Anthony J. "Tony" Russo, Jr. (October 14, 1936 – August 6, 2008) was an American researcher who assisted Daniel Ellsberg, his friend and former colleague at the RAND Corporation, in copying the Pentagon Papers.
Russo was born in Suffolk, Virginia. He graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in aeronautical engineering in 1960, then worked on a NASA space capsule program. He continued his education at Princeton University, earning master's degre...
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Anthony J. "Tony" Russo, Jr. (October 14, 1936 – August 6, 2008) was an American researcher who assisted Daniel Ellsberg, his friend and former colleague at the RAND Corporation, in copying the Pentagon Papers.
Russo was born in Suffolk, Virginia. He graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in aeronautical engineering in 1960, then worked on a NASA space capsule program. He continued his education at Princeton University, earning master's degrees in aeronautical engineering and in public affairs. He began working at the RAND Corporation as a researcher in the late 1960s.
Russo arranged for a Xerox machine and copied the 7,000 pages at night. Russo and Ellsberg would be charged with espionage, theft, and conspiracy. On May 11, 1973, a federal court judge dismissed all charges against them. Judge William M. Byrne Jr. dismissed the case in May 1973 before it reached a jury, after the office of Ellsberg's psychiatrist had been burglarized and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)...
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