Original subtitles

[�...]

[�...]

>> man: It was the evening of

October 1st, 1969 when I first

Smuggled several hundred pages

Of top secret documents out of

My safe at the rand corporation.

The study contained 47 volumes,

7,000 pages.

My plan was to xerox the study

And reveal the secret history

Of the vietnam war to the

American people.

>> newscaster: The f.B.I. Was

Trying to find out who gave the

New york times a copy of the

Pentagon's secret study...

>> pow! Like a thunderclap,

You get the new york times

Publishing the pentagon papers

And the country is panicking.

>> henry kissinger on tape: This

Is an attack on the whole

Integrity of government.

If whole file cabinets can be

Stolen and then made available

To the press, you can't have

Orderly government anymore.

>> a name has now come out

As the possible source of the

Times' pentagon documents.

It is that of daniel ellsberg,

A top policy analyst for the

Defense and state departments.

>> richard nixon: I think it is

Time in this country to quit

Making national heroes out of

Those who steal secrets and

Publish them in the newspaper.

>> in the first year of

Marriage, we're talking

About him going to prison

For the rest of his life.

>> we felt so strongly that we

Were dealing with a national

Security crisis.

Henry kissinger said that

Dr. Daniel ellsberg was the

Most dangerous man in america

And he had to be stopped.

[�...]

>> ellsberg narrating: On the

Morning of August 4th, 1964,

I began my first full-time

Employment in the pentagon,

Working under secretary of

Defense robert mcnamara.

My very first day on the job,

All hell broke loose.

...[interviewed]: A courier

Came running in with a flash

Cable saying that american

Warships were under attack

In the tonkin gulf off the coast

Of north vietnam.

And I was getting these because

My boss was already down the

Hall with mcnamara picking

Targets to retaliate against,

Against north vietnam.

Minute after minute,

More cables came in:

"three torpedoes have been

Fired... Seven...

We are taking evasive action."

At about 1:30 our time comes new

Cable from the commodore of the

Two ships: "hold everything," in

Effect, "all previous reports of

Torpedoes are in question."

>> renewed hostile actions

Against United States ships

On the high seas in the gulf

Of tonkin have today required me

To order the military forces

Of the United States to take

Action in reply.

>> within days, it was

Clearer and clearer that there

Had been no attack.

>> I shall immediately

Request the congress

To pass a resolution.

[�...]

>> ellsberg narrating: President

Johnson was determined

To prevent a communist victory

In south vietnam.

He twisted the facts of the

Tonkin gulf incident to persuade

Congress to give him unlimited

Authority to use military force.

He then launched a war that

Would last another 11 years.

>> ...By a number

Of hostile vessels.

[�...]

>> man: Senator fulbright,

You moved the tonkin resolution

Through the senate.

Did you know anything

About the...

>> I accepted the story

Given to us by the president and

Mr. Mcnamara and mr. Rusk and,

I believe, general wheeler.

I had no reason at that time

And under those circumstances

To doubt the validity,

The truthfulness of this

Whole operation.

>> we still seek no wider war.

>> no wider war?

As I found out day by day in the

Pentagon, that was our highest

Priority: Preparing a wider war

Which we expected to take place

Immediately after the election.

>> johnson: It's a war

That I think ought to be fought

By the boys of asia to help

Protect their own land.

And for that reason, I haven't

Chosen to enlarge the war.

>> and that was a conscious lie.

We all knew that inside

The government and not one

Of us told the press

Or the public or the electorate

During that election.

It was a well-kept secret

By thousands and thousands

Of people, including me.

>> woman: Much has been written

About the war in vietnam, but

Little has made us understand

What it is really like.

My guest today,

David halberstam...

...I had a radio program

That was syndicated

Across the country.

I was down in washington, d.C.

At the time, doing interviews

Of congressmen and people

In the government.

And a mutual friend

Had offered to host a party on

My behalf, and he was inviting

His friends and he said,

"there's one friend I'll invite,

But stay away from him.

He's brilliant but dangerous."

Meaning that he was quite a

Ladies' man, having just

Recently gotten divorced.

He rang the doorbell,

And they were those sunken

Lights from the ceiling,

And they hit his blue eyes,

And I just went... [gasps]

Like this, he was so

Handsome. [laughs]

>> ellsberg interviewed: I just

Thought of her at that time

As above my...

Above my dating class.

I worked every Saturday,

A full day, that's 12 hours,

And every Sunday, half a day.

I did think of calling her up

When I had my first day off

From the pentagon.

And, uh, said, "uh, I have

Tomorrow off, and would you like

To go see the cherry blossoms?"

>> and I said, "no,

I'm covering the peace rally

For the radio program."

>> "this is my first day off,

I've been working on the war now

For 70 hours a week and you

Can't really ask me to spend it

At an anti-war rally."

>> crowd chanting: No more war,

No more war...

>> ellsberg interviewed: We

Marched around the white house.

I was carrying her heavy tape

Recorder, and I remember

Thinking, "I hope this is

Not a still photograph

In the washington post tomorrow,

'cause it's gonna be a little

Hard to explain."

>> and I bumped into some

Friends, who were liberal,

Radical friends, and the husband

Said, "how can you be going out

With somebody who's working on

Vietnam in the pentagon?"

[�...]

[whoosh...]

[explosions]

>> ellsberg narrating: Early

1965, the vietnam war was

About to expand and I was

One of its planners.

I had received orders

From secretary of defense

Robert mcnamara to gather

Examples of atrocities

Perpetrated by the viet cong.

The secretary hoped such

Intelligence would convince

President johnson to launch a

Systematic bombing campaign

Against north vietnam.

I had voiced my personal

Opposition to the tactic of

Bombing the north, but an order

From mcnamara for fast action

Was like an order from god.

[�...]

I had a whole staff in vietnam

Collecting data for me.

I told the colonel on the other

End of the hotline that it all

Had to be in for the president

By seven the next morning.

I needed details of the

Atrocities by the viet cong

Anywhere in vietnam.

Above all, I wanted gory details

Of any injuries to americans.

I told the colonel,

"I need blood."

[helicopter blades whirring,

�...]

>> man: In the early '60s,

Dan ellsberg was a leading,

If not the leading, uh,

Young war thinker.

>> man on loudspeaker: Channel

6... Warhead...

[continues indistinctly]

>> the atomic bomb had changed

So much and the military knew

That they needed fresh thinking,

And they established rand and

Deliberately located it on the

West coast of the United States

So that it would be beyond the

Reach of anybody in washington

Who wanted to meddle in it.

And essentially people were

Encouraged to think new

Thoughts, to think big.

[�...]

Dan really impressed people.

Smart, imaginative,

Good at technical reasoning,

Good at logic...

He could collect ideas

From anywhere... He could read

Short stories and get ideas.

>> ellsberg narrating: My work

At harvard was on decision

Making under uncertainty.

At the rand corporation, I was

Studying the highest-stakes

Hypothetical gamble in human

History-- whether or not to

Launch nuclear missiles on the

Basis of ambiguous warning.

[�...]

>> schelling: He was focused

On the question: "if you had to

Go to war, how to do it in the

Least dangerous way?

Who would make the decisions,

How would the decisions get

Communicated and what were

The options available

To the president?"

[�...]

>> ellsberg narrating: About

Four a.M. I got what I was

Looking for.

The colonel told me, "we've just

Gotten info that two american

Advisors appeared to have been

Captured and killed."

I asked for graphic details

To make it concrete, dramatic.

The colonel told me that their

Bodies showed signs of being

Dragged, perhaps by chains.

I said, "good, good,

More like that.

Wow, jesus, this is it!

Anything else, anything like

This anywhere else?"

This was the only incident

Of its kind they found.

It may have been the only one

In the vietnam war up to that

Point, involving americans.

But one was enough

For my report.

At 6:30 a.M., I wrapped it up.

A little after 9:00,

Mcnamara came back from the

White house and told my boss

To thank me for my input.

It was exactly what he needed.

[�...]

