An NBC report on the US Government’s decision to release a full redacted accounting of The Pentagon Papers:
Tag: pentagon papers
Finally after 40 years the US Government will publish The Pentagon Papers for the very first time.
The study commissioned by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara was officially titled: “United States – Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense” and was a secret kept hidden from President Johnson. and American public for over 40 years.
The study traces US involvement in Vietnam beginning in 1945 just after World War II and ending in 1967 before the Tet Offensive. The report, a scathing self-examination of U.S.-Vietnamese relations and the Vietnam War, led to one of the largest and most significant court battles ever concerning government secrets vs. freedom of the press. Nixon’s demand to damage Ellsberg resulted in the Watergate scandal.
The Nixon Library has a copy in that was part of President Richard Nixon’s papers. It will be released at 9 a.m., June 13, 40 years to the day that leaked portions of the report were printed on the front page of The New York Times.
Watching this documentary about Daniel Ellsberg reminded me of his rather extraordinary life that has not yet stopped. With the recent WikiLeaks sensation its worth reminding America how powerful documents can change people and governments.
I read Ellsberg’s book Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers back in 2006 (review here) and realize its better than the movie.
However for today’s Gen Y its more than enough to get them visually interested in events as old as Vietnam, Watergate and Nixon.
Movie Website
Of all the books written about Watergate and the domino effect those crimes left upon the federal government comes a rather late entry: In Nixon’s Web: A Year in the Crosshairs of Watergate.
This was is a rather interesting read since L. Patrick Gray wrote his first hand account leading the FBI as Watergate unfolded.
Gray was a political appointment to the FBI by Nixon following the death of J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI’s only Director who served over 48 years as the top federal law enforcement officer to appointed by President Calvin Coolidge.
To many inside the FBI his appointment was considered a shock since he was not a career FBI agent, but rather a former Navy officer who left the armed services to campaign for Nixon.
Gray’s son Edward has authored a website regarding the book. There are interesting segments not only about Gray’s life before the FBI but also his management style that came from his Navy background as a skipper of subs during WWII and the Korean War. Nixon appointed Gray Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division in the Department of Justice.
Gray’s biggest lesson from Watergate was, as a life long Republican he was ultimately sacrificed by Nixon’s WhiteHouse over his confirmation hearings with the Senate. He was lead astray by John Ehrlichman and John Dean. As Director of the FBI he reported to Ehrlichman and not Nixon. Nixon’s men controlled access to the President.
Terrorist Attack at Chicago O’Hare
One of the surprises is Gray’s revelation of the terrorist attack planned for Chicago’s O’Hare following the 1972 Olympic tragedy. It was a rather unique peak into history, to understand how the FBI managed the threat and to learn about Gray’s actions to lead the FBI’s response.
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Latest read: Integrity
What can you learn from a Nixon staff lawyer who pleaded guilty to approving the break-in of Dr. Lewis Fielding’s office in 1971? Plenty to my surprise. Egil Krogh‘s Integrity: Good People, Bad Choices, and Life Lessons from the White House is a story of how ‘national security’ and political zeal triggered Watergate. Krogh even closes the book with an open letter to W. Bush’s illegal wiretapping to demonstrate that our nation’s politicians and their staff have forgotten Watergate‘s 40th anniversary is just a couple years away….clearly the lesson has been forgotten as well.
Krogh joined Nixon’s White House team after working in a Seattle law firm with John Ehrlichman. Ehrlichman served Nixon as a senior consultant in the 1968 Presidential campaign and was rewarded with the role as Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs. Bob Haldeman and John Ehrlichman dominated the Nixon White House like no other executive staff.
Krogh was responsible for approving the break-in at Fielding’s office in order to dig up damaging evidence against Daniel Ellsberg who had leaked the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times. Ellsberg served on Kissinger’s staff. This event was the first of many illegal break-ins designed by G. Gordon Liddy‘s Operation Gemstone.
Ellsberg wrote the introduction to Integrity.
Shortly thereafter Nixon’s men would invent a Special Investigative Unit, a Nixon/GOP “police force” known as “The Plumbers” to fix the leaking of government documents to the media.
It was not a total surprise to learn Liddy was willing to kill during the Fielding break-in. Thankfully that did not happen but proves beyond a shadow of a doubt the zealots who were working for Nixon. Even Howard Hunt‘s team from Miami did not ask to be paid to break into Fielding’s office — they saw it as a patriotic act.