Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers That I Wuid Get Through Anything That Hap My Arguments by Saying That Everything I .L Pened

It wasn't so much that I didn't tatother economics at Cambridge. He met many guys' nerve or ability, as that I didn't trust Communists there, but they were unable A. their luck. So long as I didn't have to de- to offer him any explanation of Stalin's pend on anybody else I always had a feeling terror. EIlsberg fedis, 7Bey'd shut off Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers that I wuid get through anything that hap my arguments by saying that everything I .L pened. Guys used to think I rode through -.- on guts, but it was really just the way I felt.' was reading in the papers was lies. But I Fred G. Leebron knew there had to be at least some grain Ellsberg finally settled down at the Crim- free,' my father said. He didn't want to be of truth to what I wali reading. There Daniel Ellsberg was a "defense intellec- son. Preoccupied with his individuality, Upon tual," one of a number of well-educated drafted into the Imperial Army for seven really were bad things going on." Ellsberg recalls, "I think-though there returning from England to complete his men attracted to government in the early years. 'We came to be free."" Many years may have been one or two others that I later, Ellsberg was to make full use of that - Master's at Harvard, Ellsberg, confronted 1960s by the challenge of making defense was the first Advocate person to be on the with the escalating Cold War, became a policy more rational. After finishing his freedom-abusing it in the eyes of his Crimson since John Reed, who wrote Ten doctoral dissertation at Harvard in 1958, critics, advancing it in the view of his "l'hunan Democrat": "I was a liberal on Days mat Shook the World. There must domestic matters and, on foreign policy, a Ellsberg joined the RAND Corporation, a defenders-when he leaked classified be something to that." Ellsberg was an en- government documents to the New York tough guy." But the 1950's in the United private non-profit research organization thusiastic contributor to the Crimson, States were also replete with labor cormp that produced studies for the government, Timb. and one night stayed up to write the entire tion, and Elkberg shifted his concentra- especially for the Air Force. In 1964, Ells- THEEARLY YEARS. editorial page. He wrote in a journal for tion from domestic matters to foreign berg moved into a high staff position in occasional relief: policy. A friend explains: the Defense Department, served as a Ellsberg was born in Chicago in 1931, spokesman for the government's position the son d middle-class parents. When he 4 a.m. Boy, I want you to know, this is The thing people forget is that whatever ' was fifteen, his family was involved in a the last time D.E. signs up for two pie- in one thought of Joe McCarthy. Joseph on Vietnam in teach-ins at universities, a.m. D.E. and then volunteered to go to Vietnam car accident that left his mother and sister one night.. .8 is tired.. .9 a.m. Stalin really scared the daylights out of D.E. is sick.. .11 a.m. The worst part of it everyone, from the far right to the pretty far himself, where among other assignments dead.2 At fifteen, he was sent to Cran- is,.when you stay up all night writing two brook, an "exclusive prep school" in the left. It wasn't so much an anti-Communist he worked on !he pacification programs. pieces for the ed page, all you write is feeling as an anti-Russian one. .. . I knew Ellsberg returned to the United States suburbs of Detroit. Ellsberg enjoyed his crap. .. 12:OO. Okay, friends, that's all. people in the fifties who switched from the time there. "My heroes," he remembers, in 1967, and soon was back at RAND, United World Federalists to the CIA. lo working on the top secret study that "were people like Walter Reuther, labor Bcneath Ellsberg's last entry, one editor would be known as the Pentagon Papers. leaders. . .. "3 He was an excellent student, wrote, "D.E. has a martyr comple~."~ Upon receiving his Mast- EUsberg Initiated by Secretary of Defense Robert compiling a 95.5 grade average and scor- In 1951, his junior year, Ellsberg mar- joined the Marines. Ellsberg remiuks. "It MacNamara, the study was to chronicle, ing a perfect 800 on the verbal part of the ried a Radcliffe junior, Carol Cummings, was q9t the nonnal thing to do. But I from the inside and with objectivity, SATs. When supporting Ellsberg's ap the daughter of a Marine officer.' His wanted to fmd out what the service was American involvement in Vietnam. Mor- plication to Harvard, Cranbrook's Senior senior thesis was entitled 'Theories of Ra- like. Except for one other guy, I think I ton Halperin, Deputy Assistant Secretary Master told the admissions board that tional Choice Under Uncertainty: The was the only one of my old Ch'mson of Defense, and his assistant, Leslie Gelb, Wlsberg was "a brilliant, superior stu- Contribution of von Neumann and Mor- crowd to give up my deferment." EUsberg were in charge of the study. Ellsberg dent.. .inclined at times to feel superior, genstern," concerning "the new economic "ranked first in his 1,100-man offcers- wrote a 350-page draft of one volume but no recluse." His classmates also con- theory of games." Both the field and the candidate class,"l~ and notes, "I was, I before illness caused him to take a less ac- sidered him favorably, voting Ellsberg topic were new, and the thesis was graded think, the only first lieutenant in the Sec- tive role as a consultant for the study. This "most likely to make a contribution to summa by all three readers.' It received ond Marine Division to have a rifle com- also gave him more time for reflection, human progress." Harvard accepted one criticism: "If there is one principal pany."l He did not see combat, and was and he began to reconsider his own views him.' shortcoming in the work, it is an unfor- scheduled to return in 1956 to Harvard as about America's role in Vietnam. At Harvard, Ellsberg tried just about tunate tendency to be somewhat erratic in a Junior Fellow, when his batallion was "Once I asked my father why his father everything, including creative writing, the pursuit of a single line of investiga- sent to the Suez Canal to cover the take- had come to the United States from psychology and economics. He wrote a tion, which leads to a lack of depth and over there. Ellsberg recalls: Russia," Daniel Ellsberg recalls. "'To be short story for the Advocate, entitled ~ompleteness."