Original subtitles

We've got company.

Picture yourself on a beach at dusk

a big red sun that's setting into the ocean

and you're not paying attention to where you're headed.

You drift on closer to the tide, the sand underfoot loosens.

You look back at the horizon and the sun is gone.

And you realize all at once

the composition of this sand is entirely different

than any you've ever known.

Your feet sink to the ankle when you step

to the shin, to the hip.

You turn back, but now you can barely move at all.

The harder you struggle, the deeper you get.

You're in up to your chest.

It sticks to you and won't let go.

It's too late.

You can't escape it.

That's how we found ourselves in Vietnam.

It was 1963, the hottest season in the Cold War:

Iron Curtain, Missile Gap, too soft on communism.

The RAND Corporation, America's leading think tank

recruited top economists and political analysts

to run models of any possible conflict for the military.

War games.

If the Soviets match our forces in Norway

and NATO's in Germany, there will be a stalemate.

Forget that. Forget that.

Germany will be covered.

The Soviets know and expect that so their MRBMs will be ready.

We can flank them

right, gentlemen?

Double the number of Jupiters in Turkey.

Your moves are too predictable.

If you don't send a clear message, Dan

then it's World War III. We're all radioactive waste.

The risks, the risks are too great.

Wrong.

Risk. Use risk, use coercion, use threats.

Use bluff.

They're the fundamentals of any game theory.

There's no upside to behaving rationally in a conflict.

Keep them guessing.

Make them fear the fact that you have nothing to lose

It's a peculiarity of thermonuclear threats

that make cowards of practically everyone.

Very few objectives that seem worth it to anyone.

John Foster Dulles unbelievably was right.

"The ability to get to the verge without getting into the war

is a necessary art."

As awful as it sounds, blackmail is good.

The bombing of Hiroshima

increased credibility of US nuclear threat.

And killed hundreds of thousands of Japanese.

And saved hundreds of thousands of American lives

and ended the war.

We won.

You outmaneuvered the room

you pissed everybody off

and I know how much you love that

but everything is not about you, Dan.

This is the RAND Corporation.

We're privileged to be here.

These people are your colleagues.

Try working with them once in a while.

That being said

your theories have a lot of merit.

You should bring them into the real world.

What do you mean?

Why did you use the Conrad anecdote?

The one about the man with the nitroglycerin.

The cops were afraid to pick him up

because they know he has the will to blow himself up

and everybody else. I didn't mean it.

Well, maybe you did.

It would have fed into your theories

which you should expand on.

Madness even as a tool or a weapon.

Who would be a model?

Hitler.

Very good.

The Viet Cong are a guerrilla force

employing the harassing tactics used by George Washington

during the Revolutionary War.

Quick strikes

expert use of terrain for ambushes

antipersonnel devices--

they're complemented by the more regimented

and battle-hardened North Vietnamese army

responsible for the rout of the French at Dien Bien Phu.

The VC and the NVA are making daily incursions

deeper and deeper into the South

with significant success.

What I wanted most of all was to serve my country

to be one of the president's men.

Everything I did was to further that goal:

scholarship to Harvard, fellowship at Cambridge

an officer in the Marine Corps

writing my PhD and landing an assignment at RAND.

It was a heady place

but always every second of the day I felt restless.

What are you reading?

Bernard Fall. Vietnam.

We've been so distracted by Cuba

we're just tiptoeing around in Southeast Asia.

No conviction, no definition.

Russians, North Vietnamese decisively subverting the South.

Read your paper.

And?

"Political Uses of Madness."

Where in the world did you get that idea?

It's out there.

It's provocative.

It's dangerous.

It's a good paper.

I'm frustrated, Harry.

You see it?

I'm just... stuck.

Well, you'll be interested to know

that the paper found its way to the Pentagon

and into the hands of the Assistant Secretary of Defense.

John McNaughton read it?

Yeah.

What'd he think?

He said, "Not bad."

Did he understand it?

Oh, I doubt it.

Which is probably why, at my suggestion

he wants you to come to work for him.

Daniel, this is your going away party

and you're the guest of honor.

Is there any chance of you at least even pretending

you're having a good time?

Why don't we start out with a little salad?

Can I help?

Are you all right?

How's the packing going?

I'm finished with your stuff.

I told you that I'd help.

I'm not going with you next weekend.

When are you coming?

I'm not

and neither are the children.

Can I have a piece of cake now?

Dan Ellsberg. Hi, I'm Rich Corcoran.

Just wanted to say congratulations.

I'm going to be replacing you.

What?

You ready for the big move, Dan?

What? Excuse me.

Bon voyage, man.

Carol, I know this is disruptive

but it's important.

We can have a real voice in shaping the policy in Washington.

Carol, this means something.

No, you have a chance to change policy means something.

I love you, but I've never "meant something."

That's not true.

Not even the kids.

What are you talking about?

I don't even know how to respond to that.

Don't worry.

I can't ask you to choose your family over your ambitions.

Will you stop with the dishes?

This isn't even...

This isn't even our house.

I know you're destined to do great things.

I've always known that.

I just hoped our family would have been one of them.

I won't go to Washington.

I want a divorce.

What?

Carol, I can change.

With all your wonderful talents and ambitions

the one thing you'll never be able to do is change

and the only thing in my life that will change

is the scenery.

I threw myself into my work.

They had me in a sub-basement

analyzing incoming data from Vietnam.