...[interviewed]: That's in fact

The most shameful episode

I can think of, that I really

Did, at a critical moment,

Help mcnamara persuade the

President by information I gave

Him that he should start a

Systematic campaign of bombing,

To which I was totally opposed.

>> man: Dan ellsberg felt

Everything with great intensity,

But nothing more so than this

Notion he had of his own

Culpability for everything

He had done in the early years

Of the war.

[jet engines whining...]

He had an important role in what

Became the most ridiculously

Disproportional bombing campaign

In the history of the world.

[whooshing...]

[explosion]

[explosion]

[muffled explosions...]

Dan was not some passive

Bureaucratic participant in

Vietnam; he was a true believer.

>> ellsberg archival: I saw

Our involvement in the context

Of a worldwide conflict with

Communism, uh, a cold war

Perspective that I shared with

Most of my fellow officials.

>> vietnam, mu nam!

[crowd cheers]

Vietnam, mu nam!

[crowd cheers]

>> ellsberg interviewed: I

Accepted the basic premises

Within the government: That

Being allied with america

Was good for you, good for the

Other people.

And there was an idealistic

Aspect to it.

In vietnam, we were protecting,

Supposedly, democracy, or the

Possibility of democracy,

Against a stalinist

Dictatorship.

[helicopter blades whirring]

I didn't want to watch the war

To which we were now committed,

Back in washington;

I wanted to be there.

I'd learned in the marine corps

That to know what's happening,

You have to be up at

The front line.

[�...]

...[narrating]: At division

Headquarters, they showed me

A chart of hundreds of patrols

Going out every night

In their zone.

I actually picked a patrol

From the chart and it was

At that point that the officer

At battalion level informed me

There were no patrols there,

Anymore than in the rest

Of the country.

The chart was entirely a hoax,

An illusion, like all the

Optimistic statistics that had

Been coming up for years.

There were no night patrols

By our vietnamese forces.

Only the viet cong

Were out at night.

They owned the country at night.

[engines idling,

Horns honking...]

>> patricia: We were

Very much in love.

>> � you're my dream come true �

>> I joined dan in vietnam,

And on that trip,

He asked me to marry him.

>> � ...And only...

You... �

>> � ah... �

>> patricia: We went to this

Party where this was this person

Who had been in north vietnam

And was describing the effects

Of our bombing.

It was a, just welling-up

Of a kind of visceral disgust.

>> ellsberg interviewed: And we

Left the party.

Patricia, who'd had some drink

During it, said...

>> "how can you be

Part of this?"

Because, in some ways,

He was more part of it

Than I think he realized.

>> and I was thinking... [sighs]

"I'm against the bombing,

I'm trying to stop all the

Bombing in south vietnam,

Trying to do the best I can

To moderate the killing,

And I'm not getting any credit

For that and she's holding me

Responsible for the whole war."

>> my accusation of dan, and I

Think the passion with which it

Came out, that really caused him

To close off, because he was

Saying, "I don't want to be with

Somebody that is that critical

Of me, that doesn't see that I'm

Risking my life to try to stop

The bombing and trying to bring

Democracy to the country."

But he was still buying into the

Whole zeitgeist of that war.

The men were that his

Colleagues, who tended to be

People in the state department,

Were actually loving the whole

Scene of the danger, the risk,

The adventure, almost like being

In a john wayne movie or

Something like that.

["marines' hymn" playing...]

>> ellsberg interviewed: I

Think a lot of people want to

Join the marines to see

If they're up to it.

Never been able to throw

A hardball, couldn't play

With guns...

I wanted to be a soldier,

So the marines were a chance

To do that.

I think I was the only first

Lieutenant in the 2nd marine

Division to have a rifle

Company and I loved being

A company commander.

Having the responsibility

For 211 men, being totally

In charge of their welfare

And their training.

That was the happiest period of

My life, uh, professionally,

Looking back on it, still is.

[�...]

>> patricia: I left and I could

Tell he was withdrawn.

His heart withdrew into a safe

That I didn't have

The combination to.

>> so in my own mind, uh,

This isn't gonna happen.

How can I be married to somebody

Who doesn't give me the benefit

Of the doubt on this somehow?

As far as I was concerned,

The engagement was off.

[automatic gunfire...]

>> man: I first met ellsberg

In the paddy fields

Of the northern mekong delta

In mid-1966.

He had a schmeisser submachine

Gun in his hand, he was dressed

In fatigues, and he was

Attempting to lead an american

Infantry company on an attack on

A sniper position in a hamlet.

Dan ellsberg then was very

Hawkish and very eager.

>> man: Was he then a marine?

>> no, he wasn't,

He was a civilian.

[talking over each other]

I asked him what the devil was

He doing in the mekong delta

With a schmeisser

Machine-pistol.

He said he had gone there to

Look at how the war was going.

He thought it wasn't going

Very well and he wanted

To see it go better.

[�...]

>> ellsberg narrating: I was

Walking point with three other

Men ahead of the main company

So we could spot an ambush.

[automatic gunfire...]

We heard firing from behind us.

Looking back, I saw two

Viet cong in ragged shorts

Firing ak-47s.

[gunfire...]

...[archival]: You'd get on that

Position, there'd be no one

There and then you'd be hit from

Another clump, and I believe

That bands were working us

Essentially, alternately

Leapfrogging each other.

...[narrating]: They must have

Been lying in the water

As we walked by and now they

Were firing at the troops

Following us.

We couldn't fire at them

Because we'd be firing

At our own troops.

...[archival]: Now in the course

Of a day like that,

You get a very great respect

For these people who are in

Effect running circles around

An american battalion.

I remember looking up at a

Sergeant as we lay after about

The 15th of these incidents

And saying, "do you ever feel

Like the redcoats?"

And he said, "yeah, I've been

Thinking that all day."

[�...]

...[narrating]: I was beginning

To realize we couldn't beat this

Enemy in their own backyard.

We were not going to win.

These guys were not going to

Give up.

...[interviewed]: On the way

Back, which was on mcnamara's

Plane, I'd had the chance to

Give him more than a hundred

Single-spaced pages of my memos.

He sat there and he hadn't

Apparently brought a lot to

Read.

And I had the great bureaucratic

Pleasure of watching my superior

Actually read my papers, and

Not just toss them aside.

So he knew what I was thinking

Very much about the stalemate

In vietnam and the fact that

Things weren't improving.

Toward the end of the flight,

He called me to the rear of

The plane, "dan, I'm having

An argument here.

He says that things are

Improving, that we're making

Progress.

And I say things are worse,

Worse than they were a year ago.

You're the one who knows.

What do you say the answer is?"

Said, "well, mr. Secretary,

I'm most impressed with how much

The same things are than a year

Ago."

And he said, "you see, you see?

That's exactly what I'm saying.

We've put another hundred

Thousand troops in there.

Things are exactly, are no

Better, that means they're

Really worse."

We were on the ground,

And mcnamara was going out into

A foggy day and I was behind

Him.

>> robert mcnamara on tape: You

Asked whether I was optimistic

Or pessimistic.

Today I can tell you that

Military progress in the past

12 months has exceeded our

Expectations.

>> he was saying, "gentlemen,

I'm very encouraged by what

I've seen in vietnam.

In every respect things are

Better now.

That we're making progress,

Everything is better.

And I was thinking, "I hope I'm

Never in a job where I have to

Lie like that."

...[narrating]: I learned that

Mcnamara's grave doubts about

The war continued to deepen.

Behind closed doors, he

Recommended pulling back on

The bombing and pushed for

A political settlement.

Johnson rejected mcnamara's

Advice.

>> mcnamara had a sense then,

Very much like people have now,

That this was a tragic blunder,

That we were in the middle of

A catastrophe.

Uh, and that it was important to

Try to understand how we had

Gotten into that catastrophe.

>> ellsberg narrating: In June

Of 1967, mcnamara ordered

A comprehensive study within

The pentagon on the history of

U.S. Involvement in vietnam.

>> we went to the rand

Corporation and recruited the

People there who did historical

Studies and of course one of

The people we asked was

Daniel ellsberg.

>> ellsberg narrating: My

Involvement in the study would

Change my life, and change

History in ways I couldn't have

Imagined.