~ So I spent a day thinking about what I "The Long Wait," about "a Humphrey After graduating from Harvard with a would feel like to be back to H-d and Copyright 01982 by the Woodrow Wilson school, Bogart-type involved in marijuanadeals." B.A. ir; economics, Ellsberg received a read in the papers about my batallion in Princeton University. Reprinted by permission. The hero knew himself well: Woodrow Wilson fellowship to study combat. I couldn't stand the thought, so 1 Ellsberg also worked closely with the that he ended up taking. I seemed to be sent a telegram to the commandant of the I spent the summer of '58 at Rand in part because they were interestad in my par- Administration on the Cuban Missile the kind of nut he liked to have on his Marine Corps asking to extend for one year ' so I could accompany the batdion.'j ticular academic interest, which was Crisis. (Later. when Soremen and Wes- temnAnd Ellsbern amin war concerned "decision-making under uncertainty"; and I inger had published their JFK memoirs, with the victims' lot: "I chose to educate But Ellsberg also had to write a letter to found them dl hard at work on what came Ellsberg was to note the "questionable myself on pacification, to learn the the head of Society of Fellows at Harvard to seem to me the most urgent problem fac- :precedent" of their using "technically still- realities of what the war was like in the in order to gain an extension on the ,ing mankind. That was the missiie gap.. .. I classifiednmaterial in the books.) Caught country~ide."~~ fellowship offer. In so doing, Ellsberg would have worked for Rand for nothing. It seemed the most important problem in up as he was in inissiles and foot soldiers, Arriving in Saigon in 1965, Ellsberg "described in detail plans to evacuate Ellsberg neglected his family. His wife headed for Rand headquarters. There he Americans from the Suez area." A carbon the , sued for divorce in late 196+25 met Anthony J. Russo, another Rand of the letter was found in his desk, and he Rand became.the foremost military policy In 1%4, Ellsberg had joined the researcher, who was doing studies on the was interrogated for twelve hours, think tank in America while Ellsberg was Defense Department as a Special Assist- mistreatment of Vietcong prisoners. Ells- because of the breach of security. Ellsberg there. And its president during most of ant in its Department of International berg learned all he could from his dis- assured the MP's that his motives were in- Ellsberg's tenure, Henry Rowen, became Security Affairs (ISA).26It was in 1964 or illusioned colleague, and then proceeded nocent." After that, Ellsberg gained his Ellsberg's closest friend. Among other 1965, while working at the Pentagon prior into "the Ellsberg admitted he first "top secretn clearance, because the things, .Rand accepted Ellsberg on the to heading for Vietnam, that Ellsberg first was gung-ho, "but not more so than a lot command had to determine how to land basis of his academic prowess and a felt "while reading through documents of other Americans, civilians and at the Suez.' security clearance administered by federal late at night (of events leading up to and His own rationale for going Ellsberg, however, saw no real combat, authorities.2' As Newsweek was to including the Tonkin Gulf incident) that I into the field concerned the nature of the and returned in 1957 to gain his doctorate describe some time later, Rand "made its was looking at future exhibits (in war advice he was expected to give: at Harvard. Entitled, "Risk, Ambiguity crime trials)."Z7 name on discretion as well as brainpower A lot of this advice had to do with the and Decision," the opening sentence of his -on the premise that it could be trusted Prior to leaving for Vietnam in 1%5, dissertation read: risks that they should k prepared to run. to keep a secret."22 Ellsberg talked at college teach-ins as a And I was one of those, and not the only To act reasonably, one 'must judge ac- In 1959, when Ellsberg joined Rand as Defense Department spokesman. Debat- one, who felt that you should not give ad- tions by their consequences. But what if an economist, he and his family moved to ing with Harvard Government Professor vice on questions like that unless you were # their consequences are uncertain? One must Los Angeles, and Ellsberg worked at the Stanley Hoffman, Ellsberg summed up prepared to go out of your way to share still, no doubt, act reasonably: the problem Santa Monica Rand headquarters. A his pre-tour attitude: those risks to some uacnt.jJ is to decide what this may mean.16 friend recalls that Ellsberg concentrated The question is not whether the odds are A reporter in Vietnam at the time Ellsberg was still a Junior ello ow at completely on the missile gap issue: against us or whether we have given up the recalls: Harvard, when he began his association There was Russia, Stalin, nuclear goal of total victory. The ptimary issue is to with The Rand Corporation in 1958.17He improve conditions in the South.. .there There was Ellsberg, dressed in fatigues weapons-all that was an essential part of and jungle boots, telling the infantrymen to became a full-time employee in 1959. Dan's life. .. . But .Dan was on the liberal might be a time when we have to ask how we can fail kt." get off their goddamned asses, to get on the ELLSBERGAT RANDAND DEFENSE side; he was in favor of putting more covers offensive and stay on the offensive. He car- on the buttons, so some mad colonel . ' Recalls Hoffman, "I liked him. He was ried a submachine gun and was practically In the late Fifties, even Rand did not wouldn't set the whole thing off." . . have the sort of reputation that would at- not a government mouthpiece or an intel- taking over the c0mpany.3~ tract a liberal. The "think tank" was Ellsberg himself recalls, "At Rand we lectual adding machine, but a human be- Another journalist, Frances Fitzgerald, founded in 1946 with Air Force patronage believed the Russians were going full blast ing you could argue with. Not a Bund~."