Since 2022, UMass historian Christian G. Appy has directed the Ellsberg Initiative for Peace and Democracy (EIPAD), which promotes public understanding, scholarship, and activism in support of compelling, democratic, and sustainable alternatives to militarism, authoritarianism, and environmental degradation. EIPAD is inspired by the life and legacy of whistleblower and activist Daniel Ellsberg (1931-2023). Ellsberg’s legacy is now resonating in an act introduced to Congress by Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), the Daniel Ellsberg Press Freedom and Whistleblower Protection Act, endorsed by EIPAD.
This proposed legislation would “reform the Espionage Act to prevent its use and abuse against whistleblowers, journalists, and the American public for exposing government corruption and wrongdoing.” The act bears Ellsberg’s name because he was the whistleblower who released the Pentagon Papers in 1971, exposing government lies that kept the US embroiled in the Vietnam War. Ellsberg was charged under the Espionage Act of 1917, the same act that the Daniel Ellsberg Press Freedom and Whistleblower Protection Act seeks to reform. Ellsberg is just one example of how the Espionage Act has been used against whistleblowers, journalists, and publishers, curtailing First Amendment rights.
Ellsberg’s papers, which chronicle his experiences as a whistleblower and the public’s response, as well as decades of commitment to social justice, reside at UMass’s Robert S. Cox Special Collections and University Archives Research Center. The collection has inspired a conference, a podcast, and numerous other projects. Dr. Appy uses Ellsberg’s papers in his classes, including in a year-long seminar in 2020-21 titled “Truth, Dissent, & the Life of Daniel Ellsberg.”
Ellsberg’s life and times add important context to this act, highlighting the value of the work that Appy has done to educate students and the public about Ellsberg’s role in U.S. history.