My rank was a GS-18, the highest-level clearance

for a civilian.

It was impressive.

I reported to John McNaughton, Assistant Secretary of Defense

who had the ear of Secretary McNamara

who had the ear

of the new president, Lyndon Johnson.

This was where I'd always wanted to be.

My fellow Americans

as President and Commander-in-Chief

it is my duty

to the American people

to report that renewed hostile actions

against United States ships on the high seas

and the Gulf of Tonkin have today required me

to order the military forces of the United States...

Looks like it's our war now, Ellsberg.

I want a position paper, Dan, on what this could mean.

Give me logic, give me rational.

Define the variables, the possible course of action.

No emotion-- facts, always facts

but make it strong.

How fast?

Fast? Can I have it?

Well...

Not fast enough.

Senator, regardless of any provocation

the attack against the SS Maddox

in the Gulf of Tonkin clearly violates the Geneva Accord.

It demands immediate, decisive, prejudiced response.

If an American ship is attacked on the high seas

we have to act

in spite of the risk-- because of the risk.

Foreign policy stakes are too high

for us not to apply maximum force and power

necessary to implement that policy.

You're late.

I know.

Who is that?

That's Dan Ellsberg.

That's Daniel Ellsberg.

What's he so rabidly talking about?

...postulate from how we act

then apply it to nations and wars.

Vietnam falls to the Communists

the disturbing reality is

the rest of Southeast Asia will face the same fate.

This is a civil war.

Shouldn't we let the people of Vietnam

determine their own fate?

They never have before.

They're not ready to now.

Their supposed movement for independence

has been going on for thousands of years.

Nothing ever happens.

It predates us.

They fight the Chinese, the French, the Japanese

the French again, the Chinese again...

Oh, I see.

You think that because the Soviets and Chinese

are backing the Communists

our global prestige and power are at stake.

No, let's just roll over.

Worked for Neville Chamberlain

in Poland, Hungary and France in World War II.

That was Hitler.

This is Brezhnev and Mao.

Who's to say, really the differences

aren't much more than a bad mustache?

I'm Dan Ellsberg.

So I've been warned.

Patricia Marx.

This is your house.

Thank you for inviting me to your party.

It's my father's house, his party.

I didn't invite you.

I could take your argument apart piece by piece.

By the time the sun rose, you'd be on my side.

What makes you think that I would be so easy to convert?

Because I'm right.

Hmm.

Some other time.

How long have you been here?

The party?

Washington?

Three months. Four.

Ready to conquer the world.

You do know that they call this the Virgin City.

Everybody comes here to screw the Virgin

and gets screwed by the Virgin.

Hmm.

Where are you going?

How would it look

if I didn't walk over and greet my boyfriend?

Hi.

It started as a trickle.

Estimates of enemy dead were hugely exaggerated

while the field reports

would show heavy enemy fire and American casualties.

The inefficiency was crippling.

There was absolutely no way to tell where we stood.

John.

This says nightly shelling was stopped at Ben Tre.

This was sent the same day from the same command.

Three American soldiers were killed

on the night of March 11th

from incoming rounds at Ben Tre.

Maybe it's an aberration.

It's no aberration.

This is standard operating procedure.

A month ago I sent you a folder like these.

I haven't heard a word.

And they keep on coming-- mistakes, discrepancies...

Every piece of intelligence that we get

can be contradicted by an equally

trustworthy source.

So what do you suggest?

That you read them.

And then what?

A fact-finding mission--

a real one that actually uncovers facts.

I'll go over there. I'll volunteer.

What are you going to do?

Reenlist in the Marines? Go into combat?

We need an accurate picture

of what the hell's happening over there.

It's our job to know the right answers.

Otherwise, how the hell can the President

make intelligent policy choices?

You should read... I have.

It's about time.

I've been waiting for you.

What took you so long?

If these numbers are wrong, false

we could be fighting on the wrong side.

So do go, and while you're there

I want you to prepare a White Paper

on ways we can get out of this

if everything collapses.

What are you saying?

You of all people, you're the hawk that killed the dove.

Ask the right questions

define the answers, throw out the assumptions.

Facts. Not self-interest

not myths, not bullshit

not yours or anybody else's.

Report to me, only me.

The numbers are contradictory; they're troubling

but you're wrong.

You should be clear that you could be signing

the death warrant to your career by having anything to do

with calculations and decisions like these.

A lot of people

have been ruined for less.

I was assigned to General Edward Lansdale's contingent.

Based in Saigon

I quickly found there are two different worlds--

Saigon and out there.

When a hamlet was declared "pacified"

I'd hook up and go out into the province

and see for myself.

What about this province?

Charlie pulled out a few weeks ago.

Then that's secure.

Well, I wouldn't exactly say that.

Well, is it secure or isn't it?

It's the most reliable information we've got.

That's neither information nor reliable.

Hey, Ellsberg, is that you?

Who's that?

Tony Russo.

Russo? What the hell are you doing here?

What's going on in there?

RAND sent me over here

to supervise a program for the army.

We're interviewing Viet Cong prisoners

on motivation and morale.

Don't seem to have a problem with motivation and morale.

Hmm, sure as hell don't.

It's not what we predicted, man.

No matter how much ordnance and napalm

and personnel we throw at them

they are not giving up.

But I thought you were back in Washington.

What's up? What are you doing here?

Finding a way to win.

Ah...

You want to know how to win?

Convince them it's okay to lose.

Get him out of here.

