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Pentagon Papers



  • In Vietnam, the Pentagon Papers Are History Written by the Defeated

    by Lien-Hang Nguyen

    A Vietnamese historian explains how the Pentagon Papers have become a foundation of domestic histories of war (both before and during US involvement) even as the Vietnamese government has declined to release its own official histories of the conflict. 



  • Secrets That Were No Secret, Lessons That Were Not Learned

    by Andrew Bacevich

    The Pentagon Papers are a document of the hubris and ignorance of American military leaders in the Vietnam era, but Andrew Bacevich warns that the idea that global problems are amenable to being solved by American arms remains dangerously popular. 



  • Now It Can Be Told: How Neil Sheehan Got the Pentagon Papers

    Award-winning journalist Neil Sheehan told an interviewer the story of how he got the Pentagon Papers, on the condition that the story could not be published while he was alive. His passing this week opens up new knowledge in the history of press freedom and the Vietnam war.



  • Neil Sheehan, Reporter Who Obtained the Pentagon Papers, Dies at 84

    Neil Sheehan's earned skepticism of the rightness of the American mission in Vietnam made him the reporter to whom Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1971. He won a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award for his volume "A Bright Shining Lie" about the war. 



  • Michael Kazin: Daniel Ellsberg, the Original Big Leaker

    Michael Kazin is editor of Dissent and teaches history at Georgetown University. His latest book is American Dreamers: How the Left Changed a Nation. For decades, Daniel Ellsberg, the leaker of the Pentagon Papers, has used his celebrated past to condemn the present. He has given hundreds of talks about the alleged crimes and deceits of every president from Jimmy Carter to Barack Obama; demanded the impeachment of George W. Bush; called on government employees to leak plans for bombing Iran; and been arrested on several occasions for protesting U.S. foreign policy.