Nearly four decades ago, the Washington Post found itself faced with the sort of agonizing decision that can define a reputation. A Scoop About the Pentagon Papers, 50 Years Later A former Times reporter obtained the answer to a major question involving Neil Sheehan’s source, then had to keep it secret until last week. [11] The New York Times publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger said: These papers, as our editorial said this morning, were really a part of history that should have been made available considerably longer ago. The study consisted of 3,000 pages of historical analysis and 4,000 pages of original government documents in 47 volumes, and was classified as "Top Secret – Sensitive". Gelb. Based on the real case of an accused murderer and a disgraced journalist, 'True Story' reveals that "telling the truth" can be a slippery concept. [14], Daniel Ellsberg knew the leaders of the task force well. Gravel asked the court (in Gravel v. United States) to quash the subpoena on the basis of the Speech or Debate Clause in Article I, Section 6 of the United States Constitution. "[31] The government appealed that decision, and on June 26 the Supreme Court agreed to hear it jointly with The New York Times case. He had worked as an aide to McNaughton from 1964 to 1965, had worked on the study for several months in 1967, and Gelb and Halperin approved his access to the work at RAND in 1969. In a memorandum addressed to President Johnson on September 8, 1964, Bundy wrote: The main further question is the extent to which we should add elements to the above actions that would tend deliberately to provoke a DRV reaction, and consequent retaliation by us. Daniel Ellsberg knew the leaders of the task force well. [1][2] A 1996 article in The New York Times said that the Pentagon Papers had demonstrated, among other things, that the Johnson Administration had "systematically lied, not only to the public but also to Congress. The memorandum begins by disclosing the rationale behind the bombing of North Vietnam in February 1965: The February decision to bomb North Vietnam and the July approval of Phase I deployments make sense only if they are in support of a long-run United States policy to contain China.[17]. An aerial view of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Leonard Rodberg, a Gravel aide, was subpoenaed to testify about his role in obtaining and arranging for publication of the Pentagon Papers. These portions of the papers, which were edited for Gravel by Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky, were subsequently published by Beacon Press, the publishing arm of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. Bagdikian brought the information to editor Ben Bradlee. "Washington Post" editor Ben Bradlee and publisher Katharine Graham in 1985, Photo: Roy Karten/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images. That clause provides that "for any Speech or Debate in either House, [a Senator or Representative] shall not be questioned in any other Place", meaning that Gravel could not be prosecuted for anything said on the Senate floor, and, by extension, for anything entered to the Congressional Record, allowing the papers to be publicly read without threat of a treason trial and conviction. the facts and adjudication of the original Pentagon Papers case, which set the stage for negotiations between the Government and news organizations in similar situations in the future. In addition, 32,000 men from South Vietnam's Civil Guard were trained by the United States at a cost of US$12.7 million. The study itself remained formally classified until 2011. The Pentagon Papers, officially titled Report of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Vietnam Task Force, is a United States Department of Defense history of the United States' political and military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967. To encircle the Chinese, the United States aimed to establish "three fronts" as part of a "long-run effort to contain China": There are three fronts to a long-run effort to contain China (realizing that the USSR "contains" China on the north and northwest): However, McNamara admitted that the containment of China would ultimately sacrifice a significant amount of America's time, money and lives.[17]. Second, this Article outlines the facts of the “modern Pentagon Papers case” be-tween the Post and the Government, introducing the parties and indi- [8] The analysts largely used existing files in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. President Johnson had been outspoken against doing so during the election and claimed that his opponent Barry Goldwater was the one that wanted to bomb North Vietnam.[29]. The Pentagon Papers Lies and Deception in Washington 15-May-2003 page 4 The Pentagon Papers Lying for God and Country US Lies and Deception The Pentagon Papers was an extensive Defense Department study commissioned by Secretary of Defense Robert S McNamara on 17 June 1967, and completed on 15 January 1969. Security also lies in the value of our free institutions. [42], The full release was coordinated by the Archives's National Declassification Center (NDC) as a special project to mark the anniversary of the report. Beginning in August 1963 we variously authorized, sanctioned and encouraged the coup efforts of the Vietnamese generals and offered full support for a successor government. Nixon also loathed the idea of leakers harming his administration (he didn't have a record of spotless conduct himself, having possibly interfered in peace talks prior to winning the presidency in 1968). Later, Ellsberg said the documents "demonstrated unconstitutional behavior by a succession of presidents, the violation of their oath and the violation of the oath of every one of their subordinates. In her memoir, Personal History (1997), Graham described her belief that the way Beebe had responded gave her an opening to ignore his advice. The photocopies got their own first-class seat on the return flight before being brought to Bradlee's house (where Bradlee’s daughter actually was selling lemonade outside). The Faculty Council later passed a resolution condemning the government's interrogation of scholars on the grounds that "an unlimited right of grand juries to ask any question and to expose a witness to citations for contempt could easily threaten scholarly research". [8] Thirty-six analysts—half of them active-duty military officers, the rest academics and civilian federal employees—worked on the study. Ellsberg approached Nixon's National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger, Senators William Fulbright and George McGovern, and others, but none were interested.[11]. [10], On May 4, 2011, the National Archives and Records Administration announced that the papers would be declassified and released to the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California, on June 13, 2011. This is the same thing that's been going on over the last two-and-a-half years of this administration. The new movie “The Post” tells the story of the Pentagon Papers from a curious perspective that ignores much of the drama of the real history, as … Category 3 – Limited air strikes on North Vietnamese targets by unmarked planes flown exclusively by non-US aircrews. The Washington Post e-Replica is available to you at home or at work, and is the same edition as the printed copy available at the newsstand. Les Gelb reflected in 2018 that many people have misunderstood the most important lessons of the Pentagon Papers: ... my first instinct was that if they just hit the papers, people would think this was the definitive history of the war, which they were not, and that people would, would think it was all about lying, rather than beliefs. [6][7], Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara created the Vietnam Study Task Force on June 17, 1967, for the purpose of writing an "encyclopedic history of the Vietnam War". Though the Times was then the nation's preeminent paper, the Post's reputation was on the rise, thanks in large part to Bradlee. Democratic presidential nomination in 1968, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, "Vietnam Archive: Pentagon Study Traces 3 Decades of Growing U.S. Involvement", "25 Years Later;Lessons From the Pentagon Papers", "Pentagon Papers Charges Are Dismissed; Judge Byrne Frees Ellsberg and Russo, Assails 'Improper Government Conduct, "After 40 Years, Pentagon Papers Declassified In Full", "COVER STORY: Pentagon Papers: The Secret War", "The Nation: Pentagon Papers: The Secret War", "Draft Memorandum by J.T. Help a friend, although it would be hard to stay in if asked out it [... Celebrities, Sara Kettler loves to write about people who 've led lives. The documents and write articles fact, I knew about ten days before the Supreme Allows... 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