
Daniel Ellsberg
Actor · 1931 – 2023 · Chicago, Illinois, USA
Daniel Ellsberg (April 7, 1931 – June 16, 2023) was an American political activist, economist, and United States military analyst. While employed by the RAND Corporation, he 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, The Washington Post, and other newspapers. In January 1973, Ellsberg was charged under the Espionage Act of 1917 along with other charges of theft and conspiracy, carrying a maximum sentence of 115 years. Because of governmental misconduct and illegal evidence-gathering (committed by the same people who were later involved in the Watergate scandal), and his defense by Leonard Boudin and Harvard Law School professor Charles Nesson, Judge William Matthew Byrne Jr. dismissed all charges against Ellsberg in May 1973. Ellsberg was awarded the Right Livelihood Award in 2006. He was also known for having formulated an important example in decision theory, the Ellsberg paradox; for his extensive studies on nuclear weapons and nuclear policy; and for voicing support for WikiLeaks, Chelsea Manning, and Edward Snowden. Ellsberg was awarded the 2018 Olof Palme Prize for his "profound humanism and exceptional moral courage". He was a founding member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity. Ellsberg died of cancer in 2023. Description above from the Wikipedia article Daniel Ellsberg, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Movies18
Movie7.6DocumentaryWarMany times during his presidency, Lyndon B. Johnson said that ultimate victory in the Vietnam War depended upon the U.S. military winning the "hearts and minds" of the Vietnamese people. Filmmaker Peter Davis uses Johnson's phrase in an ironic context in this anti-war documentary, filmed and released while the Vietnam War was still under way, juxtaposing interviews with military figures like U.S. Army Chief of Staff William C. Westmoreland with shocking scenes of violence and brutality.
Hearts and Minds
1974 · 96 votes
MovieHistoryDocumentaryThe Watergate Caper is an archival documentary, narrated by Harry Shearer (This is Spinal Tap), tracing the rise and fall of Nixon from the presidential primaries of 1968 through the Watergate break-in of June 1972 to his resignation two years later, killing trust in the political process and the American presidency in the wake of the Vietnam War. The film draws on hundreds of hours of TV news taped off-air by the Nixon White House to tell the untold story of the Watergate burglars. How did tapping the wrong phone with a bug that didn't work lead to their arrests and Nixon's resignation? It also explores representations of the Nixon years in popular culture, using the music, commercials, and cinema of the era to evoke a fevered political landscape of culture wars, dirty tricks, paranoia and assassination.
Movie7.4Documentary"The Most Dangerous Man in America" is the story of what happens when a former Pentagon insider, armed only with his conscience, steadfast determination, and a file cabinet full of classified documents, decides to challenge an "imperial" presidency – answerable to neither Congress, the press, nor the people – in order to help end the Vietnam War.
The Most Dangerous Man in America
2009 · 47 votes
Movie7.2DocumentaryHistoryFrom 1971 to 1973, Richard Nixon secretly recorded his private conversations in the White House. This film chronicles the content of those tapes, which include Nixon's conversations on the war in Vietnam, the Pentagon Papers leak, his Supreme Court appointments, and more--while also exposing shocking statements he made about women, people of color, Jews, and the media.
Nixon by Nixon: In His Own Words
2014 · 10 votes
MovieDocumentaryWikiLeaks founder Julian Assange battled extradition to the U.S., where he could've faced a lengthy sentence for publishing classified documents. His case, centered on press freedom, took unexpected twists as it unfolded.
Movie6.8DocumentaryHistoryThis exceptional, disturbing, and thought-provoking two-part documentary compares the atrocities committed by the Nazis as revealed during the Nuremberg trials to those committed by the French in Algeria and those done by the Americans in Vietnam. The four-hour epic questions the right of any country to pass self-righteous moral judgements upon the actions of another country.
The Memory of Justice
1976 · 19 votes
Movie6.0DocumentaryExamining the meaning and significance of the insights that WikiLeaks shared with the world, the resulting behaviour of the governments involved, the extraordinary personal risk taken by Assange, and the wider fundamental issues around press freedom that affect all of us and our right to know.
The Trust Fall: Julian Assange
2024 · 2 votes
Movie10.0DocumentaryPlagued by wars, pollution and natural disasters, is man destined to self-destruction before the 20th century folds? Or can he escape the total annihilation the future may hold?
Doomsday Chronicles
1979 · 1 votes
Movie6.5DocumentaryYou Can't Be Neutral documents the life and times of the historian, activist and author of the best selling classic "A People's History of the United States". Featuring rare archival materials, interviews with Howard Zinn as well as colleagues and friends including Noam Chomsky, Marian Wright Edelman, Daniel Ellsberg, Tom Hayden and Alice Walker.
Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train
2004 · 25 votes
Movie7.8DocumentaryWar on Whistleblowers: Free Press and the National Security State highlights four cases where whistleblowers noticed government wrong-doing and took to the media to expose the fraud and abuse. It exposes the surprisingly worsening and threatening reality for whistleblowers and the press. The film includes interviews with whistleblowers Michael DeKort, Thomas Drake, Franz Gayl and Thomas Tamm and award-winning journalists like David Carr, Lucy Dalglish, Glenn Greenwald, Seymour Hersh, Michael Isikoff, Bill Keller, Eric Lipton, Jane Mayer, Dana Priest, Tom Vanden Brook and Sharon Weinberger.