I expected to be overseas for a few weeks.

Then weeks turned into months, and months into seasons.

I wasn't any closer to finding out

why everything felt like an excuse.

Inconsistencies that even contradicted themselves.

But I still felt... more committed than ever.

They carried themselves with pride.

Their courage was deep.

If they were afraid of dying, they never showed it.

It's wet.

Ground's wet.

Heater's wet.

Feet's wet.

What's your name?

Compson, Leonard, the III, sir.

You can drop the "sir." I'm just an observer.

Observer, huh?

Zip it...

and whip it, Compson.

Can you play?

No.

You're a reporter?

It's true.

I sense a certain distrust.

Don't like what I read.

What would you like us to say?

Something positive. Anything positive.

You mean lie.

Things are going to change.

How long you been in country?

Six months.

Good luck. I hope you're right.

Hey, if you do get a good story, let me know.

Neil Sheehan with UPI.

Dan Ellsberg.

So, how much longer do you think we'll be here?

I think we'll be here as long as it takes.

And how long do you think that is?

Daniel Ellsberg, December 1965, Saigon.

What are you doing here?

I'm a radio correspondent.

I have my own show.

Care to comment on our progress?

Our progress?

I'd say your coming over here is a good first step.

How is the pacification program going?

Not well. You don't seem particularly pacified.

What kind of success do you think we're having

in training the South Vietnamese army

and improving their fighting efficiency?

About the same amount of success as I'm having

avoiding this interview and asking you

to dinner.

Dr. Ellsberg, when can we expect

an acceptable outcome here, and what will that be?

I guess we're

done here.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

You're welcome.

Do you know the lotus is one of the few flowers

that bears fruit and petals at the same time?

Does your head hurt with all the information

you cram into it?

When they bloom...

they get more beautiful

with each new... ring of petals that open.

Quick, over there.

Oh...

I like the rain.

It makes you look beautiful.

How'd you get that?

When I was a kid my mother decided

I was going to be a concert pianist.

I had a certain amount of talent, I guess

but it was impossible to miss my lack of greatness.

Didn't faze her at all.

She had complete faith.

Made me practice endlessly.

Oh...

And when I was 15, on the Fourth of July

my father fell asleep at the wheel

and I woke up in the hospital a day later

and they told me my mother and sister had died.

My God.

I remember...

my first thought when they told me was

"I won't have to practice piano anymore"

and I never played again.

Tell me about your radio show.

Well...

I, um... I see somebody who's interesting--

an artist, a politician, anybody...

The officer in the bar?

: Sometimes.

Mm-hmm.

And I go after them.

It's called Patricia Marx Interviews.

Yeah, I'd listen if I was back home.

It only airs in New York.

Then I'd move to New York.

Why don't you?

Why don't you come back with me in a few weeks?

I'm so glad you're here.

Me, too.

...four, six, south. Bouvier, over.

What's up, Sergeant?

VC and Alpha Company surprised each other.

The villa got caught

in the middle of the crossfire.

How many VC and American casualties?

Says the only dead she saw was villagers.

We got a report this morning.

20 enemy dead. Ask her again.

Just villagers.

Russo?

Yeah? Ellsberg.

Nice pressed shirt.

You always wear those damn pressed shirts.

You all right?

Yeah, I'm, uh...

I'm-I'm contemplating.

Contemplating.

What are you contemplating?

These Viet Cong prisoners I'm interviewing--

that I was told were

chicken-scratching, yellow-bellying vermin--

in fact seem to be

dedicated, determined, committed, monkish, and, uh...

idealistic.

Why is that?

600 of them.

What are you doing?

Body count.

Body count.

Body count.

There is no body count.

Yeah. Ain't life good?

Ain't body count good?

Ain't Saigon good?

: You ever heard the one about General Navarre?

"The Frog"?

1954, it was just before Dien Bien Phu.

Asked "How many DBs?"

"300," came the answer. "300 dead bodies."

"Very well," said the General.

"Now we know that the Viet Minh drag off that dead."

"So, you have 300 bodies

"that probably means 3,000 killed.

"You must allow 10% for error.

So, we'll tell the press 3,300 killed."

"By body count, sir?"

"How else?" sayeth the General.

Two and two is five.

Exactly it.

Dr. Ellsberg, you always could get to the nub.

Five.

I think you're exercising the wrong muscle.

I'm leaving in the morning, you know?

I'll be finished soon.

Yeah?

I've heard that one before.

Just have to get things back on track.

What does "back on track" mean?

Movement towards some sort of victory.

"Some sort of victory?"

You haven't seen enough here to know better?

Patricia, this country is in our vital interest.

Fighting for it isn't wrong.

The way we're doing it...

Oh, spare me.

Really. Spare me.

I do not even want to know what kind of nonsense

you're peddling to those fools at the Pentagon.

You encouraging them to escalate this

beyond all reason?

You want more of our boys--

more of those innocent boys-- to be turned into cannon fodder?

Is that what you want?

'Cause that's what you're doing.

That's what you're encouraging.

Patricia, I don't want to talk about the war anymore.

I'm sorry.

You don't have to be sorry.

You're entitled to believe whatever you want.

I just can't be with that.

I'm not apologizing for what I believe in.

I'm sorry for disappointing you.

Shit.

Where the hell's

that coming from? Keep your mouth shut.

Bravo Eight, Bravo Eight, we're under heavy fire.

We got VC in the tree line.