>> mort halperin: We classified

The pentagon papers study as

Top secret, and every page of

Every study is top secret 'cause

We considered the existence of

The study to be top secret,

But the person we were trying to

Keep it from was not

The vietnamese-- who would not

Have cared at all-- or

The russians or the chinese,

But lyndon johnson.

We feared through the whole

Study that if the president

Found out about it, that he

Would stop it, because johnson

Knew that mcnamara had doubts

About the war and believed that

There were bands of civilians in

The pentagon determined to do

Everything they could to get us

Out of vietnam.

>> I don't want a man in here to

Go back home thinking otherwise.

We are going to win.

[explosions, automatic gunfire]

>> ellsberg narrating: But

Johnson's optimism was about to

Shatter.

On vietnam's new year, 1968,

A massive surprise attack caught

U.S. Troops completely off

Guard.

For the first time, the war

Reached into vietnam's cities

And towns, including saigon.

The tet offensive was a

Devastating blow to u.S. Morale

And the american public began to

Lose faith in the war.

>> mike wallace: With a bold

Series of raids during the last

Three days, the enemy in vietnam

Has demolished the myth that

Allied military strength

Controls that country.

The communists hit the very

Heart of saigon...

>> ellsberg narrating: When

Johnson's top general asked for

More troops, the request was

Leaked to the new york times.

The story caused a tremendous

Uproar in congress.

>> henry cabot lodge: I would

Feel that our people were badly

Misguided and did not understand

The consequences of such

A disaster.

>> well, we agree on one thing:

That they can be badly

Misguided, and you and

The president, in my judgment,

Have been misguiding them for

A long time in this war.

>> I realize now that my

Previous attitude had been

Simply mistaken.

That I wasn't discharging my

Responsibilities to the country,

To the constitution, uh, to

The public or to the troops,

By keeping those secrets which

Had led to the escalation of

The war, that that had been

Wrong.

But the question was, what would

Make a difference?

...[narrating]: I met with

Reporter neil sheehan at

The new york times and leaked

Information about a secret

C.I.A. Report on enemy troop

Strength.

The story made the front page.

It was the first time I had gone

Outside official channels to

Affect the conduct of the war.

[playing chopin...]

>> judith ehrlich: Dan, when did

You start playing the piano?

>> oh, when I was five till

I was about 15.

>> ehrlich: And how serious were

You at the time?

>> well, I spent all my time

Playing then for 10 years and

Then didn't play for another 40.

[laughs]

>> ehrlich: What happened?

>> uh, my mother died, and she

Was the one who wanted me to be

A concert pianist.

On July 4th, 1946, we were

Traveling to denver, going

Through the cornfields of iowa,

Very hot day, in the middle of

The day, and my father

Fell asleep at the wheel,

And the car went off the road

Into a culvert-- a wall rising

By the side of the road, and

Sheared off the side of the car

Where my mother and sister were

Sitting and killed my mother

And sister.

I was on the other side behind

The driver, so I got

A concussion and a broken knee.

And I was in a coma for 36 hours

And then in the hospital for

About 3-1/2 months.

So, um, I think it did probably

Leave, uh, the impression on me

That, uh, someone you loved,

Like my father, or respected,

An authority, could fall asleep

At the wheel, and, um, had to be

Watched, not because they were

Bad, but because they were

Inattentive perhaps to

The risks.

[�...]

11 months earlier, when I was

14, hiroshima had been

Destroyed, and nagasaki.

I was very concerned about this

Turn of human events.

I thought it was very ominous.

What I saw as a moral, extremely

Questionable act by our

President-- whom I admired,

Harry truman-- got confounded in

My mind with my father's failure

To stay alert and allowing

The car to kill my mother and

Sister.

>> I shall not seek...

And I will not accept...

The nomination of my party for

Another term as your president.

>> richard nixon: Never has so

Much power been used so

Ineffectively as in vietnam.

>> ellsberg narrating: Support

For the war was plummeting after

Tet, and johnson withdrew from

The 1968 presidential race.

>> richard nixon: I pledge to

You, we shall have an honorable

End to the war in vietnam.

>> ellsberg narrating: Richard

Nixon won the election promising

Peace with honor.

The public had been led to

Believe that he had a secret

Plan to end the war.

...Henry kissinger was then

Talking about the need to get

Out of vietnam with a decent

Interval.

Now that was quite a radical

Point of view for an

Establishment person at that

Time.

To say, we should be out and all

We ask is that they not

Embarrass us by taking it over

Immediately.

That led in me, but in nearly

Everybody, to the false

Impression that presumably nixon

Agreed with it.

Nixon didn't agree with that

For a minute.

[�...]

I had given a set of options to

Kissinger I'd drafted at rand.

Six or seven alternative

Approaches in vietnam to

Consider at his first national

Security council meeting

With nixon.

And he at one point said, "dan,

You don't have a 'win' option."

And I said, "well, I don't think

There is a 'win' option."

I said, "you could double

The number of troops and that

Would keep things quieter,

But until they left.

You could use nuclear weapons

And kill all the people.

I wouldn't call that a win.

So there just, as far as I see,

Is no way to win."

I took that opportunity to tell

Him something that I'd long

Thought of telling somebody who

Was about to enter the world of

Really high secrecy.

And I said, "henry, you're about

To get a lot of clearances

Higher than top secret, that you

Did not know existed.

That's going to have a sequence

Of effects on you.

First, a great exhilaration that

You're getting all this amazing

Information that you didn't know

Even existed.

And the next phase is you'll

Feel like a fool for not having

Known of any of this.

But that won't last long.

Very soon, you'll come to think

That everyone else is foolish.

'what would this expert be

Telling me if he knew what

I knew?'

So in the end, you stop

Listening to them."

>> mort halperin: I think

Everybody thought that nixon

Had been elected to end the war

And was gonna end the war.

And it became very clear to me

That, uh, he was not.

>> ellsberg: Mort halperin was

Working for kissinger in

The white house.

In the late summer of '69, mort

Told me, "he's staying in, and

He's threatening escalation."

[�...]

>> ellsberg narrating: In August

Of 1969, I read the earliest

Parts of the mcnamara study

For the first time.

Seeing the war from its

Beginning affected me more than

I thought possible.

It changed my whole sense of

The legitimacy of the war.

What I learned was that it was

An american war from the start.

President truman financed

The french to retake its former

Colony, even though he knew the

French were fighting a national

Movement that had the support of

The people.

>> the cost of defending

Freedom, of defending america,

Must be paid in many forms and

In many places.

>> ellsberg narrating:

Eisenhower supported a brutal

Dictator in canceling elections

Called for by the 1954 geneva

Accords.

So we opposed elections while

Pretending to support democracy.

>> we are attempting to help

Vietnam maintain its

Independence and not fall

Under the domination

Of the communists.

>> ellsberg narrating: Kennedy

Lied to the public and to

Congress, saying we would need

Only advisors, even though his

Own military experts told him

That south vietnam would be lost

Without an immediate commitment

Of american combat units.

>> we still seek no wider war.

>> ellsberg narrating: I now saw

That johnson was continuing

A pattern of presidential lying.

Each president wanted to avoid

The stigma of losing indochina

To communism on his watch.

It wasn't that we were on

The wrong side.

We were the wrong side.

It was a crime from the start,

Carried out by four presidents

As revealed in this study.

And now a fifth president was

Doing the same with no end

In sight.

The hundreds of thousands

We were killing was unjustified

Homicide, and I couldn't see

The difference between that and

Murder.

Murder had to be stopped.

>> richard nixon on tape:

>> henry kissinger on tape:

>> janaki tschannerl: He came

From an enormously powerful

War-bureaucratic machine.

And so his thinking came from

The entrails of that machine.

He had begun to question his own

Past activities.

You know, "what did I do?

Where was I going, what is

The meaning of that picture with

The rifle in my hand?"

>> ellsberg interviewed: I went

To a conference to meet people

Who were using non-violent

Resistance in their lives.

A friend of mine told me that

He had been a trotskyist,

A labor organizer.