MovieDocumentaryThis feature length high definition documentary follows one of the Nation's most controversial yet progressive leaders, 2012 Presidential candidate and Former two-term Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson.
Movie6.6DocumentaryCrimeCapturing the story of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with unprecedented access, director Laura Poitras finds herself caught between the motives and contradictions of Assange and his inner circle in a documentary portrait of power, betrayal, truth and sacrifice.
Risk
2017 · 79 votes
Movie8.5DocumentaryThe campaign to free Julian Assange takes on intimate dimensions in this documentary portrait of an elderly man’s fight to save his son. Arguably the world’s most famous political prisoner, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is a figure pretty much everybody has an opinion about; perhaps more importantly, he serves as the emblem of an international arm wrestle over freedom of journalism, government corruption and unpunished war crimes. For his family members who face the prospect of losing him forever to the abyss of the US justice system, however, this David-and-Goliath struggle is personal – and, with his health declining in a British maximum-security prison and American government prosecutors pulling out all the stops to extradite him, the clock is ticking.
Ithaka
2022 · 8 votes
MovieDocumentaryThe Berrigan Brothers, Daniel and Philip were Catholic priests dedicated to non violent resistance of the violent policies of the United States government. They rose to prominence as outspoken opponents of the Vietnam War.
- Movie8.0Documentary
AXIS OF EVIL is an experimental-feature-documentary-essay that features interviews with sixteen artists, scholars, and activists, including Howard Zinn, Daniel Ellsberg, Bernardine Dohrn, Martha Nussbaum, and others, talking about the concept of evil, its usefulness as a framework for US foreign policy, and evils that they've encountered in their lives. The interviews are illustrated with postage stamp art, archival footage, and other elements that interact with, illustrate, and comment on the statements of the interviewees.
Axis of Evil: Perforated Praeter Naturam
2004 · 1 votes
MovieDocumentaryHistoryThe enigmatic nature of the Nixon presidency combined comparatively progressive legislative initiatives with a flagrant abuse of presidential power and the public trust. His achievements in expanding peaceful relations with China and the Soviet Union stand in stark contrast with his continuation of the war in Vietnam. Finally brought down by scandal and duplicity, his administration did much to erode the citizenry's faith in government.
Nixon
1990
MovieDocumentaryDocumentary on Julian Assange, Wikileaks and more.
Movie6.4DocumentaryNever before seen Super 8 home movies filmed by Richard Nixon's closest aides - and convicted Watergate conspirators - offer a surprising and intimate new look into his Presidency.
Our Nixon
2013 · 22 votes
Series7
TV5.8ComedyTalk ShowThe Mike Douglas Show is an American daytime television talk show hosted by Mike Douglas that originally aired only in the Cleveland area during much of its first two years on the air. It then went into syndication in 1963 and remained on television until 1982. It was distributed by Westinghouse Broadcasting and for much of its run, originated from studios of two of the company's TV stations in Cleveland and Philadelphia.
The Mike Douglas Show
1961 · 11 votes
TV7.0NewsComedyThe Colbert Report is an American satirical late night television program. It stars political humorist Stephen Colbert, a former correspondent for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. The Colbert Report is a spin-off from and counterpart to The Daily Show that comments on politics and the media in a similar way. The show focuses on a fictional anchorman character named Stephen Colbert, played by his real-life namesake. The character, described by Colbert as a "well-intentioned, poorly informed, high-status idiot", is a caricature of televised political pundits.
The Colbert Report
2005 · 316 votes
TV6.5DocumentaryTV's most-watched history series brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today.
American Experience
1988 · 48 votes
TV6.8Talk ShowThe Dick Cavett Show has been the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks.
The Dick Cavett Show
1968 · 22 votes
TV7.9DocumentaryWith firsthand accounts and access to prominent figures around the world, this comprehensive docuseries explores the Cold War and its aftermath.
Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War
2024 · 48 votes
TV10.0CrimeDramaShowcasing the heroic deeds in and from every aspect of government and society, in a common quest to make the world a better place, free of corruption, discrimination and civil rights violations from around the globe!
Whistleblowers: The Untold Stories
2011 · 1 votes
TV8.0DocumentaryThis two-part biography offers an incisive portrait of Henry Kissinger, the enigmatic powerbroker who served in the topmost echelons of American diplomacy. Whether celebrated or reviled, Kissinger’s contradictions reflect those at the heart of America’s foreign policy during the second half of the 20th century, a period in which America became the unchallenged superpower in the world yet often pursued policy at odds with its own highest ideals.By examining his life up to and throughout his tortured relationship with President Richard Nixon, Kissinger endeavors to understand precisely what drove his relentless drive for power. It is a story of deep contradictions — of Kissinger’s obsession with securing American supremacy, staving off nuclear war, and checking the power of our enemies, even while consorting with dictators and tolerating widespread violation of human rights.
Kissinger
2025 · 1 votes