Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War

On the morning of Sunday, June 13, 1971, President Nixon was angry about the leak but initially thought it “might not be too damaging” (217). After all, the study described in the Pentagon Papers concluded before Nixon took office, so he reasoned that he had little to worry about. Kissinger agreed; however, both thought the leak was “treasonable.” Across the country, media outlets remained occupied with the news of Nixon’s daughter’s wedding, but attention began to gradually turn toward the Pentagon Papers.

The next day, The New York Times published another story describing how President Johnson had made plans to bomb Vietnam while insisting he would not escalate the war. Kissinger insisted that President Nixon had to act to avoid looking like a “weakling.” That evening, the Times received a telegram from the attorney general, asking that the newspaper stop printing stories about the Pentagon Papers. The attorney general argued that sharing the information damaged American “defense interests” and was prohibited under the Espionage Law. The telegram prompted a shouting match between Times editors as they argued about what to do. Goodale, the paper’s in-house lawyer, argued that a telegram was not the same as a court order, and the Times had no obligation to obey.