I am deeply proud that the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently honored Daniel Ellsberg (Ellsberg awarded honorary degree,” Gazette, Jan 25), being the only university to have ever recognized him with such a degree. Seeing the photo of Ellsberg receiving his award deepened my feeling of how we value and honor democracy in our country. Ellsberg stands out to me as a brave truth teller and patriot and he greatly deserves this honor. I feel that he performed a vital service to our country in advancing public awareness of the crucial information contained in the Pentagon Papers more than 50 years ago. These documents revealed critically important background evidence about the war in Vietnam and disclosed questionable actions of our government at that time. Ellsberg took considerable risks to make this information public and changed history as a result. I applaud the University of Massachusetts for creating the Ellsberg Initiative for Peace and Democracy to continue to build on his legacy and to highlight the importance of truth telling in working for social justice.

Sidney Moss

Northampton

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