The Pentagon Papers

Vietnam War•Presidents involved with the war : -Dwight Eisenhower (sent advisers 1955- 61)

– John F. Kennedy (increased involvement of CIA and US ambassadors)

– Lyndon Johnson (after Tonkin Gulf incident, sent US combat troops 1964)

– Richard Nixon (negotiated treaty 1973, withdrew troops, allowing collapse of the South)

– Gerald Ford (with funds cut off, declared the US war ended April 23, 1975)

The RAND Corporation

• Was a think-tank– Organizations that research: social

policy, political strategy, economics, military, and culture

• Focused on military research• Located in Santa Monica, California

founded in 1948• Asked by the U.S. government to

study its involvement in Korea

Daniel Ellsberg• Born April 7th 1931• Studied at Harvard and the University of

Cambridge• Joined the Marine Corps in 1954

– platoon leader and company commander in the Marine 2nd Infantry Division

– Discharged in 1957• Became a strategic analyst for RAND in

1954 (focused on nuclear strategy)• Worked in pentagon in 1964 under

Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara• Served t2 years in Vietnam,, worked for

General Edward Lansdale as a civilian in State Department

The papers• The RAND corporation had been asked to work on a top secret study of

classified documents regarding the Vietnam war that had been commissioned under McNamara– This report is commonly known as The Pentagon Papers– Officially known as the United States – Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A Study

Prepared by the Department of Defense• U.S. Department of Defense history of the U.S.’s political and military

involvement in Vietnam from 1945-1967

Leaking the Papers• Ellsberg had changed after attending a

rally against the Vietnam war– Specifically August 1969: attended a

conference at Haverford College where draft resistor named Randy Kehler

• Ellsberg and Anthony Russo (RAND employee) photocopied the 47 volumes (3,000 pages and 4,000 pages of amended documents)

• Ellsberg approached New York times reporter Neil Sheehan– New York Times started publishing on

June 13, 1971• June 29- U.S. Senator Mike Gravel

entered 4,100 pages of the Papers to the records of his Subcommittee on Public Buildings and Grounds

• He leaked the papers in an attempt to end “a wrongful war”– Leaked to 13 newspapers

• The papers included– Lies presidents used to engender public

acceptance of war– The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution– Truman administration gave military aid to

France in colonial war against communist Vietminh, directly involving us in Vietnam

– LBJ administration intensified covert warfare, and began planning overt war in 1964

– U.S. expanded bombings of Cambodia and Laos, along with coastal raids on North Vietnam and Marine Corps attack that were not reported by Media in U.S.

– JFK had planed to overthrow South Vietnamese leader Ngo Dinh Diem before the 1963 Coup

– Reasons for American persistence under LBJ• “70% - To avoid a humiliating U.S.

defeat. 20% - To keep [South Vietnam] (and the adjacent) territory from Chinese hands. 10% - To permit the people [of South Vietnam] to enjoy a better, freer way of life. ALSO - To emerge from the crisis without unacceptable taint from methods used. NOT - To 'help a friend‘”

Legal Case• Nixon administration argued

that both Ellsberg and Russo had committed felony under the Espionage Act of 1917– “they had no authority to

publish classified documents”– Ellsberg faced 115 years in

prison• Nixon pushed for an injunction

against the New York times to stop publication

• Federal District Judge William Mathew Byrne Jr. declared a mistrial and dismissed all charges on May 11, 1973

• The full documents were not released until 2011