Bravo Eight, what's your position?

We need your position.

Lewis, Coleman... let's go.

Move out!

Medic!

I need a medic over here!

Stay out of here.

Pull him out!

Plug the wound! Plug the wound!

Get him to sick bay and give him a three line of dopamine.

Oh, my arm!

About a hundred meters, I'm out of here.

Stop bleeding.

Pressure on the wound.

Stand up...

Keep him tight, keep him tight.

I'd finally gotten

a glimpse of the...

truth I was groping for.

We couldn't win unless...

I came home

and John McNaughton had been killed

in a freak plane accident.

He was... gone...

and my position in Washington and report with him.

I was sick with hepatitis, depressed, out of touch

and finally, I took my old job back at RAND.

And they asked me to be one of the authors

of a history of our time in Vietnam

that Robert McNamara had ordered for the Defense Department

and put me to work

writing an options paper for the White House.

I laid out for them...

what had become so clear to me:

that our situation was dire.

And we had to admit our mistakes...

and change our strategy.

Hello, Dan.

Hello, Harry.

Sorry about McNaughton.

I know the two of you were close.

Dan, where's that obnoxious

egomaniacal pain in the ass

we all love so much?

Dan, I'd like very much

if you went to see the psychiatrist

that I recommended.

No big deal, just go see him.

Maybe he'll make it feel better.

Why didn't Kissinger include the options paper

in the packet he gave to Nixon?

Well, maybe it was your conclusions he didn't care for.

"Under the present course of action

our goals in Vietnam are completely unattainable."

That's a bitter pill to swallow, Dan.

They should be grateful

I'm telling them how it really is.

Dan, how could you expect to write something like that

and get a positive reaction

from Henry Kissinger? I don't.

Send a copy to the Pentagon.

More eyes that see it, the better.

They're busy

with the McNamara war study.

It's done?

That's what I hear.

When do we get our copy?

We're not going to get one. Why not?

Because it's classified "Top Secret."

That's bullshit.

It's a history of the war, lessons learned.

I worked on it.

My name's on the damn thing.

RAND must be able to get a copy.

Well, don't hold your breath.

Nobody's being able to look at it.

Congress doesn't even know it exists.

Make a request for me, please, Harry.

I'll try, but don't get your hopes up.

We believe, in face of the evidence

the optimists who have been wrong in the past.

To suggest we are on the edge of defeat

is to yield to unreasonable pessimism.

To say that we are mired in stalemate

seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory conclusion.

On the off chance

the military and political analysts are right

in the next few months

we must test the enemy's intentions

in case this is indeed

his last big gasp before negotiations.

But it is increasingly clear to this reporter

that the only rational way now to think

would be to negotiate

not as victors, but as an honorable people

who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy

and did the best they could.

You wanted to see me?

Yeah.

Go to your office, close the door.

The papers are on your desk.

There's no record of them in the logs.

Keep it under your hat.

Here are the codes.

Thank you, Harry.

Right.

It wasn't what I expected... at all.

Over 7,000 pages in 47 volumes

what I had in front of me was nothing less

than a chronology of our damnation.

There were two histories of the war.

One for the President, and one for the rest of us.

The people were lied to about Vietnam

through four consecutive Presidential administrations.

It wasn't one man.

It was the Office itself.

Truman ignored letter after letter from Ho Chi Minh

asking for help.

He then financed the French with arms and tactical support

to fight the guerrillas.

Congress knew nothing.

Eisenhower agreed to split Vietnam in two

helped to install a hopelessly corrupt regime in the South

rig elections

and then send in the first US advisors to support it.

Congress was in the dark.

Kennedy made plans for our large-scale involvement

as early as 1961.

He authorized the overthrow of President Diem's regime

and sat by while Diem was assassinated

in the streets of Saigon.

And then came Johnson

who used the attack in the Gulf of Tonkin--

which, according to these documents

never even took place--

as an excuse to get us into the war

without a formal declaration from Congress.

McNaughton secretly knew.

He knew.

And I was the one who'd been wrong.

The experience of reading those pages

altered my anatomy.

With each word

my faith, my trust, and my allegiance burned away.

And I was part of the lie.

Even after reading the papers

I still wanted to believe in the system--

hope that its checks and balances would prevail.

It could be fixed from within.

It was clear access to the President

was no longer an option.

What I needed was the right ally in Congress.

Dr. Ellsberg.

I appreciate you making time, Senator Fulbright.

Please, have a seat.

Senator, your views against the war are well known

as is your sense of honor and integrity.

Well, before you, uh, you grant me sainthood

I supported the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

much to my regret now.

Senator, I need your help.

I could only bring you a sampling.

But in total, it is overwhelming proof

of a conspiracy to wage war without the approval of Congress

or the blessing of the nation.

What is this?

It's a study done by the Defense Department.

It's an internal study.

Yes.

This is top secret, classified.

I wasn't even aware of its existence.

How did it come into your possession?

Well, I... Is it stolen?

I'll have my office contact the Secretary of Defense

with an urgent request

for a copy of this through proper channels.

With all due respect, Senator

they will never honor your request.

Classified designations are in place for a reason.

I am not in a position to controvert

the Defense Department's assessment.

That's precisely the position you're in.

You're Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee

and one of Congress's most outspoken critics of the war.

I do want to thank you

for bringing this to my attention.

It's classified

because if it ever sees the light of day

they could never explain the things they've done.

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

was drafted months before the supposed attacks.