And I thought, how does one

Come to be a trotskyist?

He said, "oh, it's like anything

Else, I met a girl."

And it's the way it is.

So, I met a girl from india

Who had been a gandhian.

I hear her saying to someone

Else, at some point, "I come

From a culture in which we have

No concept of enemy."

And it seemed to me you could

No more do without the concept

Of enemy than without the

Concept of zero in arithmetic.

>> I read into his questioning,

A real wanting to know,

And a real wanting to know

Because he had seen certain

Things that he didn't like

And that he didn't want to have

Continued in the world.

And so that was the kind of link

I think with what we were all

Trying to do.

>> ellsberg interviewed: I found

Myself handing out leaflets in

This long vigil line.

And at first, I simply felt

Ridiculous.

I felt that you could see

The words on my forehead

Practically: "what am I doing

Here?"

And "what is this about?"

I knew that if any of my

Colleagues at rand or

The pentagon were somehow to

Catch word of my doing this,

They would think I had gone mad.

Those that impressed me on

The importance of being willing

To pay a cost yourself were some

Young men who were going to

Prison by refusing to cooperate

With the draft.

One young man, randy kehler,

Was giving a talk.

>> within that crowd of people,

I was introduced to this fellow

From a background that didn't

Quite fit with the others...

[laughs] and that was dan.

>> and he talked very personally

About what had led him to leave

Stanford and join the war

Resister's league office.

>> if you can imagine a

25-year-old about to go to trial

Having been indicted on five

Counts, each one of which had a

Maximum sentence of five years.

>> and as he was telling this,

He said, "yesterday our friend

Bob went to jail," and his voice

Broke a little at this.

And then he said, "a week ago,

David harris," who's the husband

Of joan baez, "went to prison."

And he said, "and I'm really

Happy that I'll be joining them.

But I'm not worried because

I know that the rest of you

Will be carrying on."

So by this time, everybody was

Standing and just clapping,

But-- and crying.

And I was crying.

And I left the auditorium and I

Found a men's room that was

Deserted, sat on the tile floor

Just sobbing, hysterically

Crying for just-- sobbing for

A long time, for over an hour.

And I had these various

Thoughts, but one of the

Thoughts was, "the best thing

That the best young men of our

Country can do is go to prison."

When I heard you say these

Words, "I'm going to prison,"

It was as if an axe had split

My head.

But... [emotionally]

But what had really happened was

That my life had split in two.

And it was my life after

Those words that I've lived

Ever since.

...And eventually, I got up

And washed my face, and then

I think I cried some more,

And then I thought, "o.K., now

What can I do to help end

This war, now that I'm ready to

Go to prison?"

[faint conversation

And laughter...]

...This trick is called

The square circle.

Square...

>> tom oliphant: One of the

Things that stood out about dan

Was how severe dan's judgments

Were about himself.

More than most people I had met,

It seemed to me he was still,

As a relatively recent convert,

He was still sort of transfixed

By this question, "how could I

Have done what I did?"

>> ellsberg: O.K.?

>> oliphant: And slowly

He began filling in the blanks

Of this thing I had never

Heard of: "the study."

Now, I obviously didn't believe

In magic potions, but clearly he

Was referring to something that

Was so definitive that it was

Capable of changing your view.

[�...]

>> man: Dan was headed toward

Walking through the door

Of being a radical,

But he would always take half,

He would always go halfway.

Back at the rand corporation,

He sought me out.

He said he wanted me to brief

Him on intelligence in vietnam,

U.S. Military intelligence.

And so I said, "o.K., have

A seat."

...All the vietnamese have ever

Wanted is self-determination,

Really.

>> ellsberg interviewed: He'd

Been in vietnam for a couple of

Years and had a much more

Radical view of the war than

I did at that point.

And I talked to him quite a bit

At rand and I liked him.

He's a very likeable person.

Very forthcoming, very funny,

Very, very smart.

>> he had sort of given up

All his old cohorts at the rand

Corporation and was hanging out

With me.

He was in my office every day.

And we'd go out to dinner

And we'd double date.

And people were buzzing about

It, because he had been one of

The top dogs.

>> he did reports that

Ultimately got him fired, uh,

About torture and various other

Reports that they didn't like.

After he left rand, he talked

About lies in the studies he had

Done, lying that had gone on.

I said I knew of a study,

Had been reading a study that

Revealed very high-level lying.

>> I said, "dan, you should

Leak that to the press."

[�...]

>> ellsberg narrating: Keeping

Silent in public about what

I had read and heard made me

An accomplice.

It was not only they who had

Kept all these decisions quiet,

Hidden from the american public.

I had kept them quiet.

My motives, to be sure, were

Initially those of an observer,

A rand social scientist

Interested in understanding

The internal processes of

Government.

But my role was one of

A participant, even when I acted

As an internal critic.

Having expressed my objections,

I stayed in place, observed,

Took part-- in short, I did

The jobs assigned to me.

Henry david thoreau said,

"cast your whole vote, not

A strip of paper merely,

But your whole influence."

What if I were willing to give

Up my top secret clearance,

My career, my privileged access

To decision makers?

What if I gave all that up?

What if I were willing to risk

Prosecution?

...[interviewed]: Then I thought

All right, I have in my safe

Thousands of pages of documents

That give the lie to this

Pattern of deception.

I'm not going to be part of this

System of lying anymore.

So, I went and saw tony,

And I said to him, "you know

That study I mentioned, I have

It and I'm ready to put it out,

I'm gonna put it out now.

Can you help me?"

>> "can you find

A xerox machine?"

I said, "I've got

The very place."

[�...]

>> ellsberg narrating: I began

Xeroxing the mcnamara study

In the fall of 1969.

At the end of the day,

Working at rand, I would put

Several volumes into my

Briefcase to take with me.

Walking past the security

Guards, I could feel my heart

Beating.

I couldn't help thinking about

The dozen or so secrecy

Agreements I had signed over

The course of my career in

Government.

The task seemed endless.

I often worked through

The night.

Early in the morning, I returned

The papers to my safe at rand

And headed home.

...[interviewed]: I'd get back

To my house on a little narrow

Beach in malibu.

I loved to bodysurf and I would

Go in every morning, uh, before

I went to bed.

And I remember at some point

During this, being in the waves,

In the sunlight, and looking

Back at the hills in malibu

And the waves which I loved,

And thinking, "how can I be

Doing this, how can I be giving

All this up?"

>> I was 13 at the time.

He said there was a secret

History of the vietnam war

That he'd been reading,

And he had a copy of this.

And he had decided that he

Wanted to make a copy of it and

Make it available to congress.

He described it in terms of

Civil disobedience.

Would I help him?

I didn't suppose that he

Literally needed my help,

But that this was something

Risky and very important to him.

And it was important to him that

I be a part of it some way.

And I think that very afternoon,

We began copying the pentagon

Papers.

>> ellsberg interviewed: The

Children were in-between on this

When I-- in a way that I didn't

Realize.

Their mother, my former wife,

Really thought that I'd done

Something very bad and had

Involved her children in it.

Whereas, my thought was that

I'd given them a chance to be in

On something quite historic.

Well, I didn't know when I'd be

Stopped, and I thought it would

Be within a matter of weeks,

And that I might never see my

Children again except through

Thick glass.

I wanted my son, who was 13,

To see that I was doing this

Because I thought it was

The right thing to do and doing

It in a straightforward manner,

That I hadn't gone crazy.

[�...]

There was a night where mary,

My daughter, who was only 10,

Got into it.

She complained about being

Left in the car, so she came up.

So, I gave her a job to do.

Tony was copying and robert was

Collating and mary was cutting

"top secret" off the top and

Bottom of the pages.

>> just working away, when all

Of a sudden there was a knock

On the door.

>> ellsberg interviewed: There

Was a knock on the door,

The glass door next to me, and I

See two large blue-uniformed

Policemen.

>> and there was an l.A.P.D.

Standing there.

And I said to myself,

"these guys are really good."

>> so they saw this family

Scene, you know, of my

10-year-old daughter and

13-year-old son.

