Today is my father ’s 90th birthday! There were times--the 2 yrs he was in Vietnam, or later, when the Nixon admin. deemed him “the most dangerous man in America,” when I feared for his life. Yet he was willing to risk his life and freedom to end an unjust war.
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His memoir, “Secrets” is not just a story of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers, but a classic account of conversion—how the consummate “insider” relinquished his status, security, and career in response to the call of a higher loyalty. He sacrificed much but regained his soul.
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He has spent the past 50 yrs working tirelessly to alert the world to the dangers of nuclear war, often feeling like Cassandra: blessed with the gift of seeing the future, cursed by fear that no one will believe him. But still ready to do anything that might make a difference.
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He has never felt that he has done enough. I was privileged to help him finish his 2nd great memoir, “The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner,” his final effort to share all he knows about the madness of our nuclear war machine.
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He has always believed the odds of humanity’s survival are slim. But he believes that hope is something you do. Hopeful actions enlarge the space for miracles—and we have seen miracles: the fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of Apartheid... even the unlikely way that Nixon's
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backlash against my father (via the Plumbers) helped lead to his resignation and the end of the Vietnam War. My father’s hopeful actions have taught me the power of truth and of living witness. But I am grateful for his other lessons:
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How to take pure delight in the moment; to care about things that truly matter; to defend the earth and its creatures; to laugh when possible; to cry in the presence of beauty; to love deeply and truly. Happy birthday, Dad! So grateful to you!
I have neither silver or gold to give him, yet, he deserves both; but, what I do have I will bestow. With the angels that surround him I say: Walk, Daniel, walk forever in Truth. Happy Birthday to your Dad, Robert!
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