~~had a different interpretation of Ellsberg's as a private, non-profit institution.I8 An for a capability to destroy ow retaliatory Ellsberg did not go to Vietnam by acci- aggressive behavior: Ellsberg friend recalled that in the 1950's capability, and intelligence estimates ' dent. Initially, he wished to re-enlist in the pointed that way." Concerning Vietnam, Marines, but found that he would not Like every American in the goddamned "Rand had an Air Force sort of look to it. country, Dan had to get out in the field. It was heavily Air Force money and it however, Ellsberg felt differently. After a then have the desired authority (he wanted to command a platoon). So he Everyone had to pick up a gun. .. . It was used all those social gimmicks."19 When short fact-finding tour there, he wrote the whole romance of danger and death.. .. he decided to work for Rand, Ellsberg Kennedy that he "found the situation volunteered to be a member of Major You thought you were better than other remembers that a tutor accused him of there unpromising." He says, "I felt the General Edward G. Lansdale's unit to people.. .. But the Hemingway approach selling out to the organization. Ellsberg, President had arbitrarily chosen Vietnam work on counter-insurgency techniques. finally soured. It was not World War I. AU though, says: as a place to test him~elf."~' Ellsberg noted, "I was the only volunteer that machinery, that gigantic arsenal, was Fred G. Leebron 105

by being aimed at Asians. running around in Changing World," and met .lanaki tellectually :r:iding the :vhole Lady. pajamas." Tschannerl, ;;n Indian woman. Ellsberg That was the price I asked for participating . ' remembers: as a researcher. So 1 was given the commit- EUsberg was then advocating training ment that I would be ablee:btoread thic thing In the spring of 1967, while still abroad, She gave me a vision. as a Gandhian, of a ultimately. No other rmergot that fifty-seven-man teams of Vietnamese- Ellsberg urged a friend at Defense to pro- different way of living and resistance. of Political Actiofi Teams-that "were sup commjtment onthe study. Rand wai not pose that '~c~amarabegin a study of y exercising power non-violently. And as I access. ae posed to provide the South Vietnamese given I was only given jxrsonal "U.S. decision-making in Vietnam on the saw it' at that time, Martin Luther King cess on the basis of this.prior agreement. peasants with the same sort of political ded- model of Dick Neustadt's study of the began to seem to me to be our last hope. The point then was tha..I was the only And he was killed that weekendfa ication that the communists provided in the Skybolt crisis." Ellsberg offered himself researcher in the country.with authorized North." A visiting reported noted with access to the entire study.?= disdain the "a$sembly-line-like approach as a participant. A few weeks later, The friend recalls the following conver- Ellsberg recalls, "McNamara himself pro- to political warfare," and the fact that the sation: posed his historical study, mentioning the Halperin, Gelb, and Warnke denied question of ideological motivation for the Skybolt as a g~ideline.'"~ What do you Go?. .. I work .... What that such an arrangement-existed. Rowen PATS remained unanswered. Ellsberg, In July of 1967. Ellsberg returned to the kind of work do you do?. .. I think .... tried to get Ellsberg access to the docu- however, "sent back critical memos on the What do you think about?. .. Via Nam.. .. ment: Ytbere was, at the very least, an in- U.S., as he recalls, in the midst of the What do you think about Viet Nam?. [pacification] program to Washington via Detioit riot and the Newark riot: "SO [I] .. timation that Warnke did not trust Ells- a friend (technically a violation of govern- How in God's name are we going to get out immediately became far more aware of of there?" berg to keep the papers- 'confidential)." ment procedure) when he thought his criti- the domestic costs of the war, and that The second time, however, Rowen told cism was not getting proper attention by forced [me] to look harder at the question About that time, Ellsberg began Halperin that the Pentagon study would American officials in Saigon."I6 of whether it was really essential for us to be an important aid in Hsberg's study on In December of the same year, Ellsberg psychoanalysis with Dr. Lewis Fielding in be And by the fall of 1967, Beverly Hills. Meeting four times a week, "lessons of Vietnam." Halperin obtained was appointed Special Assistant to Depu- Ellsberg was working on the new top Gelb's permission and, without consulting ty Ambassador William Porter, with the treatment continued for two and a half secret study to become known as the vears. J0 Warnke, authorized Ellstierg's access to intention of increasing his own focus on Pentagon Papers: "once again employed the study." the relationship between military and civil By the time the Pentagon study was by Rand.. .. I was at work."44 completed in December 1968, the Before Ellsberg had a 'chance to read operations. The same month, he sent The Pentagon-Papers project actually the study, however, Hew+Kissinger sum- Washington a report entitled, "The Day Johnson Administration was on its way began in the summer of 1967, under the out. Paul Warnke, now Assistant Secre- moned him to New York on Christmas Loc Tien Was Pacified," illustrating how direction of Morton H. Halperin, Deputy Day. Misginger had initiated a study at . no part of the combat zone was really be- tary of Defense for ISA, and both Gelb Assistant Secretary of Defense for ISA. and Halperin, were