They created the skirmish to circumvent your authority.

Dr. Ellsberg...

I was there.

I saw young Americans die.

I saw Vietnamese die.

I saw the damage to them, to us

because of what is contained in this document.

The evidence is all here.

Our presidents knew this war was unwinnable

and they kept us in it

because no one, Republican or Democrat

wanted to be the first to lose a war.

And it's going to go on and on and on

until someone in your position reads this

acknowledges it and stands up and says we've been lied to.

We are not on the wrong side in Vietnam.

We are the wrong side.

Do you realize that you're asking me--

a United States senator-- to break the law?

To expose state secrets?

I'm sorry. I can't help you.

Right.

Thank you for your time.

I tried others.

I failed.

I was finally ready to do

what I should have done a long time before: give up.

Mmm. Eggs scrambled, eggs over easy

sunny-side up, poached-- that's a big decision, Ellsberg.

Russo. Jesus, where the hell have you been?

Oh, I've been... I've been organizing.

Getting the word out.

What word would that be?

Peace.

Hey, you know what?

We're, we're having a party tonight.

You should come by.

Bring whoever-- your latest conquest.

Swedish stewardess, nurse...

Uh, whatever happened to that one in Saigon--

the American girl?

Uh, Patricia Marx?

Yeah. I don't know.

That's cool. I can dig that.

Whoever, Dan.

Excuse me, ma'am. Do you got a pen on you?

Thank you very much.

Malibu.

Where the living is easy.

Thank you.

It's good to see you, Tony.

See you there?

Right on.

Dan Ellsberg.

Hi!

Never thought I'd see that look on your face.

What?

Doubt.

I've tried every liberal in Congress.

Fulbright, McGovern, Pete McCloskey.

Tried to get them read into the Congressional Record.

I tried the Institute for Policy Studies.

Is there anyone who hasn't seen this stuff?

Am I the only one? Kissinger.

Even Kissinger.

We did some sort of weird dance at Harvard

and we've been doing some sort of weird dance ever since.

No one will touch it.

"No one will touch it."

Just hire a friggin' helicopter, Dan

and drop them out over Washington and New York.

Bring it to the people, man.

Tony, quit talking to me like I'm some kind of radical.

Bring them to him.

Bring them to them. Bring them to her.

Leak them to the paper of record.

The New York Times.

You think I haven't thought of that?

You're insane, my friend.

It's classified.

We're talking about ending the war, Dan.

It's treason.

Hi, everybody.

I want to talk for a few minutes about how I love my country.

My name's Randy Kehler.

I'm a graduate of Exeter Academy and Harvard University.

This country depends on people with my background

to become CEOs of corporations, uh, serve in public office

and make breakthroughs in both medicine and science.

My country

depends on people like me to lead it

and that's exactly what I believe I'm doing.

In a few days' time, I will be going to jail.

Like many of you

I was drafted and faced a choice

and I don't feel that our cause in Vietnam is a just one

and I won't fight there.

But I am...

But I am an American

and I refuse to run to safety in another country

nor will I hide behind the label "conscientious objector"

where I may be dismissed as a dilettante

with a passing ideology.

I feel that the best way--

the only way I can serve my country--

is to sacrifice myself.

When the day comes that I am released from prison

I'll wear a permanent mark.

Never will I be a CEO

never will I serve in office

and never again will I be trusted by many.

But I'm willing to surrender these things.

That permanent mark fixed upon me...

I will wear it with pride.

We were eating our young, and I realized that at any cost

the country needed to know the truth.

I began to do what I'd never wanted to do.

The doors were open 24 hours a day

and I developed a routine.

Around midnight I'd leave RAND with a couple hundred pages.

They knew me.

I was one of them.

Tony Russo's girlfriend, Lynda

let me use the Xerox machine at her advertising agency

in West Hollywood.

I'd copy from 1:00 to 4:00 in the morning

sleep for an hour or two

and have them back in the safe

before anyone knew they were missing.

It was a seven-days-a-week operation.

Russo assisted me whenever he could.

This is stupid.

We don't see you for months, and this is all we do?

Why don't you just get new papers

without all the stamps all over them?

Do you know what "top secret" means?

Don't tell Mom?

Hold on.

You know, I don't want either of you

ever to... lie for me.

Not to Mom or anybody else.

Okay.

Okay?

Let's get out of here.

I'll take this stuff.

You guys throw out this other junk.

It took months.

I spent my nights with sunspots in my eyes

from the copier's flash

and my days sleepwalking on a tightrope.

It took over my life.

All right, what are you doing up there?

I'm just doing some copying.

At nighttime

with the children cutting "Top Secret"

off of pages?

I spoke to Mary.

I want the children out of this.

I will not have them being part of some crime.

Look, you want to be a hero

be a hero on your own time.

I'm not trying to be a hero.

I want my children to know their father.

Know what he thinks, what he believes.

I want them to know about their country that he loves

and hopes they will as well.

That's important.

Important?

You want to hear important?

You're arrested, you're in court

and they call on your son or your daughter

to testify against you!

They won't tell lies, you know.

They're going to tell the truth.

I can only hope they tell the truth

and love them the best way that I can.

Only you could use the word "love" in a conversation

about breaking the law.

What the hell happened to you?

Hello?

Patricia, it's Daniel.

Is everything okay?

: Everything's fine.

We were wrong.

I was wrong.

I need your help.

Good night, Dan.

