National Whistleblower Day – July 30, 2026

History of National Whistleblower Day

On July 30 in 1778, when the American Revolution was taking place, the Continental Congress passed the first protection law for whistleblowers. The landmark legislation came after 10 whistleblowers exposed a superior officer in the Continental Navy. Commodore Esek Hopkins was committing grievous crimes against British prisoners. Upon learning of such acts, Lieutenant Richard Marven along with midshipman, Samuel Shaw, reported Hopkins to the authorities. Marven and Shaw’s brave act is noted to be the first whistleblowing act in the United States. The National Whistleblower Center, established in 1988 by lawyer Stephen M. Kohn, holds annual celebrations each year. Another example of a notable whistleblowing event in the history of America happens to have been during President Richard Nixon’s re-election. Mark Felt, who was a law enforcement officer at the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 1942 to 1973, aided “Washington Post” journalists, Bob Woodard and Carl Bernstein, in investigating and exposing the Watergate scandal.

Apart from governmental organizations, corruption also takes place in industries like trading, health services, and banking, and, in such agencies, it is usually the employees and the customers who become the whistleblowers. For instance, the Public Health Service, in collaboration with the Tuskegee Institute, conducted a study on the corruption of health-service professionals. It was revealed that people were not given penicillin treatment even when it became readily available. In another case, a police detective working in the NYPD raised the alarm when he realized corrupt activities were taking place in his department. It was the dream of the Founding Fathers of America to see a country where whistleblowers are protected and encouraged to expose any corruption and illegal activities.