred me to write this:
WHAT WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO DIE FOR?
What would you be willing to die for? What would make you condone the atrocities of war? I’m not talking about the video game and popular movie glorifications showing high-tech, blood-splashed scenes without showing the real, horrible agony of prolonged suffering. I’m speaking to a generation that is only now beginning to see their friends and relatives returning home forever disfigured, mentally and emotionally scarred. Or, them returning home in a cold steel box to never again laugh or play those games with you.
You are now a generation with children of your own. Yes, I believe you would die defending your children from harm. But think about it seriously for a moment. Given that scenario, do you first picture actually putting your life on the line in a personal situation of self-defense, or do you see yourself being shipped off to some place that your government tells you to blindly believe may be an outside threat to our “national security” so you can attack and become a target of someone defending their own family in a very real, up front and personal kind of way? Once there, would you truly see yourself as the “good guy”, liberating a people that obviously do not want you there; a people who see you as an invader? Maybe you would if you bought into the thorough brainwashing of basic training that taught you to blindly follow orders and de-humanize what your government has decided are our enemies so you don’t have to think of them as people. That has been an effective tactic all throughout mankind’s history. It’s enabled leaders to use soldiers as drones and pawns in their quests for power while they stay safely at home or up on the hill out of harm’s way. Then they can look over the images of crumpled bodies on the smoking, bloody battlefields and declare themselves victorious in their game. They don’t see you as individual people; they merely see you as tools while they smugly chant, “The ends justify the means. Collateral damage is part of war.” They count and manipulate the numbers. They do not consider the everlasting horror that “cleansing” creates.
You live in an age of possibilities to discover what is really true. You grew up with computers and cell phones. You have instant communication. The internet and satellite television broadcasts enable you to view what past generations could not. It’s up to you to investigate and refuse to wear the blinders that politicians keep trying to put on you with their short attention span sound bites and their “let’s scare America” tactics. Governments and big corporations have always lied to the general population to achieve their objectives. But you have the means to filter out the truth and keep yourselves educated so you don’t have to be the mindless sheep they laugh at behind closed doors while they line their pockets and give cursory lip-service to the widows and mothers.
War, very simply, is about power and greed. Very much like the playground bullies who push the weaker kids to one side while they claim their territory. Remember how you were told those bullies are really cowards deep down inside? It’s like King of the Hill. Only, in war, people die. Lives are ruined. Countries are devastated. And for what? Conquest. Self-defense is understandable but the aggressive actions that cause people to need to defend themselves are not. Consider that your government has appointed itself the police of the world, invading and massacring wherever it pleases for veiled reasons that are no more substantial than mist.
America has become the ultimate Bully. Be ashamed. And very seriously ask yourself if it is worth dying, and murdering, for.
© Janet Truesdell Burgar, 3/10/2008
I have just seen this incredible documentary and wish to thank-you for saving the thousands of innocent lives and possible that of my own, as I would have been the next round of 18 year old draftees deployed to Viet Nam.
Thank you for your bravery and courage in releasing those documents and making it possible to bringing an end to Nixon’s dirty war and the mongrels who were profiteering from it. A Nobel Peace Prize should have your name on it.
Mr. Ellsberg I saw your film today at Jacob burns film center and I talked with your son. You have done a good job.
I heard you speak at the premiere of this film in Portland, Oregon last week. Amazing. I was 10 years old during your release of the Pentagon Papers. My father, in the defense industry, no doubt went nuts. Now that I have an adult grasp of what you did, and I have heard you speak, may I humbly suggest you do a presentation for TED. TED reaches the world via the internet. Your message is universal, it is unique and it speaks to issues every citizen of the planet faces in striving for world peace.
It took 40 years for us to begin to believe and act on what what we have known all those years, about global warming and climate change. We as a group, society, are slow to change. We need the message reiterated over and over again. TED would expand your message well beyond the movie, lecture and book reading audiences.
Your positive impact and change it has produced has already been heroic both in the proportion of results and the actions it required of you. Expand that geometrically. I want to see you on TED.
Thank you,
Mary Gibson
Mr. Ellsberg: I just saw your documentary in Palo Alto this week.
Wonderful!
I’ve read your book, “Secrets.”
How can I get access to the entire Pentagon Papers? My first husband was an MIA Air Force pilot in Laos. I have a number questions that may be answered in those documents. I have the short version from the New York Times. I’d like to see it all.