Dan, these men are with the FBI.

They have some questions for you.

Of course. How can I help?

Do you mind showing us and Dr. Rowen

RAND's copy of the Vietnam study?

Well, it's locked up in the safe.

Would you open the safe, please?

Sure, as long as you have the proper security clearance.

They're all here.

At any point, Dr. Ellsberg

have these documents been removed from the premises?

That's against RAND policy.

Have you ever photographed these documents

or any other sensitive materials?

That's also against RAND policy.

Answer the question, please.

The answer is no.

We'll be in touch.

Daniel, the FBI says they have information

that you're shopping the papers.

Is that true?

Daniel...

those papers were given to you to read.

Whatever your feelings

whatever your thoughts about them

they were to stay inside RAND.

This is bigger than RAND.

I've read it.

7,000 pages, 47 volumes.

Some of that I wrote myself.

That doesn't give you the right

of ownership, Dan.

Are you shopping the papers?

Have you read them, Harry?

You should.

We've lied for years.

For decades.

To each other, the country, the Vietnamese.

The policymakers have. The presidents have.

We all have, since the beginning.

That's what the papers are about.

The history of lies.

But it's all right for you to lie

because you're serving some high moral purpose.

Let me tell you something, Dan.

All lies are betrayal.

All of them.

If you've gone outside RAND, if you betrayed that trust

you're going to bring down a lot of good people.

I find that unconscionable and unforgivable.

So does this war. Yeah, right.

You've always said you wanted

to serve the president and the country.

I don't believe it for a minute.

You just wanted to serve yourself.

Is that job offer from MIT still on the table?

Take it.

Your door was open.

You want to help me with my bags?

They're outside the front door.

What are you doing?

Well...

...there seems to be an elephant in the room with us.

You've got nearly 7,000 pages to read.

Did you read them all?

Twice.

Mm.

Well, I figure with a lot of coffee...

...and a lot of making love...

I will, too.

Wake me up when you get to the lovemaking part.

Yeah.

This war was wrong from the start

and it just keeps growing exponentially.

It's not about the war; it's not about Vietnam.

It's never been about Vietnam.

It's always been about domestic politics.

How to stay in office, win the election.

The fear has always been

if you lose there, you lose here.

So it's escalating, just like '64.

Nixon's quadrupled the number of bombing sorties

and crossed into Cambodia.

Dan, this administration has nothing to gain

and everything to lose if these papers come out.

Peace isn't a political goal.

It's a human goal.

Just being around me puts you at risk, Patricia.

I know.

I'm not going anywhere.

Marry me.

Albert Spear, Hitler's chief engineer and architect

manufactured the munitions.

He was the only Nazi tried at Nuremberg to admit his guilt

for his complicity

for taking part in the creation of a...

depraved and evil apparatus.

He acknowledged he was just as guilty

as the men who used the system to commit genocide.

I knew firsthand how we got into this war.

I knew firsthand our prospects were hopeless

and I knew it was not going to end.

New York Times, Washington Desk.

Uh, Neil Sheehan.

Sheehan.

Hello?

Who is this?

This is Daniel Ellsberg.

A few years ago you said

if I ever had a good story, you'd write it.

Yeah, I remember.

I've got one.

What do you know about the Pentagon's war study?

Nothing. No one's seen it.

That could change.

You realize I can't make any commitment

that we'll publish this until I've read it

and my editors have read...

How long will that take?

There's no telling.

We'll have to confirm its authenticity...

They're authentic.

...merits, and there still could be some resistance.

Resistance? On what grounds?

I mean, this incomprehensible.

I mean, this is a huge story.

These are classified internal documents

leaked in a time of war.

An undeclared, endless, sickening killing war.

That is not the point.

That is the point.

Look, I'm just warning you

there are bound to be some debate

over the legality and wisdom of going to press with this.

Good, there should be debate--

about the legality and the wisdom of what it says in them.

Complete, the study is 47 volumes.

There's 43 upstairs.

I've held back anything

that includes secret codification

troop positions, and any other material

that I feel compromises national security.

You mind if I ask you a question?

What do you want out of all this?

I want to get in the way of the bombing and killing.

Patricia?

I'm here.

Nixon danced last night at Tricia's wedding.

Gosh, that's a scary thought.

Here's another funny story

you might be interested in.

Oh, my gosh...

I don't believe it.

There's no going back now.

Well, somebody had to tell the truth.

Jesus Christ!

...news was overshadowed

by the appearance in today's New York Times

of an apparently covert study

outlining our involvement in Vietnam.

No reaction as of yet from the White House...

All right!

That's the way to do it!

The New York Times is finished at the White House.

We can't have any more of these goddamn leaks.

Some kind of special unit

should be put together to see to it.

Plumbers.

To fix the leaks.

Where does the president want us to go from here?

The Times is preparing the next installment

as we speak.

And we cannot allow that to happen.

I can ask the Times to voluntarily cease and desist

from publication.

If they refuse, we'll take the gloves off.

Justice can enjoin them from publishing further.

Stop the presses?

Is that done? Has that ever been done?

No.

Set it in motion.

Where did the Times get the Pentagon study?

The FBI has a suspect.

Daniel Ellsberg.

Who is he?

They're working on it.

Well, find out and neutralize him.

Take right.

Got it.

Bedroom's clear.

Kitchen's clear.

Clear.

Ellsberg's gone.

The place is empty.

Here's the last one.

