slothsome
Steve SilbermanRIP #DanielEllsberg. This account of how #poet Gary Snyder inspired the Pentagon Papers whistleblower is one of the most fascinating and least-known literary anecdotes of all time. Via #BeatGeneration scholar Randy Roark.
Thom@stevesilberman wow thanks for sharing. Never knew this bit of History.
J. Martin@stevesilberman Thank you so much for sharing this. I’m too young for having been influenced by beat poets directly, but I’ve always had this vague feeling they’ve been incredibly important, without being able to nail it down why.
Pat@gyokusai Please treat yourself to hearing Charles Laughton read a portion of "Dharma Bums" and then tie Kerouac, Henry Moore and Chartres Cathedral all together in the beautiful continuum of human creativity.You will then be able to nail it down! NPR plays this particular audio every Thanksgiving but you can find it anytime on Google or YouTube. I am not good at inserting links or I would. I think it is called Laughton Chartes Cathedral. Abt 20 min long. Listen to whole thing. Worth yr time
@patrascan thank you!! 🙏
@gyokusai You are welcome. I have heard it a half dozen times and am profoundly moved every time.
gmoke@stevesilberman
I wonder who that third "American" at that Kyoto bar was with Ellsberg and Snyder.
If it was poet Cid Corman, long-time resident of Kyoto, he would NOT have been able to help read the menu as Cid prided himself on living in Japan without learning Japanese.
Stuart Celarier ❌👑@stevesilberman
I implicitly trust you to know your shift, Steve, however my dinner guests don't know you (yet) so I looked it up to have a second source and this article picks up the story later on.
https://tricycle.org/magazine/gary-snyder-and-the-most-dangerous-man-america/
Gary Snyder and “the Most Dangerous Man in America”
Most people know that in 1971 Daniel Ellsberg, an American military analyst who Henry Kissinger dubbed “the most dangerous man in America,” leaked the Pentagon Papers, an act that became one of the most decisive catalysts in ending the Vietnam War. But what many people don’t know is that Ellsberg’s decision to release the papers […]
Don Melton@stevesilberman Thank you for sharing that. An amazing story. And one that I never heard.
Diamond Joy@stevesilberman That is an amazing story. No coincidences.
Brad Barrish@stevesilberman Holy shit! That is AMAZING, Steve! I have never read or heard about this anywhere.
cobalt going beige today@stevesilberman whoa I met Gary Snyder and had pizza with him after a reading in Normal, IL back around 1980. Now knowing this story I’m entirely renewing my rereading of On the Road. This makes sense! Btw #RIP #DanielEllsberg a hero
Kevin RussellHey thats wonderful. Get to know Daniel's work since then and read the Pentagon Papers. Gary has books too.
Mary Beth Frezon@stevesilberman Gotta watch out for those wild and wooly poets and those policy wonks
Reciprocity D'Parture@stevesilberman Wow!
Do we know that this is true? And, if true, any idea who the other person was?
Do we know that this is true? And, if true, any idea who the other person was?
@MeTwitt Yes, we know that this is true. It's cited in multiple books -- did you try to check?I don't know who the other person was. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Wild_Man/WaYYDAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=snyder+ellsberg&pg=PA150&printsec=frontcover
Wild Man
On September 4, 1971, the office of Lewis Fielding, a psychiatrist practicing in Los Angeles, was broken into. It looked like a run of the mill drug raid. A month later, a homeless man was charged with burglary and the case was considered closed. On June 17, 1972, five men were charged with breaking and entering at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. With these two burglaries, one seemingly innocuous while the other was more serious because of the venue, the scandal known as Watergate was born. As the tale of Richard Nixon and his Plumbers began to unfold, it was discovered that one of Lewis Fielding's patients was Daniel Ellsberg, the man who released the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times . Ellsberg was high on Nixon's list of enemies and he vowed to destroy him at all costs. In Wild Man , Tom Wells explores the life of Daniel Ellsberg to discover what makes an individual enact the most severe breach of government security ever to occur in the United States. As Wells follows Ellsberg from his early days as a piano prodigy to his years of great promise at Harvard, we see the development of a volatile, narcissistic loner with a voracious sexual appetite, a highly developed intelligence and, most importantly, the overwhelming need to take centre stage in the pageant known as America. In Wild Man , Tom Wells creates an unforgettable picture of Daniel Ellsberg, an American Everyman for the seventies who embodied the promise and paranoia of that uncertain time. This is a thrilling piece of biography that will stand as one of the great American portraits.
@stevesilberman After a bit of thought I realized the answer might be closer at hand. I found my copy of "Gary Snyder: Dimensions of a Life" edited by Jon Halper (Sierra Club 1992) on a nearby bookshelf. There, on page 331, was Daniel Elsberg's own account of the event:
Gary Snyder's companion was Bob Strickland.
Gary Snyder's companion was Bob Strickland.
Raoul@stevesilberman This is fascinating. Thank you for sharing!
John B
Peter Moleman@stevesilberman Just yesterday the film "The Post" was on Dutch TV!
Virginia Holloway@stevesilberman truly amazing. Gary Snyder is a National Treasure.
LinkingDot:social@stevesilberman Thank you for the alt text. I have often wondered if folks realize that the proper alt text for printed matter is simply the words in the printed matter. As an accessibility-focused webmaster, I just have to thank you for getting it right. Ohhhhh, and what a fascinating story. A wonderful share!
Harold Carr@stevesilberman That is fascinating and great, if true. Is there a citation for this?
@haroldcarr It IS true. I'm an historian and checked it before posting. Google search Randy Roark for his credentials and also see "Wild Man" by T. Wells, as well as several other books: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Wild_Man/WaYYDAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=snyder+ellsberg&pg=PA150&printsec=frontcover
Wild Man
On September 4, 1971, the office of Lewis Fielding, a psychiatrist practicing in Los Angeles, was broken into. It looked like a run of the mill drug raid. A month later, a homeless man was charged with burglary and the case was considered closed. On June 17, 1972, five men were charged with breaking and entering at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. With these two burglaries, one seemingly innocuous while the other was more serious because of the venue, the scandal known as Watergate was born. As the tale of Richard Nixon and his Plumbers began to unfold, it was discovered that one of Lewis Fielding's patients was Daniel Ellsberg, the man who released the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times . Ellsberg was high on Nixon's list of enemies and he vowed to destroy him at all costs. In Wild Man , Tom Wells explores the life of Daniel Ellsberg to discover what makes an individual enact the most severe breach of government security ever to occur in the United States. As Wells follows Ellsberg from his early days as a piano prodigy to his years of great promise at Harvard, we see the development of a volatile, narcissistic loner with a voracious sexual appetite, a highly developed intelligence and, most importantly, the overwhelming need to take centre stage in the pageant known as America. In Wild Man , Tom Wells creates an unforgettable picture of Daniel Ellsberg, an American Everyman for the seventies who embodied the promise and paranoia of that uncertain time. This is a thrilling piece of biography that will stand as one of the great American portraits.
Tucker Teague@stevesilberman
I never knew that story or the connection. Both Ellsberg and Snyder are heroes of mine.
Thanks.