Thank you, Julie Williams
Former wife of Capt. Gordon Clark Hill, AF, MIA, Laos, 6/30/70
Status change from MIA to KIA/BNR August, 1978
Moved to my toes! You two are great and grand inspirations for the rest of us. It is such an honor to have Patricia joining us on April 8 for Conversations with Remarkable Women in Mill Valley! Blessings be! Fay Freed
You´ve been my hero ever since the 70´ies. Got your book in my bookshelf. Met you in Gothenburg in the 80´ies when 100.000 peaceniks from all over marched to the stadion there. Followed you ever since. Saw your film “The most dangerous man” on Norwegian NRK2-TV tonight, March 6, 2010. Am happy you´re alive and still kicking for peace and justness, against lies.
Keep your thoughts positive, because your thoughts become your words.
Keep your words positive, because your words become your behavior.
Keep your behavior positive, because your behavior becomes your habits.
Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values.
Keep your values positive, because your values become your destiny.
-Quote from Mahatma Gandhi.
better version: please use this one, should u wish
Daniel Ellsberg at Goucher 3/2/’10
As if in answer to my interchange w President Unger (back when Karl Rove spoke at Goucher) ? on 3/2/’10, Danel Ellsberg speaks at Goucher and I am invited to the supper before the speech, thanks to old AFSC friend, Fran Donelan. We have a sumptious meal (yes, shrimp or quiche- salad w egg plant, red pepper, mushroom- o mi god) at the President’s House in the woods- a Frank Lloyd Wright looking palace in the woods out by the beltway (Unger only stays there some times- he lives in dc) -photos w Dan, many old friends of the peace movement-Phil Berrigan’s wife, Liz McCallister, (not at the supper but at the speech) (Ellsberg speaks of throwing the infant Frida Berrigan up in the air) , Brendan and Willa Walsh, Max Obusweski (sp- Max please change yr. name!)), Joe Morton, Chuck Danels- even civil rights icon, Sydney Hollander is there, Taylor Branch. Sadly-a sign of the times- there is NO media.
Actually- you are right dave (I MEAN LEFT- THERE IS NO MEDIA)- BUT FOR SPARK, AMY GOODMAN).
impressions: Ellsberg had been a marine- in the 50’s? a Harvard grad? I am dismayed, to the degree, that I might like to but never could give such a brilliant, commanding talk/performance- (he is interviewed by Unger at 8 before a crowd of some 700). He has great attention to detail and reviews the happenings around the publication of the Pentagon Papers for the assembled. He explains how he came to be a peace activist- that a certain Randy Keener? had made the decision to turn in his draft card and he had been inspired by him at an anti war conference at Haverford. He had gone into the restroom and broke down weeping. He realizes (as did I) that this is the way to go! He portrays the copying and collating of the Papers- his son, 13 yrs. old, helping, his daughter cutting the Top Secrets of the top of the pp. E blames himself for not getting the Papers out earlier- implies he might have personally ended the war that much earlier- (grandiosity?) (Wasn’t it the NLF that stopped the war?) How he wanted his son to take part- although his wife strongly disapproved-how he imagined spending the rest of his life in prison- at a later point his young son asks him, “Dad remind me why it was we published the papers?”
(Ellsberg was acquitted at the Papers trial but has since, according to his count, been arrested 70 or 80 times). (My friend Max Obusjewski (sp) who sits at the same table at supper, I know has been arrested that many times- these guys rise to a different level and zone than I do) (I think I will just have to work on the artistic, poetry side of the peace movement).
He castigates Obama (for whom he did not vote) as making the same mistakes of Iraq and Vietnam- he discusses the Tonkin Gulf incidents, and the recently leaked McKiver memos that contradict McKrystal’’s and Obama’s call for more troops for Afghanistan. In Vietnam as in Afghanistan, the generals wonder why the Afghan troops are not as motivated as the insurgents? They are being paid by an occupying army. …it will be a losing war- Russian generals have said it as well as McKiver- and Ellsberg, is this conspiracy theorizing? imagines that there must be a team of plumbers in the current White House as there was in Nixon’s- investigating the leaks of McKiver’s memo. He speakes about constitutionality – the fact that Obama is a constitutional lawyer but has violated the Constitution 10+ times over- w wire taps, w torture, etc.etc.
I am able to ask E a couple of my favorite questions at supper- is he a leftist? No- a democrat- but “on the left”- a good question, he says. (Yes- how are we going to redustribute the wealth? deal w Wall St. games?) His influences? my old friend Barbra Deming, Joan Bondurant- the War Resisters league, Dave McReynolds, Dave Dellinger. During his speech he sztates that he is not a pacifist- he approves of W W II- the “English anti aircraft gunners were doing a good thing shooting down German bombers over London, the Russians, even under the Dictator Stalin- were doing a good thing fighting the Germans. The Korean War – a mixed bag- very few just wars. Saddam invading Kuwait- a just cause for us and our allies. Fran Donelan reminds me of Gene Sharp’s writings, e.g. Politics of Nonviolent Action, that, actually, violent action almost ALWAYS misses the point- is done too late- that we are not prepared to achieve non-violence w real UN peace armies, etc. etc.