You know, you guys are the first people ever to knock.

May we come in, Mr. Russo?

No, no, no. I'll come out.

We want to talk to you about Daniel Ellsberg.

Well, I don't wish to talk to you.

Do you have a lawyer?

You better get one.

Carol Ellsberg?

Did you know that your Top Secret Control Officer

was sleeping with him?

That's none of my business.

It is if she was involved in copy and distribution.

She had absolutely nothing to do with this.

And what did you have to do with it?

Nothing whatsoever.

Excuse me.

The Times declined our request to cease and desist.

Put a muzzle on the sons of bitches.

What about Ellsberg?

Kissinger thinks he's brilliant, but unbalanced.

It's obvious that he's flipped.

From hawk to peacenik.

They think it could be drugs.

Is he alone in this?

He married a very rich girl, Patricia Marx--

Marx Toy Company.

Hoover knows her father.

Christ! No wonder the FBI can't find him.

They're probably not looking.

Well, they say he's gone underground.

Could he be talking to the Russians?

Chinese?

How much does he know?

How badly can the son of a bitch hurt us?

We should've never have gone to press

with this in the first place.

For crying out loud, it's the First Amendment

to the Constitution of the United States!

Hello?

Dan, it's Sheehan. Yeah.

We're pulling the next segment on the papers.

What are you talking about?

It's coming directly from the Oval Office.

They're not going to arrest the entire staff

of The New York Times. Just keep printing it.

You're not listening to me, Dan.

They stopped the presses.

Well, they did. That's illegal. They can't do that.

We've been enjoined for prior restraint.

We've pulled the story.

Nixon had Mitchell claim Print it anyway!

that publication is a grave threat to national security.

Bullshit! Nixon and Mitchell are a goddamn threat

to national security.

Don't tell me that! There's nothing we can do!

We can't do it! You can print the story!

It's over, Dan!

It's not over!

You'll have to find another way

to get them out.

Sheehan!

Wait...

Shit!

Shit.

What are you doing?

Excuse me! What are you doing?!

...allied forces in Vietnam...

Dan, you've been on every news channel.

They're calling them the "Pentagon Papers"

and the FBI has named you as the probable source.

The manhunt's nationwide.

They know everything about you.

They know what school you went to

how long you were there, your family.

They know about me...

Nixon got a court order enjoining The New York Times

to cease publication.

He did what?

The Times pulled the story.

I called The Washington Post.

They're flying up to get a copy.

Will they be able to go to press

after what's happened to the Times?

I don't know.

What if they don't?

I don't know.

I mean, how can they?

If Nixon can stop the Times...

I don't know, Patricia! I don't know!

...with Saigon the main objective.

We're not just going to give up.

...a few major battles.

The third of six days of action has been heavy.

The allies estimate they have killed

more than 6,000 enemy troops in that period.

American casualties are put at 360 dead

and more than 1,000 wounded.

I didn't say anything about giving up.

...South Vietnamese have been killed.

Good evening. Publication of parts

of the 47-volume, top secret history

of American involvement in Vietnam

has triggered a major constitutional legal battle

over government secrecy and freedom of the press.

The man most frequently suggested as the source

for the Pentagon documents is Daniel Ellsberg, 40

PhD with honors, one-time Marine, now a researcher

at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Ellsberg was a Pentagon and State Department analyst

during the Vietnam buildup.

Later, he worked on the now-controversial

Pentagon study of the war.

Perhaps because of his clearly delicate legal position

he will not talk right now of whatever part

he played in the release of the secret documents

but he talks freely

of what he hopes their release will accomplish

and what turned him from hawk to dove

such as what he believes was official coldheartedness

towards civilian casualties in the war.

Fact is, in the seven to 10,000 pages of this study

I don't think there is a line in them

that contains an estimate of the likely impact

of our policy on the overall causalities

among the Vietnamese, the refugees to be caused...

I'll get some men over to CBS right away.

It won't do any good.

They're doing the interview at some secret location.

My father had a favorite line in the Bible

which I used to hear a great deal when I was a kid.

"The truth shall make you free."

And I hope that the truth that's out now

that's out of the safes-- and there is no way, no way

to get it back into the safes--

I hope that truth will free us of this war.

I hope that we will put this war behind us

and we'll learn from it in such a way

that the history of the next 20 years

will read nothing like the history of the last 20 years.

The Appellate Court stepped aside.

Times and the Post vs. The United States

have been bumped up to the Supreme Court.

They start in the morning.

We've done all we can.

I think it's time for me to go in.

I wasn't ready to hear you say that.

We just heard that Senator Gravel

of Alaska was prevented from reading the paper

on the Senate floor.

It's up to the Supreme Court, the First Amendment issue.

Dan, let's talk about your case.

So, where do we stand?

Charges against you will include

stealing government property

receiving, communicating and retaining

national defense documents.

Conspiracy, multiple violations of the Espionage Act.

Possibly even treason.

We really can't tell how far they'll go.

Sounds like I'm in for a slap on the wrist.

What's the worst that could happen?

There's no reason to sugarcoat this.

A lot of people are extremely grateful to you

for what you've done

but Dick Nixon is not one of them.

Apparently, the more he thinks about it

the more outraged... Um...

Short of the death penalty

life in prison is probably what they'll shoot for.

The sooner you turn yourself in

the sooner we can start fighting.

Let's arrange for my surrender.

Step back, please.

Dr. Ellsberg, comment on the indictment

the Attorney General read against you this morning.

