Americans across the country opened their newspapers to the first reports based on classified documents leaked by a government insider, Daniel Ellsberg. Consisting of 7,000 pages of top secret documents, the Pentagon Papers revealed in cold, analytical detail how four presidential administrations lied to the American public: the reasons for entering the war, the failures of their policies, the low chances of success, and the reasons for staying the course. But for Ellsberg, the facts were overwhelming, the lies, extraordinary, and the dissonance too deafening for him to simply stay the course, as so many other administration officials had done.
This 5-part podcast series sheds light on the pivotal moments and role models that motivated Ellsberg to risk 115 years in jail in service to the truth. The series also explores his role as a nuclear planner, firmly convinced that a nuclear war would vanquish the human race in his lifetime. In exclusive interviews with Ellsberg, he reveals his evolution from Cold Warrior to whistleblower, the legacy of truth and dissent in the U.S., and their implications for our democracy today.
This season of the GroundTruth Podcast is part of a year-long public history project in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts Amherst and GBH, Boston and was made possible through the generous support of the UMass Chancellor’s Office.
Hope (and Contraband) in a Bottle
Refugees Lost in Translation
Unheard in Appalachia
Season 5 Trailer
The New American Songbook: Nuevo Mariachi
The New American Songbook: Rhythms From Cyprus
The New American Songbook: Making It In The HMI
The New American Songbook: For My Ayeeyo
The New American Songbook: Cambodia Reincarnate
Making Music In The Syrian Diaspora
The Fix: Chapter 5 – We Need to Talk
The Fix: Chapter 4 – A Better Way to Treat Addiction
The Fix: Chapter 3 – Detox, Rehab, Relapse, Repeat
The Fix: Chapter 2 – Not My Kid
The Fix: Chapter 1 – The History You Never Heard
Dispatch: Trump And The Next Chapter On Climate
Living Proof: Anguish In Arctic Scandinavia
Living Proof: Storms, Sex And Survival In The Philippines
Living Proof: Zika In The Americas
Living Proof: Jakarta's Fight Against Flooding
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