anxious to ensure the Rand on Vietnam and wadted Ellsberg to ing pacified-but rather only endan- Halperin, in turn, appointed Leslie H. help him fmish the analysis in order to gered.]' Finally, Ellsberg recalls. "By study's classified status. Wrote journalist Gelb, his assistant at ISA, to head the Peter Schrag: prepare Nixon on the tdpic. Ellsberg's mid-1967 I felt we were destroying the so- specific task force in charge of the study. analysis, National Security Study Memo- ciety and the war must be stopped."" Both men were former Rand Gelb, Warnke and Halperin, wishing to randum No. 1 (NSSM-1); took the form Still, he intended to remain in Vietnam to employees." retain control of documents on which they see the war through.19 Ellsberg recalls: had worked, pooled their copies of the of questions "which analyzed the major The study utilized thirty-six scholars, Papers and, under a special agreement with uncertainties, contfadidic)ns and con- My plan was to go into the field with representing Defense. Rand and several Henry Rowen, the President of Rand, sent troversies among the ahncies dealing every single unit we had in Vietnam. Start- universities. It eventually produced 3,000 than to Rand for storage. with Vietnam." Kissinger.'distributed it, ing at the DMZ and working all the way pages of analysis and history, and includ- and Ellsberg went to Washington to help down to the Delta. Fortunately, I got ed 4,000 pages of classified do~urnents.~~ The agreement contained the provision hepatitis before I got killed.'O out: "I swnt February in the Executive Ellsberg initially completed "a 350-page that the documents "would only be acces- Office ~uildin~reading and .helping to Ellsberg wrote from his sickbed in draft of the Pentagon volume on the '61 sible to those who had specific permission summarize the answers to my ques- Bangkok: Vietnam decisions," before the after- from two of the three 'owners'-Gelb, tions.. .for the President." Ellsberg even- effects of hepatitis reduced him to a Warnke, Halperin."" Ellsberg later told tually leaked NSSM-1 (in June of 1971) to It has been, most of it, an intensely passive consultant role in early 1968.*' It Look magazine that the "owners" had Senators Mike Gravel and Charles frustrating and sad year and a half, though agreed from the very beginning to give with a good deal of excitement and was then that Ellsberg wefully recon- Mathias. He was evidently upset that Ellsberg access to the full study: moments of hope.. .. I have virtually decid- sidered both his own and his country's in- Kissinger had deleted Ellsberg's option of ed to go home, and make my contribution volvement in Vietnam. ...they were very anxious to get me. I withdrawal from the final list of policy to the Vietnam problem we all share from In April of 1968, Ellsberg attended a was only willing to do it on the condition alternatives sent to the National Security here." Princeton conference on "Revolution in a that 1 would be able to profit from it in- Council;s4 Nuremburg war crime documents." him a portion of the study dealing with Randy [Kehler, a Harvard graduateJ gave Thereafte;, employed by Rand, Ells- the Tonkin Gulf incident. At that time, a talk about the peace movement. He talked berg read the-pentagon Papers. He read Ellsberg decided both to convey his view Ellsberg asked Fulbright to make public of all the people in the movement who were the seven-thousand pages of analysis, of the war and to get other government the Pentagon Papers, "perhaps through going to jail. Then, out of the blue, he said, history and documentation by the end of officials to read the study." "and I'm very proud that I'm soon going to the summer of 1969. His reaction to the The decision to use the Pentagon full congressional release of their con- tent~."~' be joining them." He was re&ting the draft documents was nothing less than aston- Papers as a modus operandi for changing and, sure enough, he was soon in prison. ishment. Recalls an acquaintance: government policy grew from the final Fulbright hesitated: Wdl, I ranember thinking, you see-this lesson that Ellsberg learned from'reading I didn't want to get Ellsberg in trouble. I is our best, ow vay best, hdwe're sending I had a sense of a man thoroughly disillu- them sioned by what he had learned.. .. There the study: considered what to do with the portions he to prison, more important, we're in a isn't an ounce of cynicism in his body. gave me-having executive hearings or world where they feel they just had to go to .. . that domestic political considerations something of that nature. But I decided that prison.. .. AU of a sudden, it set new stan- When he found out about all the deceptions were so important to the President that dards ex- and lies, he did not react in the normal the best way would be to get them officially. for me of what one cwld be mere discussion or argument within the Ex- Anyway, it wasn't clear then of what use pected, or asked, to do, in the way of cynical way-"Well, it's the government, ecutive Branch would never affect the resistance to the war. I realized that these what do you expect?" Ellsberg was scandal- policy. The only way to affect it was to they actually were in stopping the war. ized. He was scandalized to discover that young men were very paQiotic. And sud- change the political calculations by the He put the documents in the safe at the denly I realized that I too would have to people are not good.Js President, to change the political pressures. Foreign Relations Committee office., and, enter a kind of resistance to the war even if I Ellsberg, himself, concentrated his .. . You could say that if the President wants just two days after meeting Ellsberg, too had to go to prison." to get out, the only way to make it possible wrote to Defense Secretary Melvin Laird, analysis of the study on the aspect of pres- for him is to him that he will not be idential participation in Vietnam: requesting a copy of the. Pentagon Eilsberg sent the top secret study to subject to fatal attack and he will not be at- Senator George McGovern. McGovern tacked by the other party if he does get out- st~dv.