Daniel Ellsberg

Daniel Ellsberg
Ellsberg at Georgetown University in 2014
Born	(1931-04-07) April 7, 1931 (age 85) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Education	Harvard University (PhD) King's College, Cambridge
Employer	RAND Corporation
Known for	Pentagon Papers, Ellsberg paradox
Spouse(s)	Carol Cummings (divorced) Patricia Marx
Children	Robert, Mary (1st marriage) Michael Ellsberg (2nd marriage)
Website	"Daniel Ellsberg's Website"

Daniel Ellsberg (born April 7, 1931) is an American activist and former United States military analyst who, while employed by the RAND Corporation, precipitated a national political controversy in 1971 when he released the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret Pentagon study of U.S. government decision-making in relation to the Vietnam War, to The New York Times and other newspapers.

Ellsberg was charged under the Espionage Act of 1917 along with other charges of theft and conspiracy, carrying a total maximum sentence of 115 years. Due to governmental misconduct and illegal evidence gathering, and the defense by Leonard Boudin and Harvard Law School professor Charles Nesson, Judge Byrne dismissed all charges against Ellsberg on May 11, 1973.

Ellsberg was awarded the Right Livelihood Award in 2006. He is also known for having formulated an important example in decision theory, the Ellsberg paradox.

Ellsberg was born in Chicago, Illinois on April 7, 1931, the son of Harry and Adele (Charsky) Ellsberg. His parents were Ashkenazi Jews who had converted to Christian Science, and he was raised as a Christian Scientist. He grew up in Detroit, where he attended Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills. His mother wanted him to be a concert pianist, but he stopped playing in July 1946, after both his mother and sister were killed when his father fell asleep at the wheel and crashed the family car into a culvert wall.