Pentagon Papers

The Pentagon Papers, officially titled United States – Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense, is a United States Department of Defense history of the United States' political-military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967. The papers were discovered and released by Daniel Ellsberg, and first brought to the attention of the public on the front page of The New York Times in 1971. A 1996 article in The New York Times said that the Pentagon Papers had demonstrated, among other things, that the Johnson Administration "systematically lied, not only to the public but also to Congress."

More specifically, the papers revealed that the U.S. had secretly enlarged the scale of the Vietnam War with the bombings of nearby Cambodia and Laos, coastal raids on North Vietnam, and Marine Corps attacks, none of which were reported in the mainstream media.

For his disclosure of the Pentagon Papers, Ellsberg was initially charged with conspiracy, espionage, and theft of government property, but the charges were later dropped after prosecutors investigating the Watergate Scandal soon discovered that the staff members in the Nixon White House had ordered the so-called White House Plumbers to engage in unlawful efforts to discredit Ellsberg.

The Pentagon Papers (film)

The Pentagon Papers is a 2003 historical television film about Daniel Ellsberg and the events leading up to the publication of the Pentagon Papers in 1971. The film, which aired on FX, documents Ellsberg's life starting with his work for RAND Corporation and ending with the day on which the judge declared a mistrial in Ellsberg's espionage case. The film was directed by Rod Holcomb and executive produced by Joshua D. Maurer, and stars James Spader as Ellsberg. The cast also includes Claire Forlani, Alan Arkin, and Paul Giamatti.

Cast