E refers to the German Democratic Republic several times and the motto of the STASI- Know Everything. How the police apparatus turns you against your friend, your lover. How J Hoover’s kept secrets in his personal safe- how the system of blackmail by police apparti works. He also mentions NSA a lot- our enemies down the road- that the only Congressman who might possibly investigate them- and to whom he would give secrets now-? Russ Feingold.
The most hopeful thing about the appearance is the Goucher Peace Studies program- which E points to- the 60 majors and minors, Dir. Seble Dawit- the youngsters who surround E w questions. Maybe we didn’t fail so much after all.
Not mentioned so much- the pain- the inner decisions- the divorce, how does he support himself (undoubtedly by lecturing-writing) ? to me E enters my pantheon of more establishment icons- the sort one sees published in the NY Review of Bks- Chomsky, Zinn, etc. He “has the juice”- I see him talking animatedly w Branch and then, B’s wife rolls her eyes. hmmm maybe they were talking abt the weather-but then, Branch, Clinton’s friend- probably needs a tonic, wake up blast from some one like E.
THANK YOU DAN
I just watched “The Most Dangerous Man in America” on the BBC’s website and would like to add my voice to those who congratulate you (and your wife and your children).
Interesting documentary- it just aired here in Japan on the NHK/BS1 channel.
Dear Mr. Ellsberg,
I just saw the first part of “The Most Dangerous Man in America” here in Japan and am now filled with tremendous awe and thanks for your great courage and integrity. In my book, you are a true hero, and I hope that your story will be studied by every student in America.
As Mikko Koivunen below mentioned I also saw the documentary yesterday evening at YLE Finland and was very impressed. Down along the way you were tied to the Vietnam War on both sides – taking actions to keep the “machine of war going” and trying to stop it. In addition on both sides you’ve seen the war on a very high level (planning the war Releasing the material) and on a “grass root” level (participating in war in Vietnam participating in rallies and other concrete anti-war activities in USA). It is very rare men who have the opportunity like you to influence matters of this scope in so concrete way and I’m happy that you took the chance and used it for good. Sad to say, but the sentence “People hear, understand, but still seem not to care” in the document seems to be true. Even though the lies and malpractice that was brought out in relation to the Vietnam war, the same scenarios and lies seem to repeat themselves in the wars that take place today. It’s such a shame
Saw the documentary today on YLE in Finland. Somehow I got the feeling that you are a very lucky man to be alive. And that there are people in America whom deserves a lot of respect, like you do. I wish the best for you in your upcoming life. Thank you for your honesty.
Truly amazing story. As a representative of a younger generation this really stopped me to think. If put in such a position, where you are forced to choose between your consience and a compromise, even if the outcome is not so grand, one should recognize, that with this given life you may not get another chance. I think I have become more aware of personal responsibility that comes with being able to vote. Greetings from Finland to Mr. Ellsberg.
Mr. Ellsberg,
It was an honor listening to you today at The New School. I’m a Latin American graduate student, not a fan of the US, but I think that you are one of the best people I’ve met. We live to learn lessons, nothing more. I’ll dare to say that you had an overwhelming lesson to learn, learned it and did so gracefully and determinately. That in and of itself is enough to inspire anyone who wants to listen.
Dear Mr. Ellsberg,
I saw the film and heard you speak in San Francisco last week, but didn’t get a chance to ask my question. I enjoyed the film, and appreciate the courage and integrity you showed during that period. I was also moved by the Vietnamese journalist, who was so emotional he had a difficult time articulating his question, but who basically said “It’s all very well for you to act heroically, but look at the mess you left for us.” You basically responded “We were never there to make things better for you, and the left is not responsible for the lousy government you were left with.” That sounds more callow than I’d hope for from you, and I’d like to push a little harder on the point.
Ironically, by the time you leaked the secret history of the war, the actual war had changed significantly. The Viet Cong might have been an indigenous Southern independence movement earlier, but after Tet, it was a hollowed-out instrument for Hanoi, a “cat’s paw” as the Soviets used to call it (read, for example, Truong Nhu Tang’s book, Vietcong Memoir). Also by that time, Ho’s balancing act between the Russians and Chinese had collapsed; Hanoi was as close to Moscow as “lips and teeth,” and the Soviets were conducting a front of the Cold War through a satellite country, pretty much like we were. Because of those changes, there’s a plausible argument that Vietnamization would have worked. With U.S. air support, ARVN repelled the ‘72 spring offensive. If the U.S. had been politically able to keep funding South Vietnam and providing air support and training, we might have ended up with a real peace deal and a South Vietnam that conceivably developed the way South Korea eventually did, without the gulags and the boat people and the repression and the corruption. Sure, it could easily have failed too — the quick collapse of ARVN in 74-75 shows how much work would have to have been done, but, that’s a plausible “what if.”
