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Reveal: The Pentagon Papers: Secrets, Lies And Leaks

Anna Vignet
/
Reveal
This episode of Reveal tells the story of Daniel Ellsberg, a former government strategist responsible for leaking the Pentagon Papers.

As special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s meddling of U.S. elections intensifies, we’re revisiting a story that still echoes in Washington’s halls of power: the leaking and publication of the Pentagon Papers. At the center of the episode are two guys in the room where history happened: Robert J. Rosenthal and Daniel Ellsberg.

Rosenthal encountered the Pentagon Papers at the beginning of his journalism career – an entry-level job at The New York Times in 1971.

When Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers to the press that same year, he chose to turn his back on a long career of proximity to power and immersion in government secrets. His early career as a nuclear war strategist prompted  his  fear that a small conflict could erupt into an atomic holocaust.

Ellsberg worried his worst fears would be realized as the American conflict in Vietnam flared. Our second segment follows his pondering whether leaking the top-secret material he was seeing at work could help stop the war. Soon, he secretly copied  the documents that came to be  known as the Pentagon Papers and showed  them to anyone he thought could help.

In our last segment, President Richard Nixon wakes up to the biggest leak in American history. His initial  reaction is strictly partisan: The Pentagon Papers might make trouble for the Democrats. That calculation sets off  a chain reaction that helps bring down his presidency.

NOTE: Rosenthal is the former executive director at The Center for Investigative Reporting, which produces Reveal along with PRX.

Reveal is a weekly radio program produced by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX. For more, check outour website andsubscribe to our podcast.

Reveal is a weekly radio program produced by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX. For more, check out Reveal's website and subscribe to the podcast.
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