The+Pentagon+Papers


 * The Pentagon Paper **
 * Written by: Yucheng Kidd Zhu **

The Pentagon Papers, officially titled United States-Vietnam Relations, 1945-1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense is a top national classified document of the United States Department of Defense. The paper is about the United States foreign policy on Vietnam from 1945 to 1967.

Daniel Ellsberg, a justice and upright man who worked for McNaughton as an aide from 1964 to 1965. In Oct. 1969, Ellsberg and his friend called Anthony Russo photocopied the study that is the paper about the American policy on Vietnam and the U.S. government des not tell those Vietnam policies very honestly to the American citizens; Ellsberg and Russo they both are opposing the war. They tried to approach Nixon’s National Security Advisors, but no one was interested in their plan.

In Feb. 1971, Ellsberg met Neil Sheehan who is a reporter works for New York Times and gave Sheehan 43 volumes in Mar. 1971. The Times first began publishing excerpts on Jun. 13, 1971. The first article was titled “Vietnam Archive: Pentagon Study Traces Three Decades of Growing US Involvement”. Opposing and lawsuit followed. President was shocked by the news title when he saw the newspaper on a vacation.

The Pentagon Paper revealed that the U.S. had deliberately expanded its war with bombing of Cambodia and Laos, coastal raids on North Vietnam and Marine Corps attacks and the media in the U.S had reported none of these. This case has brought the U.S. government to an ugly position. People start taking bad ideas about the U.S. government and the paper has embarrassed the Johnson and Kennedy administrations.

Prior to publication, the New York Times sought legal advice. The Paper’s regular outside counsel, Lord Day & Lord, advised against publication. The house counsel James Goodale prevailed with his argument that the press had a First Amendment right to publish information significant to the people’s understanding of their government’s policy.

On June 18, 1971, the Washington Post began publishing its own series of articles based upon the Pentagon Papers; Ellsberg gave portions to Ben Bradlee. That day, Assistant U.S. Attorney General William Rehnquist asked the paper to cease publication. After it refused, Rehnquist unsuccessfully sought an injunction at a U.S. district court. The government appealed that decision, and on June 26 the Supreme Court agreed to hear it jointly with the //New York Times// case. Fifteen other newspapers received copies of the study and began publishing it.

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