“I realized that…the most likely outcome of returning this information to public hands would be that I would spend the rest of my life in prison. I did it because I thought it was the right thing to do.”
The Nation
A Note from The Nation Institute: On April 30, 2014, The Ridenhour Prizes, co-sponsored by The Nation Institute and The Fertel Foundation, awarded Edward J. Snowden and Laura Poitras with the Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling at a ceremony in Washington, DC. Mr. Snowden’s attorneys originally told The Ridenhour Prizes that they preferred that the event not be streamed or recorded, and that is why the MC was asked to make a statement during the ceremony. We are pleased that Mr. Snowden’s attorneys have now agreed to allow us to post his complete remarks, which feature Snowden, Poitras, and an introduction and moderated conversation with journalist and author James Bamford.
The NationTwitterFounded by abolitionists in 1865, The Nation has chronicled the breadth and depth of political and cultural life, from the debut of the telegraph to the rise of Twitter, serving as a critical, independent, and progressive voice in American journalism.