remained to protect Western investments and bolster an anti-communist government in Saigon (South Vietnam) while a Communist regime in Hanoi held sway in the country’s northern half.īut almost none of this was known to the American public at the time, and when John F. And when the French gave up and left in 1954, the U.S. shouldered more and more of the cost of the war. supported France’s attempt to reclaim its colonies in Southeast Asia, largely to keep France in the alliance against the Soviet Union.Īs the French forces faltered in Vietnam, the U.S. had first been involved in Vietnam during World War II, when Americans helped Vietnamese resist Japanese occupation. The report that came to be known as the Pentagon papers said the U.S. had gone to war not to save the Vietnamese from Communism but to maintain “the power, influence and prestige of the United States … irrespective of conditions in Vietnam.” Revealing A Quarter Century Of War And Denial On June 13, 1971, the first story ran atop the front page. Supported by the top editors at the Times, Sheehan led a team of writers and editors in distilling the immense document for newspaper use. But they were not willing to do so, and one encouraged him to go to the New York Times.Įllsberg did just that, contacting a legendary reporter at the New York Times whom he had known in Vietnam, Neal Sheehan. He said he hoped they would hold hearings, or enter the report in the Congressional Record. The pair photocopied them at night, one page at a time over a period of months.Įllsberg showed the material to a few senators who had been critics of the war. McNamara toward the end of that period.Įllsberg and a Rand colleague, Anthony Russo, had access to a copy of the 7,000-pages of classified documents and historical narrative kept at Rand. The study covered the years from 1945 to 1968, and had first been commissioned by Defense Secretary Robert S. Since 1969 he had been one of dozens of analysts studying and writing about the decisions behind the escalating U.S. A “hawk” before going to Vietnam in 1965, Ellsberg had since turned against the war and the official justifications given for it. And it would provoke a response from President Richard Nixon that led directly to the scandals that ended his presidency.īy the time he got to the Pentagon, Ellsberg, then 40, was a Marine Corps veteran with a Harvard doctorate who had worked for the Defense and State departments and the Rand Corporation. It would also prompt a landmark Supreme Court decision on freedom of the press. Known as the “Pentagon Papers,” Ellsberg’s mammoth disclosure would help to end the longest U.S. Anonymous/APĪs a military analyst working on a Pentagon project in 1971, Ellsberg chose to release to the public an extensive, documentary record of U.S. He will be dearly missed by all of us,” according to the statement In this Jfile photo, Daniel Ellsberg, former Defense Department researcher who leaked top-secret Pentagon papers to the press, speaks to an unofficial House panel investigating the significance of the war documents. “Daniel was a seeker of truth and a patriotic truth-teller, an antiwar activist, a beloved husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, a dear friend to many, and an inspiration to countless more. In a statement, Ellsberg family said that in the months since the diagnosis, “he continued to speak out urgently to the media about nuclear dangers, especially the danger of nuclear war posed by the Ukraine war and Taiwan.” In March, Ellsberg posted on his Facebook page that doctors diagnosed him with inoperable pancreatic cancer on Feb. history in a way few private citizens ever have. He was 92.Įllsberg passed away after a short battle with pancreatic cancer, but continued his anti-war activism until his final days.Įllsberg never ran for office and only occasionally appeared on TV. campaign to hide the true scale of U.S.’s the Vietnam War, has died Friday at this home in Kensington, California, U.S. military analyst who revealed a years-long U.S. Anonymous/APĭaniel Ellsberg, a former U.S. 17 1973 file picture, Daniel Ellsberg speaks to reporters outside the Federal Building in Los Angeles. Share on WhatsApp Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Telegram Share on Reddit Share on Email In this Jan.
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