Daniel Ellsberg, Vietnam-era whistleblower, dies

Individual of conscience: Ellsberg, speaking to reporters outside the Federal Building in Los Angeles in April 1973, and (below) marching to the White House in July 2006 in these file pictures. — AP/AFP

NEW YORK: Daniel Ellsberg, the history-making whistleblower who by leaking the Pentagon Papers revealed longtime government doubts and deceit about the Vietnam War and inspired acts of retaliation by President Richard Nixon that helped lead to his resignation, has died. He was 92.

Ellsberg, whose actions led to a landmark First Amendment ruling by the Supreme Court, had disclosed in February that he was terminally ill with pancreatic cancer. His family announced his death on Friday in a letter released by a spokeswoman, Julia Pacetti.