The Pentagon Papers - Secrets Revealed

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After the United States Supreme Court’s verdict on June 30th, 1971, the suspicions about a greater involvement in the conflict than previously thought by the people of the United States were confirmed. As a result of this new information presented to the public, a multitude of discoveries were made that were not previously reported by the media in the US. A few of the most famous releases of information included the revelations of its war with bombing Cambodia and Laos that were never reported by media in the US. The people now knew that they were being repeatedly lied to by four previous presidential administrations of Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson where they had all misled the public regarding their intentions in US involvement in Vietnam. After the Pentagon Papers were released, other renowned politicians such as Barry Goldwater had spoken out regarding their knowledge of these actions and lies.

“During the campaign, President Johnson kept reiterating that he would never send American boys to fight in Vietnam. As I say, he knew at the time that American boys were going to be sent. In fact, I knew about ten days before the Republican Convention. You see I was being called trigger-happy, warmonger, bomb happy, and all the tie Johnson was saying, he would never send American boys, I knew damn well he would” 1(National Security Archive, 1971).

Remarks and statements such as these would eventually lead to the discovery of corrupt and illegal actions by President Nixon’s administration upon the Watergate scandal.

The June 17, 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., led to the discovery of multiple abuses of power by the Nixon administration in which 48 of Nixon’s top administration officials were incarcerated. The scandal eventually led to Nixon’s resignation in August 1974 as there were articles of impeachment found as a result of this political scandal. This scandal relates to the release of the Pentagon Papers in the years prior as these scandals furthered the affirmation of the American people that they could not trust their government or President. The connection between the break-in and the re-election committee was highly covered in the media and other prominent leaders in media such as The Washington Post and The New York Times. The media played an equally important role in the leaking of the Pentagon Paper as it had in the coverage of the investigations on the Watergate scandal. During this time period, in the 1970’s, the importance of the media had dramatically increased as the people gained a greater reliance on the workings of the media due to the leakage of documents like the Pentagon Papers and other important information regarding other scandals.

Conclusion

Upon their release on June 13th 1971, The Pentagon Papers greatly influenced American culture within this time period by altering the public’s perception on the actions taken by the US government in the 1950’s and 60’s, President Nixon’s presidency, and during the Vietnam War. After witnessing even partial exposure of the Pentagon Papers, the fact was apparent to the people of the United States that their government had lied to them about a multitude of controversial actions throughout the course of three decades. The information that leaded had greatly influenced the public perception on the trustworthiness of their government where many presidents had lied about US involvement in Vietnam for multiple decades. The people’s perception on the media was also changed during this time period where the people could no longer hold confidence in media coverage when extensive bombings were performed in countries outside of Vietnam like Cambodia and Laos. However, I believe that the releasing of this coverage did in fact boost the people’s confidence in the media as they had released these files almost immediately after their discovery. The Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of the newspapers in their case against the United States shed light in a situation where the government was looked down upon by its people. The situation very well could have ended badly if the Supreme Court rule in favor of the United States, completely undermining the right to free press. Following the Supreme Court’s verdict on June 30th, 1971 the suspicions held by the people of the United States regarding thoughts of further unreleased files were confirmed. Newspapers like The Washington Post and The New York Times continued to release new information as more information became available to the public. A completely change in the political stigma of the US government was underway as people learned that Presidents such as Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon had lied about attempting to bring troops home, when they were most definitely informed on the long-term intentions of the US government in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Another interesting fact presented later in the full disclosure of the Pentagon Papers in 2011, includes a large majority of missing files from important sections of the files such as US Justification during the presidencies of Kennedy, Eisenhower, Truman, and Johnson.

After the conduction of extensive research on this topic, I have further cemented my preconceived notions against the trustworthiness of government and their organizations. Throughout previous history courses, I was informed of the broad scope on famous scandals during this time period such as the Watergate scandal, but I was completely unaware on the scale of these illegal actions. The most interesting fact I found was later presented within the full disclosure of the Pentagon Papers in 2011, includes a large majority of missing files from important sections of the files such as US Justification during the presidencies of Kennedy, Eisenhower, Truman, and Johnson. This goes to show how relevant this topic remains and how the US government can hide such important information from their citizens, even after other information was leaked. I believe the government could have altered these documents before their “full” release as recent as 2011 and this issue could remain important in the present day where researchers could possibly discover more information on the history of the Vietnam War. I’m sure many people, other than myself, still have questions regarding the justifications presented by each presidency of the United States in order to gain a greater understanding on what exactly the US had planned in the Vietnam War. Perhaps this section entitled, Justifications, could provide a more clear reasoning behind the United States’ involvement in Vietnam and surrounding countries.

Bibliography

Ellsberg,

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