Commentary
Daniel Ellsberg has died at age 92. I’m not sure where the cut-off line would be between Americans of a certain age who remember Ellsberg’s turn in the national spotlight in the early 1970s and those who might never have heard of him. My guess is that the cut-off age would be in the 50s. Americans under 50-something might never have encountered Ellsberg unless in some course in high school or college that had a unit about the Vietnam War.
Ellsberg’s passing has triggered a flood of memories—both about the man, whom I once met and talked with privately, and about how an increasingly divided American society became even more polarized after the explosive release of the Pentagon Papers. More on my bit of time with Ellsberg later. First, though, a look at his impact on a generation of Americans….