I sort of casually covered

The mach... I took the lid and I

Put it over the top secret stuff

On this and cleared up a little

And then opened the door.

>> uh, they said, "you know,

Your alarm's gone off again,"

And he said, "oh, I'm sorry,

I gotta learn how to figure out

How to do that."

And they said, "o.K., you know,

Be more careful."

>> tony russo: I thought,

There was the guy looking

Through the window at me,

At the crime of the century,

"crime" in quotes, of course.

And, uh, didn't realize it, went

Right on, never realized it,

Never heard from him again.

[�...]

>> ellsberg narrating: The study

Was 47 volumes, 7,000 pages.

It would take me months of

Xeroxing.

I put my hopes in congress.

I took the papers to the most

Outspoken critics of the war.

Surely they would embrace these

Revelations and would want to

Make them public.

...The people that I needed to

Talk or somehow to reach were

The ones who had been saying

They had been against the war

For years.

Years while I was supporting

The war, longer than me.

Who said that they saw through

The war, that they saw that it

Was wrong, and what I wanted

Them to do now, and what I still

Want them to do, and what they

Still can do, is to act.

...[narrating]: But no one did.

Meanwhile the war was

Escalating.

Then I heard congressman

Pete mccloskey give a speech.

>> I said, "I think they're

Not telling us the truth

About vietnam," and I told

Some of the things I had

Just seen a month earlier.

>> ellsberg interviewed: He had

Come back and revealed

Information about the secret

Bombing of laos.

Here was a u.S. Representative

Using the word "lies."

So I thought, "all right, here's

A man with the guts then to use

Some documentation."

>> and somebody handed me

A note.

The note said, "you're right,

I have information that will

Document what you're saying."

>> ellsberg interviewed: And he

Said he'd like to discuss it

With me but that he was shortly

Leaving and if I was willing to

Come with him, we could talk

About it on the way.

So to show how desperate I was

At this point, I was paying for

A trip to california just to

Talk with this representative.

>> mccloskey: And he had a

Passion about him, an intensity,

I guess is the best way I'd

Describe it.

He didn't smile much.

He was deadly serious wanting me

To understand these documents.

>> I thought then and I think

More now than before, that

Documents had a power to be

Taken seriously and to attract

Attention that nothing else did.

>> mccloskey: I think all

Of us, knowing that they were

Top secret, were not sure what

Our rights were with respect to

Top secret documents.

But those papers were

A revelation and I testified in

Front of the fulbright committee

And afterwards I went up to him

And I said, "senator, I've got

A set of papers here that if

They were known to the public,

Would cause public opinion to

Turn against the war."

Well, he said, "yeah, I got

A set too."

>> man: There obviously

Was a kind of culture of

Timidity in congress,

A deference to the executive

Branch and a fear of being

Called unpatriotic.

A fear of being accused of

Revealing military secrets

And so on.

And that this culture was so

Strong that even senators and

Congressmen who were against

The war didn't want to do

Anything with the papers that

Dan ellsberg offered them.

[�...]

>> ellsberg interviewed: I had

Told my former wife

What I was doing.

She had told her stepmother,

Who had then told the f.B.I.,

It turned out.

And the f.B.I. Then came

To harry rowen.

As president of rand, he had

Been involved in getting me

Access to the pentagon papers.

His impression at the time was

That I had not broken any law

If I had given it to the senate,

That they had a right to see it.

But I expected the f.B.I.

To come down on me very shortly

After that.

>> patricia: He had really

Radically changed in his view

Of the war, and I knew that,

I knew he'd changed.

In the first year of marriage,

We're talking about him going to

Prison for the rest of life.

He gave me a number of

The papers to read.

And as I was reading it,

I was horrified by the coldness,

The calculatedness, and in

Particular, the language of

The torturers.

There were quotes saying,

"we'll give the north vietnamese

One more turn of the screw."

Or "let's try the water drop

Technique."

And I was thinking,

"what is this?

How can the leaders of our

Country be talking in this

Language and then misleading

The american public?"

And then I just started to cry.

Because I knew that he really

Had to give them out.

And so there were tears in my

Eyes and I came out and I just

Said, "do it."

[�...]

>> man: I walked into this hotel

Room where he and I holed up,

And neil says, "rick, look at

What we've got!"

I mean, it was just staggering.

The raw, top secret,

Eyes-only documents.

From earle wheeler to general

Westmoreland, from johnson

To taylor.

You could go back and see,

Yes, kennedy did send in troops

In violation of the geneva

Accord, yes, johnson did start

The buildup before he said

He was going to.

I remember writing this story.

These guys were lying through

Their teeth when they were

Talking to us, and here it is

In black and white, there's no

Way of denying it!

>> man: The editors

Immediately understood that this

Thing was so sensitive and was

Going to have to be kept under

Wraps, and so they decided to

Move the whole thing out of

The new york times offices

And to go and rent a suite

At the hilton.

>> there were a lot of

Difficult, important decisions

To be made, and we needed to

Know the material in order to

Make those decisions, and that

Took time.

And ellsberg couldn't

Understand... [laughs]

Ellsberg was constantly

Pressing, he always wanted to

Know: When was the times gonna

Run this?

Was the times really gonna

Run this?

Was it really gonna be big?

When was it gonna happen?

>> as a source, I sort of

Thought of myself as being on

The team somehow, you know,

And that we were a joint first

Amendment, informing the public

Kind of mission and, uh,

You know, working together.

They clearly didn't think of me

In that way.

>> once somebody gave us

Material, it was our job to

Determine what to do with it,

How to play it, what to use,

Whether or not to use it.

[�...]

>> zinn: May '71,

There was a planned

Demonstration in washington

For people to commit acts of

Civil disobedience--

To block streets and to block

Bridges, to do everything

Possible to disrupt life in

Washington in order to

Demonstrate the anger against

The war.

In other words, the intensity of

Feeling about the war had grown.

So a number of us gathered in

My apartment.

Noam chomsky and dan ellsberg

And I, we went to washington

And we formed ourselves as an

Affinity group.

And dan ellsberg was, you might

Say, our squad leader.

He took command and he was

Telling us when to get up

And when to sit down and when to

Move and where to move, and

He was very decisive and we

Followed his orders.

Not exactly a democratic

Situation.

[siren wailing]

We would sit down in the middle

Of the street, tear gas would be

Lobbed in our direction and we

Would, uh, run... [laughs]

The national guard was out and

The 101st airborne had descended

On washington.

The level of anti-war activity

Had been raised.

[�...]

>> smith: Should we do it,

Shouldn't we do it?

And neil and I, after we got

A feel for what was in there,

Argued that we could go ahead;

That this would not jeopardize

National security and indeed it

Was a public service.

>> all I knew was they had

A bunch of classified papers.

And the question for me

As a lawyer is, "can you

Publish classified papers?"

The law here is the statute

Called the espionage act.

And if you read it and

Stretched it and pushed it,

It was possible to apply it

To the publication of the

Pentagon papers.

>> smith: Now, we're sitting

There down in the engine room

Doing the work, we're not up at

The corporate hierarchy, but

We're hearing, we're hearing the

Battles going on up there, and

We hear that, of course the news

Comes to us because we're

At risk too, that the law firm

The times had used for decades

Said, "don't publish, and by

The way, you're all violating

The espionage act and you're

Gonna go to jail."

Believe me, we heard that.

And happily, jim goodale,

As the times' in-house attorney,

Took a different position.

>> the risk that the new york

Times took was a life-and-death

Risk of an institution.

And I don't mean the 5,000

People who worked for the times.

I mean, the leader

Of the institutional press

In a free country.

>> lurking in the backs of our

Minds was the fact that, um,

We would never survive, uh,

Just suppressing this material,

That, sooner or later,

It would be known that we had it

And that we had flinched and

That we had not published it,

And that that would have been

Such a disgrace.

>> and we heard the publisher

Wavered back and forth and then

Finally, about 10 days,

While we're gearing up

This enormous... What are we

Publishing, gone with the wind

Three times over in 10 days?