~~ And I was still in a state of mind (prior to ~ftermonths of delay, Laird refused refused to as on it. Elisberg thought the reading) that thought: This is terrible. So my first efforts were entirely along the McGovern's refusal to accept the papers lines of getti- Congress and leading Demo- Fulbright's request. Although frustrated, me President isn't getting the truth. I had Fulbright could not bring himself illegally was grounded in cowardice. But this impression "if only the Czar knew.". aats to urge the President, or even require . . him, to get out, so that the responsibility to divulge the Pentagon Papers: McGovern explains the situation ~utreading 7,000 pages of the Pentagon somewhat differently: pams has shown me that the president of wouldn't fall entirely on his sh0ulders.~9 I thought there would be a big to-do by th; United States is part of the problem.s6 To set about re-educating government the Administration on the question of I concluded after talking with him for a while that he was a hawk.with a bad con- Ellsberg also pointed out that he was officials required great effort. Ellsberg classification, which might divert from the returned to his old friend Anthony Russo, con.tents of the Papers. I thought that if we science. I've had a dom professors and the only person in the country who had preachers and foreign service officers give since fired by Rand, and enlisted his help used them without release, the big attack both read the entire study and been to would be on the pr'ocedure.. .. If I had done me memoranda in the past that they 'said VietnBm: in copying the top secret d0cuments.6~ it, this would have brought a good deal of would end the war if disclosed.. .. I had no With the help of an unsuspecting third idea what he had, and I didn't know if his .. . At that point the experiences I had criticism on the Committee; certain Repub- party, the documents were successfully lican members would have raised hell.. .. I judgment was good or bad. I didn't cwn had in Vietnam came to bear very strongly copied. know whether he was ratiod. still~ thought they should be the subject of on me. The village burned by both sides, the ~ Then, in November of 1969, during a legitimate hearings. refugee camps. There would have been no John Holum, MCGOV&~'S legislative war had there not been an American com- visit to Washington, Ellsberg met for the first time Senator J. W. Fulbright, Chair- Journalist Sanford Ungar explained assistant, disliked the aggressive Ellsberg: mitment of funds and troops to keep it go- that "any breach of security on [Ful- ing. The Vietnamese majority may have man of the Senate Foreign Relations "There are a lot of people you encounter preferred various forms of local leadership Committee. Fulbright was publicly com- bright's] part could be used as a basis for who are recent converts on the war. They other than the Vietcong, but the question mitted to the American withdrawal from denying him such material in the future. usually don't have much to offer."65 But became: Do they feel strongly enough to Vietnam. In 1964, he had been a member Then he in turn might be answerable to in retrospect, McGovern concludes "that fight the VC without us leading them? The of the Congress skillfully manipulated by his colleagues in the Senate for their in- if a member of Congress had been willing answer was no. So we were responsible for President Johnson into passing the Gulf ability to learn that little bit of the inside to act, the press and the w~lemiaht have all aspects of the war, including the villages of Tonkin resolution-an act he con- story.. .."63 been able to obtain and digest &e infor- the VC had burned.J7 sidered to be the "functional eqdvalent" In September of 1%9, Ellsberg attend- mation in the Pentagon Papers much Considering the documents of the Pen- of a declaration of war on North Viet- ed a conference of the War Resisters' more easily."6d tagon study "the best we have-a good nam. Ellsberg "played on that anger," in- League at Haverford College near Phila- In the winter of 1969-70, EUsberg was a starting point for a real understanding of forming Fulbright of the existence of the delphia. On the final night of the con- consultant to Senator Charles Goodell of the war, the U.S. equivalent of the top secret Pentagon Papers, and giving I ference, Ellsterg recalls: New York, helping the Senator draft a . . proposa, for he immediate withdrawal the unconstitutionalitj ,. f .11c .,.L . . . .. : -.l..(i Sy incl~~ding'narrative As I found out these various people were of U.S. trpops from Vietnam. Goodell believing that such court action "woulu analys~oy the government historians, unwilling to help, i 'began to feel ihat the FBI might already know something about it remembers, "it was obvious the guy provide a channel whereby the Pentagon : ': the Papers revealed what decisions were knew something. We had to round off documents could enter public conscious- made, how aid why they were made and and might pick me up at any time, swoop in who made them. They showed that four and take everything before I got it out. My the figures and fuzz the details so people ness." The documents, he felt, would alter main fear was that the whole thing would be wouldn't think we had access to some the public's perception of the war, then - , administrations had committed the U.S. ab~rtcd.~' sort of classified 'data."6' Even with forming a general political consensus on to defending South Vietnam to a much Ellsberg's expertise, the proposal got ending the war, leading to the ultimate greater extent than their staternenl to Ellsberg suggested that he might direct- nowhere. abandonment by Nixon of his war policy. Congress or the public indicated. For ex- ly be responsible for the new tactics of In 1970, Ellsberg decided that he had to But no lawyers "rose" to meet Ellsberg's ample, in the spring of 1964, nearly a year Nion: "But as the invasions mounted up. act more convincingly on his own. First, ~hallenge.