Pentagon Papers

The Pentagon Papers is a seven-thousand-page top-secret United States Department of Defense history of the United States involvement in the Vietnam War from 1945 to 1971. The Pentagon Papers was leaked in 1971 by Department of Defense worker Daniel Ellsberg. It was published as a series of New York Times articles beginning June 13. A complete edition was published by U. S. Senator Mike Gravel of Alaska.

The document revealed, among other things that the government had planned to go to Vietnam even when president Lyndon Johnson was promising not to, and that there was no plan to end the war. The document increased belief in the credibility gap, hurting the war effort. It is also noteworthy as a test of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Books

• The Pentagon Papers as published by the New York Times, Neil Sheehan
• A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers, Daniel Ellsberg 2002 ISBN 0670030309

External Links

• Pentagon Papers
• http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB48/supreme.html
• http://www.vva.org/pentagon/links/links2.html