So honestly, where do you think the morality lies in all this? Did the U.S. conduct the war immorally? Sure. But if our government had told the truth to our citizens, and if our military had operated under proper rules of engagement, would that have satisfied the anti-war movement? Was it immoral to conduct the cold war through proxies? I guess, though conducting it directly through nuclear bombs would have been worse. (And don’t forget, the Marshall Plan also comes under the heading “conducting the cold war by proxy” – it wasn’t all bad conduct.)
Like they say, honesty and integrity are the first victims of war. You kept yours intact. You also, like Nixon says in the film, gave comfort and support to the enemy.
That sound bite you’re famous for “We weren’t on the wrong side; we were the wrong side” seems disrespectful to all the Catholics who fled repression in the North, all the petit bourgeois who were robbed and journalists who were silenced and Buddhists who couldn’t practice their religion and peasants who were starved and boat people who fled for their lives. Were they the “wrong side” too? Like you said, we weren’t in Vietnam to protect them. But we WERE in Vietnam because we saw a common cause between our desire to stop Soviet expansion and their desire to stop North Vietnamese expansion. We made promises to those people, and we failed to keep them, and one of the reasons for that failure was your leak of the pentagon papers.
At the end of your talk after the showing, you asked people to come to your blog and suggest ideas about where the film should be shown and how it could make a positive impact. My suggestion is that you go to Arlington and Irvine and other Vietnamese areas, and you show the film and talk through those issues with people like that journalist. It wouldn’t be very easy, and you wouldn’t get the kind of adulation that you got here in San Francisco, but you might bring about some actual peace and reconciliation.
Sincerely,
Matt Chanoff
You’re an inspiration to us all! Here’s a link to a video we made for our upcoming production of Top Secret: Battle for the Pentagon Papers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf22×5r16Zo
You’re featured prominently. Thank you so much for your work.
Rafael and the gang at NYTW
I agree with Rufus, and Lauren, above, but left the film feeling somewhat hopeless.
Domestic policy seems to have grown worse, in both of our coutries, since your gesture. And I left feeling, partially, that people don’t want to appreciate what is done in their name; that it’s too much, and too hopeless.
Easier, at some level; to let someone else make those choices, those decisions; to blame them later as needed.
And, as in a game of chess, even when presented with equal intelligence and prospects, we move towards a point of asymmetrical information, by our actions and inactions.
This desire for “unequalness” has lead to disastrous consequences; for example, a friend of mine who served in the medical corps in Afganistan pointed out to me the number of troops we keep alive, sometimes people who will no longer be able to serve society, or themselves, due to immensely traumatic injuries. And sometimes at the expense of the native population.
Yet even the hippocratic oath has a built in desire for truth to be valued only by those valued:
“All that may come to my knowledge in the exercise of my profession or in daily commerce with men, which ought not to be spread abroad, I will keep secret and will never reveal.”
But I am inspired by your conviction, your rationality, and your bravery.
Although I am not religous, you have helped restore my faith in the idea of the, “lone voice, crying in the wilderness”: that all should be valued, all have a voice, and be heard.
And that, though a thorny credo, is ideal that resores hope.
(and good luck at the oscars!)
Awesome documentary ! just watched it on the BBC.
Thank you for your courage
……………….stay dangerous
An excellent and compulsive documentary – and one for our times. Loyalty to one’s country is vital but not loyalty to mendacious, self-serving politicians.
Some say exposing ones government, calling them out in their lies and corrupt ways, and speaking out against them is unpatrioticand. I say nay! To be patriotic is to believe in ones country, the importance of all its people, and to hold the government accountable for all its actions…right and wrong.
right is right…even when only one person is doing it.
wrong is wrong …even when everyone is doing it. (anon)
Mr Ellsberg, I just watched Your Documetary on the BBC, and I wanted to both thank you for your inspirational behaviour, valour, eloquence, and humanity.
I only hope your example will inspire a more progressive approach in American and British Foreign policies.
We seem to increasingly be living in a world where our Officials believe they are not answerable to the Electorate. But Your example shows the difference we can all make if We are prepared to follow our conscience.
Thank you for making me think about what I can do to help, ad to help others.
Yours with the upmost admiration,
Rufus
Excellent trailer…
I heard you on NPR today. Your description of explaining state secret to Kissinger — how intoxicating it is to know things that most people don’t know — and the consequent attitude policy makers have of making god-like decisions reminded me of this quote from John Adams:
Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak.
Thank you Mr. Ellsberg.