I mean, this was a huge project.

Um, we finally hear the

Publisher had signed off and was

Gonna agree to do it.

And I remember that jimmy

Greenfield told us he was

Taking the publisher golfing

On Saturday, which was the

Day the presses ran,

To make sure the publisher

Didn't change his mind.

>> zinn: I guess it was

A Saturday night.

The four of us, dan and pat

Ellsberg and my wife, decided

We'd go to the movies to see a

Movie that dan ellsberg, I

Think, had seen seven times and

Wanted to see again: Butch

Cassidy and the sundance kid.

I could see that dan was

Agitated in some way

And I asked him what was going

On and he said he had called a

Friend on the new york times and

This friend of his said, "well,

I can't talk to you now, the

Times building is encircled by

Armed guards and the printing

Presses are rolling and we are

Printing tomorrow a top secret

Government document."

[�...]

>> this weekend, portions

Of a highly classified

Pentagon document came to light

For all the world to see

And brought cries of outrage

From washington.

>> the pentagon papers make it

Abundantly clear how little the

Public knew of what was going on

Behind the scenes during...

>> its main effect is to refute

The notion that we stumbled

Into the war...

>> at the white house,

A spokesman said president nixon

Got his first look at the secret

Report when a copy was

Delivered to him today.

>> alexander haig on tape: This,

Uh, goddamn new york times

Expos� of the most highly

Classified documents of the war.

>> nixon: You mean that, that

Was leaked out of the pentagon?

>> haig: Sir, this is a

Devastating security breach of

The greatest magnitude of

Anything I've ever seen.

>> nixon: Well, did we know this

Was coming out?

>> haig: No, we did not, sir.

>> nixon: I'd just start right

At the top and fire some people.

I mean, whatever department

It came out of, I'd fire

The top guy.

>> mccloskey: The first issue

They ran had a paragraph from

The assistant secretary of

Defense to secretary mcnamara.

I can almost tell it by memory:

"we're in vietnam 10% to help

The south vietnamese, 20% to

Hold back the chinese, and 70%

To save american face."

Well, every woman in america

That had a boyfriend or a

Husband, they could take it

If we were defending the south

Vietnamese, but to learn we're

Just trying to save face, that

Is a thing that angers you.

[�...]

>> goodale: Monday was

A very interesting day.

I came back to the new york

Times, hustled on the elevator,

Went up to the top

Executive floor.

There was the biggest

Shouting argument

I ever heard in my life.

A telegram had come

From john mitchell,

Nixon's attorney general.

The telegram said, "we want you

To stop publication immediately,

And if you don't we're gonna

Take appropriate action."

I mean, what in god's name

Have we been fighting for in

This country for two or three

Hundred years to have the right

To speak and the right to

Publish, the right to think,

Against a threat by the

Government, if all we're gonna

Do is give it all up because

Someone sends you a telegram?

>> newscaster: A federal court

Has ordered the new york times

To stop publication temporarily.

The government asked for and got

An injunction against the times.

>> goodale: Before the nixon

Administration enjoined the new

York times, there had never

Been another injunction brought

Against a media company

In a federal court.

>> cronkite: A name has now come

Out as the possible source of

The times' pentagon documents.

It is that of daniel ellsberg,

40 years old, one-time marine,

Later a top policy analyst

For the defense and state

Departments during the

Vietnam buildup.

>> newscaster: There was no sign

Of professor ellsberg or his

Family at their home in

Cambridge, massachusetts.

>> patricia: And we're looking

On the television morning news,

And we notice that the f.B.I.

Is at our little apartment

In cambridge and we say,

"we can't go back."

We go to a motel for a couple

Of nights, under false names.

We don't have any clothes,

We don't have a toothbrush,

We don't have anything.

>> zinn: He knew they'd be

Looking for him.

He knew they'd be looking to

Arrest him, and he wanted to

Have an opportunity to give

The papers to more newspapers.

>> man: I came out of a 3:00

Meeting the day after the times

Had been enjoined and my deputy

Said, "maybe you better

Look at this."

I dialed a number and a voice

Said, "if I can get you what you

Want, will you print them?"

Uh, I said, "damn well

We'll print them."

>> newscaster: The post picked

Up the pentagon story where the

Times left off but was ordered

To halt its publication

Of the material in a court

Ruling last night.

>> ellsberg narrating: There was

No way of knowing when the new

York times and washington post

Could resume publication

Of the papers, if at all.

This could be the end,

Unless other newspapers were

Willing to defy the government.

I had heard that senator

Mike gravel would do

A daily filibuster

Until the draft expired.

>> I'm just chugging along

With my filibuster and I get

A phone call, and I don't know

Who it is.

He says immediately,

"is this senator gravel?"

I say, "yes, it is."

He says, "would you read

The pentagon papers as part

Of your filibuster?"

I said, "yes.

Now please hang up."

>> as I put it to him over the

Phone, "if you're really gonna

Do a filibuster, I can give you

Material that'll keep you busy

Reading until christmas."

>> the person who physically

Gave me the papers

Was ben bagdikian.

He was the editor

At the washington post.

>> he's a junior senator and

He's from alaska, and that

Doesn't carry much weight.

So he was, I think, chair of the

Building and grounds committee.

>> gravel: So we meet and I want

To be a little secretive,

So we're meeting outside the

Senate chambers in the columns

Next to the capitol.

Lo and behold, bob dole

Comes up, and dole sees me

And he has something to say

To me, so he comes over.

So ben slips behind the column

And I try to dismiss dole

Real quick.

And then I go back to ben.

He's gonna get the papers to me

In some faraway dark corner of

Maybe rock creek park.

I say, "ben, that's not the way

We're gonna do it.

At midnight..." [bell dings]

"under the marquee of the

Mayflower hotel, you will park

Your car there, I will come up

Next with my car, I'll get out,

You open the trunk of your car,

And I'll open the trunk

Of my car."

>> bagdikian: I drive down in my

Karmann ghia and he's got a

Couple of aides there and I

Said, "this is heavy, you may

Want your aides to carry it."

He said, "no, I have immunity

And they don't."

>> gravel: We transfer the

Papers to me just like that

In seconds and I speed away.

[�...]

>> ellsberg narrating: While I

Was still underground,

I was contacted by the most

Trusted man in america.

>> cronkite: Good evening.

Daniel ellsberg, a former

State department and pentagon

Planner and of late something

Of a phantom figure, agreed

Today to be interviewed

At a secret location.

I asked him what he considers

The most important revelations

To date from the pentagon

Documents.

>> I think the lesson is that

The people of this country can't

Afford to let the president run

The country by himself without

The help of the congress,

Without the help of the public.

>> dan does this interview,

Which comes out on cbs

Nationwide television as the

Biggest f.B.I. Manhunt since

The lindbergh kidnapping

Is going on looking for us.

But we still hadn't given out

Enough of the papers.

>> harry reasoner: Today another

Lid broke loose.

The boston globe began

Its series based on

Presumably classified

Government documents.

>> john chancellor: The chicago

Sun-times entered the drama

Today by running a story

Which says that the kennedy

Administration...

>> today, the 11 knight

Newspapers and the los angeles

Times joined the procession...

>> the ballgame was over.

Any effort at suppressing the

Pentagon papers was gonna fail.

Dan and his network had

Distributed portions of the

Pentagon papers to 17

Different organizations.

>> ellsberg interviewed: They

Couldn't stop them.

As one of the lawyers said,

"it was like herding bees."

>> smith: The press said, "we

Can look at this, we can make a

Valid judgment about what serves

National security and we can be

And we will be independent

From our government."

And that was a declaration

Of independence and it

Really changed the relationship

Between the government

And the media ever since.

[�...]

>> patricia: The pentagon papers

Story was on the nightly news

The first seven or eight minutes

Of the nightly news every night

For two weeks.

>> so that gave it as much

Public attention as I could

Possibly have asked for.

>> we were underground,

So we were able to watch

The news day and night.

And this thing was unfolding

In the most dramatic way.

