Fifty years ago, the published a secret official history of the Vietnam War called the Pentagon Papers, defying government efforts to suppress a free press. This gripping oral history takes us inside the room a half century later.
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The oral history is part of this special section marking the anniversary of the case.
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Among the pieces is a fascinating look at the legal consequences by the one and only who says that the Supreme Court decision was not quite the clear-cut victory for free press that we remember.
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While , who has broken more secrets than maybe anyone in the modern era, examines the still-fraught balance between the media and the government when it comes to informing the public about how the state exercises power in their name.
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And then there is this amazing affidavit filed in the Pentagon Papers case written by the legendary Max Frankel () about the trade in government secrets 50 years ago -- and a reminder of how much remains the same today.
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One of the remarkable aspects of the Pentagon Papers case is that the secret study had nothing to do with Nixon -- it was all about LBJ and his predecessors -- but as notes in "King Richard" (amazon.com/King-Richard-W) it essentially brought Nixon down anyway.
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Nixon's outrage at the leak led to the creation of his "plumbers" unit to break into the office of Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist looking for dirt. The same plumbers unit later broke into the Watergate, ultimately dooming Nixon.
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