~Z before President Johnson revealed the I thought, if I'd gotten the Papers released spurred on by the U.S.-supported arrest All legal channels exhausted, Ellsberg . ,. depth of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, he earlier, maybe I could have prevented all of his friend Trq Ngoc Chau, a member perceived the extralegal alternative: had stepped up the covert warfire against that.'''' of South Vietnam's National Assembly, release of the classified documents direct- ' North Vietnam and had begun planning EUsberg also said that he hoped, by his by President Thieu, Ellsberg resigned ly to the public. As a writer of both letters overt war. Many of these decisions ran example, that "a few other ex-officials from Rand: . to the editor and book reviews, Ellsberg counter to the estimates of the govern- would come clean.'''' ment's own intelligence agencies, which Ellsberg did not view America's in- .In order to be able to speak freely, in a considered the nation's newspapers as the .. only possible channel for the direct release indihted that the military pressure and volvement in Vietnam as historian Arthur way that seemed impossible to do at Rand, Schlesinger did in 1%4: a matter of and not because Rand officers forbade me. of the papers into the "public conscious- bombing in this period had not achieved ness." But he was still unsure of which any sigriificant effect. Although the stumbling "unknowingly into a 'qqmire' but because every time I criticized the war I in Vietnam and simply never knowing &used great apprehension among my wl- paper to turn to, or which specific person Papers contained few conclusions that leagues that they were about to lose their to appr~ach.~' critics had not already reached about U.S. how to get out." Instead, Ellsberg wn- contract, and hence their jobs." It was then that Ellsberg learned that policy, they gave official support to many cluded that Vietnam was the logical result Times of those conclusions, and provided the of America's "Asia fmt" policy strdching Ellsberg gained a brief audience with reporter Neil Sheehan was prepar- ing an article on thirty-three anti-war detailed information that made the wn- back to 1949. It was during that year that Kissinger, saying, "Henry, I smell 1964 all books for that paper's book review sec- clusions more striking. Congressman John Kennedy declared to over again." Ellsberg recalls: tion. Ellsberg and Sheehan had known In a speech he gave in ~ostonshortly his colleagues on the House floor that 1 asked him' if he had a copy of the before the Times published the papers, Qey must "assume the responsibility of each other in Vietnam, where Sheehan com- McNamara study in the White House. had been a reporter. And now, in his arti- Ellsberg . read poignantly from the preventing the onrushing tide of "Yes," he said. "Did you read it?" I asked. cle, "Should We Have War Crime Trials?" memoirs of Nazi official Albert Speer, munism from engulfing all of Asia.'''9 "No," Kissinger said. "Anybody on your Sheehan wrote that government officials who had turned away so that he would Ellsberg viewed the ensuing policy as staff work it over?" Again, Kissinger said, had "never read the laws governing the not see the horrors of the'Third Reich: a direct result of the "fear of McCar- "No." I urged Mm to read at least the sum- conduct of war.. .or if they did, they in- "For being in k paition to know and thyism": maries- about 100 pages-and the chron- nevertheles~:shunning knowledge creates ologies. "But we make decisions very dif- terpreted them rather loosely." It was the motivation of the Democratic ferently now." Henry said.69 Within days, Ellsberg contacted direct re$ponsibiIityfor the comequences President not to add the fall of Indochina to Sheehan. And days later, in late March, -from the very beginning." Nearing the the fall of China. The very fact the decision- Then came Jackson State, Kent State, Sheehan and his wife went up to Cam- end of his dramatic talk (during which he making looked similar year by year from and the bombing of Camb~dia.~o bridge to pick up the documents. On a sometimes cried), Ellsberg spbke in his. then on, supported the conjecture that no American President, Republican or Demo- By the time Nixon started on Laos, Sunday in late Spring, June 13, 1971, own words: ' be Ellsberg, according to one Senator's ig- crat, wanted to the President who lost under the headline, "Vietnam Archive: It is, then, my own longpemisfence in the war or who lost Saigon. assistant, had been "all over Washington. Pentagon Study Traces 3 Decade of norance of the history of the conflict (Viet- He was seeing anybody who might Growing U.S. Involvement," the Pen- nam] and of oui involvement and of the full &ording to Ellsberg, every president help."'' tagon Papers appeared in the Times." impact bf the American way of war that I ' felt compelled to weigh domestic ,anti- EIlsberg had now begun to see. his The Pentagon Papers chronicled three find most to blame in myself. AS I look communism more heavily than any back over my rolein the last eight years, it is or foreign policy objective. ~h~ enlistment of government officials as a decades of American military and with a heavy sense of guilt." futile endeavor. He approached several diplomatic policy in Indochina. By only way, men, to change the course of lawyers, in the hopes that they would in- reproducing the actual ,memqranda, Why did Ellsberg act at this moment? foreign policy was to show the Executive itiate "civil suits or injunctions claiming cablegrams, and orders of government of- He recalls: Branch that the overwhelming consensus in America was to withdraw from Viet- and Dan always thought he'was bigger the Times may have disarmed the staff Ellsberg did not release the "diplomacy" nam. The best (and perhaps only) way to than other men."S6 momentarily). Nixon said that the volumes, the participants regarded the shape this consensus was to show the Another friend remarked: publication of the Papers "created a situa- leak as