Two PERI Events Will Feature Daniel Ellsberg Oct. 28 and 29

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Daniel Ellsberg, recently named a Distinguished Research Fellow by the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at UMass Amherst, will be featured in two PERI events during his visit to campus in late October. Ellsberg’s PERI appointment coincides with the university’s recent acquisition of his personal papers, to be managed by the W.E.B. Du Bois Library.

On Monday, Oct. 28, starting at 5:30 p.m. in Gordon Hall, the public is invited to view the documentary, “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers.” Following the documentary, Ellsberg and Gar Alperovitz will participate in a panel discussion. This will be the first time Ellsberg and Alperovitz have appeared publicly to discuss their Pentagon Papers experiences. Alperovitz, a distinguished historian and political economist, acted as a courier to deliver copies of the Pentagon Papers in 1971 to numerous U.S. newspapers in defiance of a Justice Department order and FBI manhunt. Alperovitz’s work with Ellsberg first became public knowledge only in 2018, with the publication of a New Yorker article.

Light dinner will be served at 5:30 p.m. in the second floor Gordon Hall atrium. The documentary screening and panel discussion will follow in the third-floor conference room. 

No RSVP is required, but please note that space is limited. The panel discussion will be live streamed and recorded for those who can't attend in person.

On Tuesday, Oct. 29, at 4 p.m., Ellsberg will present a lecture titled, “The Dollar Auction, Unendable Wars and Gambling with Catastrophe.” The event will be held in the third-floor conference room of Gordon Hall. A reception will follow. The talk is free and open to the public.

Ellsberg received his Ph.D. in Economics at Harvard University in 1962 and published several seminal papers in the areas of decision theory and behavioral economics. Working as a high-level U.S. government war planner during the Vietnam War, Ellsberg risked a lifetime in prison to expose what became known as the Pentagon Papers, an act which was critical in strengthening the anti-war movement. At PERI, Ellsberg will work in the areas of Peace Economics and the Green New Deal.