>> alaska's 41-year-old

Democratic senator mike gravel

Held a mock meeting of his

Sub-committee on buildings and

Grounds with only himself

Present and began reading aloud

The 7,000-page pentagon

Secret report in public.

>> the papers prove that for

20 years, we have been victims

Of our southeast asia policy.

...I was frightened to death

Over releasing the

Pentagon papers.

I had no idea whether I was

Going to prison.

All I could think of was,

"my country's killing people,

We're maiming americans, and

This is terrible," and so I was

Overcome with emotion.

Not patriotism, just emotion

Of something you love dearly

That has gone astray.

>> howard k. Smith: He continued

Until exhaustion and emotion

Overcame him after 1:00

This morning.

>> gravel: I collected myself

And I asked-- now keep in mind,

I'm the only one on the

Committee-- I asked unanimous

Consent to put all these papers

Into the record, and I've got

The gavel and I slam it

And I say, "hearing no

Objections, so ordered,"

That's it, papers are out,

They're in the senate record.

[reporters shouting...]

>> newscaster: Even if the

F.B.I. Had wanted to arrest him

Outside the courthouse this

Morning, they probably couldn't

Have done it.

Ellsberg was walled off by

Newsmen and supporters as he

Admitted that he was indeed the

Man who brought the pentagon

Papers to the press and

Congressional leaders.

>> I did this, clearly,

At my own jeopardy and I am

Prepared to answer to all the

Consequences of these decisions.

[�...]

>> chancellor: In one of the

Most important judicial

Decisions in the history of the

Country, the supreme court today

Ruled that the new york times

And the washington post

May continue to publish

The secret pentagon papers.

>> daniel schorr: The ruling

Was amazingly simple.

It was that proving the need for

Prior censorship is a heavy

Burden and the government didn't

Meet that burden.

>> ellsberg: The decision

Was a great one.

The story today is what

The constitution of this

Country means to us.

I really, I've never appreciated

What the meaning and importance

Of separation of powers is

So much as in the last,

The last week.

>> woman: When dan ellsberg

Released the pentagon papers, he

Was doing it to stop the war.

Perhaps the most important

Legacy he left us with, though,

Was a supreme court case,

The pentagon papers case,

Which is perhaps the most

Important first amendment

Decision in the court's history.

I can guarantee you that every

Day there's a first amendment

Lawyer out there citing

The pentagon papers case

In order to protect free speech

And free press against

Government encroachment.

>> frankel: When we finally

Won the right to continue

Publication from the supreme

Court, this was a firm ruling

That national security alone,

The cry of national security,

Does not justify censorship

In advance.

>> nixon on tape: I wanted

To tell you that I was

So damn mad when that supreme

Court had to come down...

First, I didn't like

Their decision...

>> man: I didn't either.

>> unbelievable, wasn't it?

You know, those clowns we've

Got on there, I tell you, I hope

I outlive the bastards.

>> persons close to the

President vehemently deny

That he is any vengeful mood

Toward the new york times

Or any other newspaper.

As for fears expressed

By reporters and editors

That there is big trouble ahead

From the administration,

The nixon men say, "that is

Pure paranoia, ridiculous."

>> dick cavett: Mr. Ellsberg

Or dr. Ellsberg himself

Has been hailed as hero

By a lot of people, condemned

As a traitor by others.

Will you welcome, please,

The man who...

Uh, made the whole thing

Possible, dr. Daniel ellsberg.

[applause..., �...]

>> falk: I think that the drama

That surrounded the release of

The papers, which centered on

The personality and experience

Of dan ellsberg himself, gave

The papers a prominence that

They probably wouldn't have had,

Had a grayer personality been

Associated with this release.

[applause finally stops]

>> that much applause without

Even doing a monologue...

[laughter]

...Is there any way

To answer in 30 seconds

What people can do?

>> I think one thing that people

Will conclude when they've read

It is that they have not asked

Enough, they have not expected

Enough or demanded enough in the

Way of boldness, in the way of

Responsibility, from their

Public servants.

Make that known and I think

That our constitution will

Continue to function better

Than it has been in the past.

[applause...]

[fades...]

>> halperin: I think he did

Betray a trust and he put

In jeopardy not only his

Welfare, but that of everybody

Else who was involved.

>> ellsberg interviewed: There

Was no question in my mind that

My... Best friend, really,

Harry rowen, would be definitely

Associated with what I'd done

And the fact that I did it

While he was president,

That this happened, this

Security breach happened.

So I knew that would hurt him,

Might lose him his job,

As it did, actually.

E.M. Forster said, "if I had to

Choose between betraying my

Country and betraying a friend,

I hope I should have the guts

To betray my country."

And I remember when that was

Quoted to me, my reaction right

Away was, "I don't agree

With that at all."

We're talking about

Many, many, many lives here.

We're talking about

Shortening a war.

>> schelling: Not long after

The release of the pentagon

Papers, I was at a conference

At u.C.L.A.

There were at least a dozen

People from rand at that

Conference and, uh, not one of

Them would shake hands with dan.

Not one would sit near him.

They treated him as a, uh...

A traitor.

And whether they, they meant

A traitor to his country or

A traitor to his organization,

It's hard to know.

>> ellsberg interviewed: I was

Typhoid mary, I was a leper

With a bell around my neck.

I've come to realize, the fear

Of being cut out from the group

Of people you respect and whose

Respect you want and normally

Expect, that keeps people

Participating in anything,

No matter how terrible.

>> whatever his intentions

May have been, in your opinion,

Did daniel ellsberg betray

His country?

>> I would put it another way.

Daniel ellsberg, whatever his

Intentions, gave aid and comfort

To the enemy, and under those

Circumstances, that is

Inexcusable.

After all, he is putting himself

Above the president of the

United states, above the

Congress, above our whole system

Of government when he says, in

Effect, that he would determine

What should be made public.

>> dean: I think that there is

Probably some good justification

For the strong feelings

Nixon had.

He would make a decision in the

National security council and

The next day read it on the

Front page of the new york times

Or some other newspaper.

This makes it virtually

Impossible to govern.

>> nixon on tape: Just because

Some guy's gonna be a martyr,

We can't be in a position of

Allowing the fellow to get away

With this kind of wholesale

Thievery, or otherwise it's

Gonna happen all over the

Government.

I just say that we've got to

Keep our eye on the main ball.

The main ball is ellsberg.

We got to get this

Son of a bitch.

>> dean: The leak of the

Pentagon papers changed

The nixon white house.

It really is what some of us

Have called the beginning of

The dark period.

I mean, it was rough and tumble

Before, but it got down

And dirty.

So it's really a defining event

For the nixon presidency.

And this is when egil krogh,

Bud krogh, was selected to head

Up the so-called plumbers unit.

>> I was summoned to the oval

Office by the president.

John ehrlichman and I

Met with him.

There was some suspicion that

Dr. Ellsberg had access to the

More recent war plans that had

Been developed by the nixon

Administration and would be

Able to release those documents.

I came from that meeting feeling

Very strongly that I was dealing

With a national security crisis

And I was to take any means

Necessary to respond to it.

The president had decided to

Set up a special investigations

Unit in the white house staff.

Did daniel ellsberg work alone?

Was he working with some

Other people?

Was it part of a conspiracy?

And it was in that context that

A proposal was made by e. Howard

Hunt to get information that

Could be used to discredit

Dr. Ellsberg.

"a covert operation ought to

Be undertaken to examine all

Of the files still held by

Dr. Ellsberg's psychiatrist,

Dr. Lewis fielding."

This went to john ehrlichman.

Underneath that proposal were

Two lines: "approve" with a

Line, "disapprove" with a line.

He wrote his large "e" after

"approve," and then put in

"under your assurance it is

Not traceable."

>> robert: The f.B.I. Came one

Day and said, "I'm afraid we

Have a subpoena here for you

To testify today at the grand

Jury."

My father was very upset.

He somehow thought that there

Was something more my mother

Could do to prevent this somehow

If she had better legal advice

Or whatever.

Her attitude was, "so you're the

One who got him into this, um,

And of course he's gonna, he's

Gonna just tell the truth."