a breach of security." public that Vietnam was against national It was ego. Any act of conscience, if it has ti~nin which the ability of the govern- Journalist Anthony Lukas identified interests. Publication of the Pentagon potentially vast consequences, becomes in- ment to carry on foreign relations even in three White House fears at the time. The Papers, Ellsberg believed, would shape evitably, in part, playing God. But that has the best of circumstances could have been first was that Ellsberg ,and his "co- this new public perception, forcing the to be weighed against the consequences of severely compromised."9' Also, because conspirators" had even more damaging hand of the Executive Branch, who would not playing God.. .. Idon't think he can get one of the first Times' articles contained secrets to release, or even to pass to the then realize . that domestic political away from guilt.. .. Dan was not acting so part of the Wheeler Report (a document Soviet Union. The second fear was that pressures were reversed, and that involve- much out of personal guilt as out of na- on the Tet Offensive that Ellsberg also ob- Ellsberg's action would inspire others ment in the war should end.80 tional guilt, but the personal element was in tained and released), which was not part within the government fo leak classified But Ellsberg knew that releasing the there somewhere." of the Pentagon study, "serious materials. Third was "a corollary coneem classified documents was an illegal act. questions" were raised "about what and -that conservatives might leak informa- He defined his illegal transgression as how much else might have been taken. tion about the as yet secret Nion- "non-violent civil disobedience," which Within a week of the publication of the There was every reason to believe that this Kissiqger plans for rapprochement with was "a way of making a dramatic state- first ,installment of the Papers, the FBI was a security leak of unprecedented pro- Moscow and Peking in an effort to ment of con~cience."~~ discovered that Ellsberg had been the portion~."~~ sabotage them." Although rumors circu- Journalists and Ellsberg's friends offer source of the leak. An indictment by a Ellsberg's release of the study had oc- lated at the time, no concern was truly different interpretations. Journalist Peter federal grad jury on June 28, 1971, curred at "a particularly sensitive time." substantiated. However, the White House Schrag, for example, felt that "the act was charged Ellsberg with "unauthorized After months of negotiating to establish a did tighten controls, enlisting a group of also an effo o establish credibility with possession of. . .documents and writings secret channel to Peking, Henry Kis- self-styled "plumbers" to fix the "leaks." the people he las trying to reach.n82 related to the national defense," and the singer's secret visit there was just "three nese men planned the break-in at Ells- Schrag quoted\ berg: "When I first possession of these copies-all but one and a half weeks away" when the leak oc- berg's psychiatrist, in an effort to gather started facing such audiences and the per- being classified - for "his own use." Max- curred. Also, on May 31, Kissinger had more information concerning the former son introducing me felt compelled to go imum sentence for conviction of either of- made what Was considered an important Rand researcher.95 down the whole list of my past associa- fense was ten years imprisonment and a proposal to Hanoi during secret talks in Rand reaction was not favorable. One tions, my heart would sink with each $10,000 fine." The indictment also charg- analyst said, "It's just monstrous, un- ed Ellsberg with a violation of the Es- Paris. Writes Kissinger: "For the first time sentence."" Indeed, in May of 1971, in the war Hanoi had deigned to say that it believably disloyal to do what he did, an Ellsberg went to an anti-war rally in pionage Act, which asserted that Ellsberg had "reason to believe" the information in would study an American proposal.. . If arrogant, egotistid act by a guy with a Washington, and by several accounts, ~anoiconcluded that our domestic sup martyr complex." Another analyst com- took charge of the affair. He said after- the documents "could be used to the in- jury of the United States or to the advan- port was eroding, for whatever reason, it mented upon the schism in Rand, and ward, "I tried to get arrested, but I guess I was bound to hold fast to its position." evaluated Ellsberg's act: didn't look young enough."" tage of any foreign nation."S9 Ellsberg directly refuted the charge of Regarding Peking, Kissinger noted that .. .What he [Ellsberg] did was simply not Friends of Ellsberg varied in their inter- because of "the massive hemorrhage of pretations of his motives in divulging the violating the Espionage Act. There were supposed to happen. Everyone with a top several of the original forty-seven state secrets.. . Our nightmare at the mo- security clearance gets a tough investigation documents. Said one: ment was that Peking might conclude our and after that. it's up to a man's sense of volumes of the Pentagon study that con- cannot Ever since I've known him, he's had this tained accounts of sensitive negotiations government was too unsteady, too har- loyalty and honor. You maintain an almost evangelistic need to communicate to assed, and too insecure to be a useful part- atmosphere of loyalty and self-respect if you the truth he's just discovered. I suspect, among Washington, Hanoi and Moscow. you have guards looking into briefcases.9' Ellsberg said: ner." But Kissinger concluded that the that's the way it was with the Pentagon leak had no substantial effect on either Various procedural delays led Judge Papers. He couldn't stand having the truths None of these studies were given to any the Peking visit or the Hanoi negotia- Matthew Byme, Jr. to declare a mistrial he's discovered in them hidden from the newspapers. They were given to the Senate public view." tions.9' on December 8,1972. By then, twelve ad- Foreign Relations