PENTAGON PAPERS

Pentagon Papers (Daniel Ellsberg) Trial 1972-73

Pentagon Papers (Daniel Ellsberg) Trial 1972-73

Introduction

The Pentagon Papers ("papers of the Pentagon") is a popular expression referring to the document United States-Vietnam Relations, 1945-1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense. These 47 volumes totaling 7,000 pages defense secrets from the Department of Defense about the political and military involvement of the United States in the war of Vietnam from 1945 to 1971. These documents, written by thirty-six military officers and civilian experts policies, clarifies in particular the planning and decision making specific to the federal government of the United States. It was written at the request of Robert McNamara, then the position of Secretary of Defense in 1967. Pentagon Papers became available to the public through analyst U.S. Department of State Daniel Ellsberg. The matter of the publication of the documents came to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that American newspapers have the right to publish them. The disclosure of the Pentagon increased the distrust of American society to a higher power structures, and the documents themselves were used anti-war movement as further evidence of the insincerity of the American government on the issue of the Vietnam War. To date, the full version of the Pentagon remains classified.

Background

The majority of these 7000 pages of text and analysis covering the period 1945-1967 were secretly communicated to the drafting to the Times of New York by Daniel Ellsberg in early 1971, a former analyst at the RAND Corporation, with help of his friend Anthony Russo, the linguist Noam Chomsky and historian Howard Zinn (Sheehan, 1971). The New York Times consulted the law firm of Lord Day & Lord who advised against the publication. But James Goodale, legal counsel and vice president of the newspaper, invoked the right (guaranteed by the First Amendment) of the public to know crucial information for understanding of government policy, and his view prevailed. Publication proved to be a first case shortly after the outbreak of the Watergate scandal. The general atmosphere was thus the wait and the opposition to the foreign policy of the United States.

The public disclosure of the contents of this document completed damage the support of the public for operations in the peninsula of Indochina. It was for this reason that Richard Nixon decided to place a high priority actions to discredit Ellsberg. The recorded tape into the Oval Office dated June 14, 1971 shows he had an interview on the subject with HR Haldeman, his aide for political issues. The papers reveal, among other things, that the U.S. government had deliberately expanded and intensified the Vietnam War by conducting secret raids on Laos , raids along the coast of Vietnam, and engaging sea in offensive actions prior to undertaking, and when President Lyndon Johnson promised not to get involved in the conflict (nixontapes.org). These revelations have shaken public confidence and undermined the war effort of the Nixon administration.

One of the "improbabilities" revealed by the New York Times suggests that a consensus to bomb North Vietnam ...