Remember Ellsberg’s activism against nuclear weapons

The recent front-page obituary for Daniel Ellsberg focuses on his release of the Pentagon Papers, and the Defense Department study that revealed that leaders of both parties had lied to the American people about the progress and prospects of the war in Vietnam [June 17, “Pentagon Papers’  Daniel Ellsberg dies”].

The article did not mention his activism concerning the nuclear arsenals of the U.S. and other countries. In his book “The Doomsday Machine,” Ellsberg reveals a whole category of government lies which are potentially even more important that the lies about Vietnam. He discusses the danger of accidental nuclear war and reveals how close we have come on multiple occasions.

For example, during the Cuban missile crisis, President Kennedy didn’t know that a nuclear submarine in the Caribbean was armed with a nuclear weapon and didn’t know how close the Soviet commander came to using it to destroy an entire American fleet. Ellsberg reveals that it is a myth that only the president has the power to use America’s nuclear weapons. Many people in command roles at different levels of the military can do so.

The only way to be safe from annihilation is for all the nuclear powers to negotiate verifiable and complete nuclear disarmament. If we don’t do that, Ellsberg says, “as every gambler knows, eventually our luck will run out.” In his last New York Times interview earlier this year, Ellsberg called on President Biden to declare a policy of no first use of nuclear weapons. For more information about five practical steps to prevent nuclear war, see preventnuclearwar.org.

Henry W. Rosenberg

Northampton

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