Committee;. .. Obvious- In his memoirs, Nixon recalls that the ditional counts of theft, violation of the Some friends even asserted it was a ly, I didn't think there was a single page.. . "CIA was worried that past or current in- Espionage Act and conspiracy had been matter of ego that led Ellsberg to release that would do grave damage to the national interest, or I wouldn't have released them.90 formants would be exposed.. .In fact, filed against Ellsberg and defendant the Pentagon Papers. Said one friend, one secret contact dried up immediately." Anthony Russo. Findy, on May .ll, "One morning Dan woke up, and saw he White House reaction to the publica- He also asserted that governments acting 1973, because of evidence reaching Byrne was forty years old and not famous yet. tion of the docurnents,waseventually ag- as "diplomatic go-betweens" registered concersng the break-in at Ellsberg's Turning forty does sbmething to people gressive (the initial low-keyed headline in uofficial protests" because, even though psychiatrist's in August of 1971, he de- . . 23. Rich, p. 290. 62. lbid., p. 68. clared anather mistrial and dismissed all 63. Ibii., p. 72. ' Inscribed on the . - 24:Ibid. charges against Ellsberg and Ru~so.~' 22. Ibid. 64. hlras. P- 106. Ellsberg con,tinued demonstrating , sWpa:' iH&k Who dedwe." 65. Ungar, p. 82. against the war in Vietnam, up to the Newsweek, 77. JW 28. 1971. P. 16. 1 66. Ibid., p. 83. Communist victory there in 1975. Then, moral princjple /md to country' above . . 27. Todd Gitlin. mb~rg 4 the NvHCfohw 67. Sch~,7% P. 48- he shifted his energies to protesting the loyalty to perso , party or Government commonweal, Sept. 3, 1971, ~.,450. . 68. Takel. p. 56. nuclear arms build-up and advocating dis- department,.n103 28. Rich, p. 292. 69. The Suspcd.," P. 16. e any people dot present that Oiat, armament. "In October 1976, Ellsberg 29. lbid. ', 70. Schrag, Td,Pp. 51. . was arrested with forty others at a among thq sc iars, public officials, 30:M0Ski. p. 33- 71. Ibid., p. 49- demonstration in front of the Pentagon. and fellow 'citi s. also felt that Daniel 3 1. Studs Tukel. Srnoirof the Harpers, 72. Moskin, p. 39. Ellsberg had eery that code well. Many In March 1978, he organized and led a i . - 244. p. 52. 73. Ibid. p. I protest march on the nuclear weapons others continued.. . . to believe that:he had 32. kidskin; 33. 74. Sdrrag. T's PP. 54.80. plant at Rock Flats, Nevada."91 not. . . \ 33:'Ibid. ' 1. 75. ~c~bnnis,W. 19-1-98. Things at Rand were much worse. 34. "E,Usbag: The Battle Oinr the Righ to Know," 76. Rich, p. 300. Time, I Henry Rowen, Ebberg's best frigd, was 98; July 5, 1911, p. 9.' n. ibid Rich, 293-94. forced to give up his position as president 35. pp. 1 .78. Sdrrag. Affair? P- 36- of the orghtion.99 Ellsberg defended 36. John P. , Roche. "-OIL( 0 mbag." 79. UW,P. '19. ~&ington *I, July 24.1971, Yr p. 19. , . himself against the charge that he had d 80. Moskin. P. 39. 37; Rich, P. 293. , I all, ' 81. Ibid., p. 41. betrayed his friend: "After there were 1971, p. 98. I 38. Ibid. - 1 McGinniss. TheOrdeal 82. Ibis P. 36. thousands of very red people-among ' . 39. Ibid. - -- - - 19, Oct. 1m. p* lg. 83. Ibid. them some of my friends-who would - - ' 40, Mm,.p.,191. ~~aak do aaims gq. mbq:'lbe Battk." P. 9. also be deeply affected- even killed- by 3. Rich,-v: the of conscience 41. Rich, p. 294. .I a continuation of the war."loO outwc@ the mes Citizenrhip, Testimony bf 85. L~kas,P. 104. ne Danid $txm" mire, 191, 42. peter Schrs& T& of ~NIIY( cw York: Rand, itself, lost control to the Air w-, 1974). p. 35. Abe SChW. 86. Rich, P. 302. p. 286. .sdn w-, Force of all its top secret documents. Its ~mg~ffair," Suf~ryRrviCy. 13, 87. Ibid. 4. Ibid. 778, funding also slipped-but that was a 1971.'. ' ' ', . . 88. M- who StPrtcd It All." NH, development evident in the fall from grace 5. Ibid. .. a.~qekiin, P. 34. I July 12,1971. p- 20. 6. lbid. that most military think tanks exper- . 44. ~clua&TGd, p. 35. 89.1~. ienced since the Tet Offensive in 1968. 7. McOinniss. p. 1911 45. Ibid. 90. Ibid. 8. Rich, p. 286. Wrote Peter Schrag: "EUsberg simply 46.lbid. . . 91.' schrpg. T& P. 82. 9. Ibid., p. 281. dramatized the demise and forced the 1 47. Rich,-p. 294. 92. Ibid., p. 83. 10. Ibid. . keepers of the mystery of military science 48. .hkas. pp. 103-4. ' 93. Huyy Khhga, white ,H& YaM (Boston: 1I. McGinnk. p. 191' into self-serving denials and contradic- 49. Schrap, Tost. PP. 437-38. Liuk, BrQwn, 1979). pi 730. 12. J. ROW Moskii,1 "Elkberg Talks," Look. 35. 9.%Usberg: .lXe Battle," p. 11. . 1 . 94. ~ichardNi nK M~ndndRiahord tions to save thern~elves."'0~ Od. 5. 1971, p. 32. 1 . (NW York: Grosset & Dunkp, 1978). p. a. Watergate and all it enveloped -in- 13. Ibid.. p. 33. : 51. Schrap. '~csr..P. 37. 52. Mdn, p. 'M. 95. J. Anthony Lulrpr, Nigh~m(NmYork:Vik- cluding the break-in by G. Gordon Liddy 14. Rich, p. 288. I and Howard Hunt at Fielding's office- 53. Td,PP. 37-38. ing Press. 1976). p. 71. 15. Maskin, p. 33. 1 . . m, 54. Ibid pp. 39-40. %. teaks," P. 29. forced Nixon to resign in August of 1974. 16. McGinniss. p. 197.1 "Plw Both that and the final capitulation of 17. Rich. p. 288. 55. Rich. p. 294. 97. Ele~oraW. Scho~ndM~m.ed., prof& of an ~m.llis ~-i/FardYam (New York: Harcollrt. South Vietnam to the Communists in 18. 'Plugging Lcaks inaThink Tank." 56. Lukas, p. 98. . Newweek, race. Jwanovich. 1979). pp. 191-92. 1975 served as the confirmation of all of 78. July 12. 1971. p. 29.1 57. Rich, p. 294. Elkberg's suspicions: an overpowering 98. Ibid., p. 192. 19. Rich. p. 288. S8. %C S~ped,"P. 16. Executive Branch and useless, immoral 99; Wra& T&, p.257. a 20. Moskin. p. 32. 1 59. Mdn, p. 39: war. 100:Lukar. p. 105. 21. John Walsh, ~~enhonPapas: Repac11ssiom 60. Schrag, Ta, P. 45. At an awards dinner given by the Science. 173 (Ju- 101. Sdrrtag. T&, p. 2.57. Federal Employees for Peace in Septem- 61. Sanford J. UngPr, The PUPUS (Ncw'York: E. P. Dutton, 1m). PP- 67 102. Lukas, p. 98. ber of 197 1. Daniel Ellsberg received its 22. *Plugging Lealrs." 4.28. . .