Eleven counts.

You could get more than 100 years.

I don't regret releasing the papers

only that so many lives might have been saved

if I'd only done it sooner.

Dr. Ellsberg, one more comment.

One more comment!

You have the right to remain silent

and refuse to answer questions.

Do you understand?

Yes.

Any thing you say may be used against you

in a court of law, you understand?

Yes.

You have the right to consult an attorney

before speaking with the police

and to have an attorney present now and in the future.

You understand all that?

Yes.

Both sides seemed to score points

with the justices in oral arguments today.

The government stressed the sensitive nature

of the Pentagon Papers

and the risk to our troops abroad by their publication.

Lawyers for The New York Times and Washington Post

countered that the papers are a historical record

which poses no danger to soldiers overseas

and which the public here at home has a right to read.

The case was submitted late today.

A ruling could be handed down at any time.

Yeah?

I'm on my way.

Decision's in.

The Court has reached a decision.

The Majority Opinion will now be distributed.

Dan...

What happened?

The Supreme Court--

they ruled six to three

and the papers are going to press as we speak.

And we've posted bail.

So we're going to be able to put all this behind us

and with the publication of the papers

they're now legal, so...

I mean, what law have you broken, Dan?

This has nothing to do with my case.

They're still going to try me for treason.

Let me see the decision.

It's Justice Black's opinion.

"In the First Amendment

"the Founding Fathers gave the press

"a protection they must have

"to fulfill its role in our democracy

"and paramount among the duties of the free press

"is the duty to prevent

"any part of the government from deceiving the people

"and sending them off to distant lands

"to die of foreign fevers and foreign shot and shell.

"Far from deserving condemnation

"The New York Times and Washington Post

"nobly did precisely that which the Founders hoped

"and trusted they would do.

"The press must be left free to publish news

whatever the source without censorship."

I don't think I'm going to be back here again.

Thank you.

You're welcome, Daniel.

Vamos. Abiento.

So Ellsberg's a national hero

and The New York Times will probably win a damn Pulitzer--

all for stealing documents.

These people are thieves.

Apparently Ellsberg had an accomplice.

We're going after him as well.

Believe me, neither will see the light of day again.

That's fine about their trials

but the President still wants to get the dirt.

He wants the son of a bitch destroyed.

Morning, Mr. President.

Morning, Mr. President.

Mr. President.

Our little operation out in Beverly Hills went smoothly.

Here's what the Plumbers found in Dr. Fielding's office.

Not that it didn't go well in there today

and not that I think our trial is going badly in general

but which countries

have non-extradition policies with the US?

...special news bulletin.

Five men were arrested at 2:30 this morning

while they were in the process

of wiretapping and bugging the offices

of the Democratic National Committee at Washington's

Watergate hotel and apartment complex.

The identities of the burglars remain unanswered at this hour.

What is it?

I couldn't sleep.

Yeah?

You know, it hit me today

that it's been over a year with your case.

Sometimes it feels like it's just...

never going to end.

Everyone always thought

I was destined to do something great with my life.

Make a mark.

When my mother and sister died...

My fa...

I only thought of myself.

And when my illusion of America died

I did the same thing.

I wanted to bring the government and the nation down.

I loved them, and I was angry, and they disappointed me.

I'm going to be remembered as a traitor.

My children will be ashamed

their name disgraced.

All rise.

The Honorable Judge William Matthew Byrne presiding.

Be seated.

Commencing on April 26th, the government has made

an extraordinary series of disclosures

regarding the conduct of several governmental agencies

regarding the defendants in this case.

It is my responsibility

to assess the effect of this conduct

upon the rights of the defendants

and their opportunities for a fair trial

with due process of law.

Along with the country at large

this court has recently become aware of a special unit

that was established, reporting to the White House

which undertook both the burglary

at the office of Dr. Lewis Fielding

and the break-in at the Watergate Hotel.

The totality of the circumstances of this case

offends a sense of justice.

The bizarre events have incurably infected

the prosecution of this case.

Therefore, I have decided to declare a mistrial and grant...

And grant the motion to dismiss.

Thank God for Richard Nixon.

For me as an American, democracy is sacred

something worth fighting for.

And if my own greatest act of patriotism

was treason, so be it.

I think the lesson is

that the people of this country, um, can't afford

to let the President run the country by himself

even foreign affairs, any more than domestic affairs

without the help of the Congress

without the help of the public.

The system shouldn't change, I think, to begin with.

Very hard, really, the way our system operates now

for a truly frank, honest man

to stay in that system indefinitely

without being weeded out or fired or made apathetic

or in effect, corrupted in the end.

Good evening.

A quarter century of American involvement

in South Vietnam is over.

At mid-afternoon, Saigon time

and armada of 81 US Marine helicopters

descended on the South Vietnamese capital.

More than 6,000 persons were evacuated

plucked from the US Embassy grounds

from rooftops throughout the city

and from the nearby Tan Son Nhut Airport.

It was a chaotic scene in Saigon today

when those US Marines arrived.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of South Vietnamese

fought to get inside the American Embassy compound

to get on those American helicopters leaving Saigon.

Some Vietnamese tried to scale the ten-foot Embassy walls

and got caught on the barbed wire.

The Vietnamese cried and shouted

"We want to go, too," and during all this

inside the American Embassy

officials were burning the last of their documents.

Dan Rather, CBS News, New York.

Thank you for joining us.