And my father said, "well, of

Course you got to, you know,

Just tell, tell the truth."

My personal involvement in the

Whole thing, the people I knew

About and the copying of

The pentagon papers, that

Became the focus of the,

Of the indictment.

>> I have a statement.

I have a prepared statement

That I'd like to read.

...[interviewed]: Well, I said

To myself that I would not

Testify against him.

...Let me put my cigarette out.

...Because after all, to begin

With, I had urged him to do it.

...The attorney general

Offers me the alternative of

Collaborating with him in his

Attempt to prosecute daniel

Ellsberg by testifying in

Secret before a grand jury.

For me, that is no choice.

>> he was immediately put in

Custody for contempt of court.

He offended the prosecutorial

Team by refusing to cooperate

In any way in the grand jury.

If tony had testified, he would

Have been out scot-free.

>> russo: The first thing that

Came to my mind was gandhi's

Dictum, "you should not

Cooperate with evil."

[�...]

>> newscaster: The pentagon

Papers drama changed abruptly

Into the pentagon papers media

Freak-out and cameramen's farce

As the documents arrived

At the senate...

>> zinn: I think dan was

Disappointed in that he may

Have expected too much from

The publication of the papers.

He may have expected that

The publication of the papers

Would create a greater sensation

Than it did.

Of course, it created

A sensation.

>> where is mr. Ellsberg?

[laughter]

>> I hope he's in jail.

[laughter]

>> zinn: But I think he was

Disappointed in the fact that

The substance of the papers,

The content of the papers

Did not seem to be absorbed

By the public.

[�...]

>> ellsberg: I gave up my job,

My career, my clearance, and I

Staked my freedom on a gamble:

If the american people knew the

Truth about how they had been

Lied to, about the myths that

Had led them to endorse this

Butchery for 25 years, that

They would choose against it.

And the risk that you take

When you do that is that you'll

Learn something ultimately about

Your fellow citizens that you

Won't like to hear, and that is

That they hear it, they learn

From it, they understand it,

And they proceed to ignore it.

[�...]

[explosions]

...I remember speaking about

A year ago and expressing the

Hope that we would end this war

Before we had dropped another

Million tons of bombs

On the vietnamese.

Well, that hope has

Been disappointed.

...We could never get into the

Paper the very fact that we had

Reported the bombing tonnage.

They didn't even go so far as

To say, "the ellsbergs have this

Funny habit in every daily press

Conference of saying, 'here's

How many bombs we dropped

Last week.'"

...We've dropped another 200,000

Tons of bombs on indochina.

That's 10 hiroshimas,

One hiroshima a week.

...They never even mentioned

We'd said it, let alone reflect

On the fact that it was

Happening.

When I knew we were gonna bomb

Vietnam forever, that was like

Bombing the neighborhood.

The people there were more

Than pictures for me and they

Were more than numbers.

[�...]

>> when we went to select our

Jury, we brought in an expert,

Actually a psychiatrist.

He told us we were defending

Two young men-- bright, high

Achievers, men with a future--

Who were willing to risk it all

For the sake of not themselves

Or their own careerist

Interests, but for the sake

Of a principle.

And the psychiatrist said to us,

"you don't want on this jury

Men of middle age, because these

Are people who in the course of

Their lives might possibly have

Sacrificed principle for the

Sake of career, for the sake of

Family, and they lived with that

Compromise, and they will have

A lot of disdain, even contempt

For two men who did it for

The sake of principle and

Took the risk."

>> in los angeles today, daniel

Ellsberg returned to the witness

Stand in the pentagon papers

Case, and for the first time,

The chief defendant spelled out

How he changed from hawk to dove

On the vietnam war.

>> ellsberg: When I was on the

Stand for four and a half days,

I actually recalled this

Particular incident in 1966

When I came on a burning village

That was burning because our

Vietnamese troops had fired on

It, and in the course of that,

I saw some kids picking through

The embers of their huts for a

Little plastic doll.

That was extremely anguishing

For me to see this sad

Appearance.

This is what the war meant to

Them, really, the destruction

Of their homes and their lives.

[�...]

>> at the pentagon papers trial

In california today, it was

Revealed that the people who

Burglarized the watergate also

Burglarized the office of daniel

Ellsberg's psychiatrist.

>> mr. Ehrlichman, are you

Telling me that the break-in

To dr. Fielding's office was

To satisfy the president of

The United States?

>> the president wanted very

Much to make sure that a thing

Like this could not happen

Again.

>> krogh: At no time did anyone

Ask "is this the right thing

To do?"

We never looked at either

The legal issues, the ethical

Issues, the spiritual issues.

None of those things came

To the level of consciousness.

It was a collapse of integrity

Of the first order.

>> the revelation in the trial

Of the pentagon papers that

The white house had sent

The plumbers to los angeles

Really, I think, broke open

The watergate scandal.

And then to top it all off,

If the story needed topping,

The fact that the president

Met with the presiding judge.

>> the man presiding over the

Ellsberg case, judge matthew

Byrne, today confirmed that

Ehrlichman had offered him

The job of f.B.I. Director.

>> it didn't seem possible,

But there were even more

Sensational developments today

Involving the white house:

An admission from the federal

Bureau of investigation that it

Had listened to daniel ellsberg

On wiretaps as long as two years

Before he released the pentagon

Papers.

>> good evening.

A federal judge in los angeles

Today declared a mistrial

In the pentagon papers case.

He dismissed all the charges

Against daniel ellsberg

And anthony russo.

[crowd applauding...]

The judge ruled that the

Government had so tainted its

Own case as to make a fair trial

Impossible.

>> a presidential prosecution

That started, we now know,

In order to help re-elect a

President, and it's ending now,

I think, to avoid impeaching

That same president.

But it won't stop that process,

Because the facts, thanks in

Part to this trial, are out

On the table.

They're out of the safes just

As the pentagon papers are out

Of the safes, and they're the

Same kind of facts, and they

Can't be put back in the safes.

>> nixon on tape:

>> because of what dan did and

The overreaction of an imperial

President, if you will, to what

Had happened... It changed

History.

It was the cover-up of the

Ellsberg break-in that concerned

The white house, and the seeds

Of all of watergate occur

In the pentagon papers.

>> schelling: The greatest

Result of what he did was to get

President nixon out of office.

[chuckling]: That wasn't,

I'm sure, any part of his

Expectation or his intention.

[�...]

>> falk: What has remained

Significant about the release

Of the pentagon papers is the

Decision by a public official

To give priority to conscience

As compared to career.

>> the fact is that secrets can

Be held by men in the government

Whose careers have been spent

Learning how to keep their

Mouths shut.

I was one of those.

>> kehler: If you have somebody

Who starts with such a

Background within government

And who understands what dan

Understands about how it works

From the inside and who then

Continues to speak out,

Constantly trying to unmask

The lies and reveal the truth

So that people can make honest,

Clear decisions about their own

Lives and about the life of our

Nation, the life of the world...

He is the preeminent

Whistle-blower in the very best

And broadest and deepest sense.

>> we as a people do have

That power, the power to

Change ourselves and history.

We are here today...

>> krogh: I think the resonance

That I feel with dan is that he

Is trying always to do what he

Thinks is the highest right

Under the circumstances,

Regardless of the consequences.

I was not able to do that

When I worked in the government.

I was too tied in to the group

I was working for.

But dan does that all the time.

It's an amazing life the way

He has lived it over the last

30 years since all those things

Occurred.

>> zinn: His act had an effect

On him, a profound effect on him

And on the rest of his life.

He was never going to rest easy

From that point on unless he was

Part of some movement against

War and for social justice.

And so all these years since

Then, he has acted in the same

Spirit in which he revealed

The papers to the nation.

[�...]

>> ellsberg: The courage we

Need is not the courage, the

Fortitude, to be obedient in

The service of an unjust war,

To help conceal lies, to do our

Job by a boss who has usurped

Power and is acting as an outlaw

Government.

It is the courage at last to

Face honestly the truth and

The reality of what we are doing

In the world and act responsibly

To change it.

[�...]

[helicopter rotors whirring...]