Echoes of Project X - The Pentagon Papers Symposium

The Lied Center for the Performing Arts, the College of Law and the College of Journalism and Mass Communications are offering an exciting opportunity to hear four distinguished visitors on campus Oct. 30 - Nov. 2.

"Echoes of Project X: The Pentagon Papers Symposium" will bring Robert O'Neil, director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression at the University of Virginia; Anthony Lewis, two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and columnist for The New York Times; Walter Pincus, Washington Post staff writer; and Daniel Ellsberg, whistleblower, writer and activist, to the Lied Center (www.liedcenter.org) this fall.

The week concludes with a public performance by the L.A. Theatre Works company-in-residence at the Lied - "Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers," a docu-drama by Geoffrey Cowan and Leroy Aarons and starring Stacy Keach- Nov. 2 at 7:30 p.m.

"Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers" is an inside look at The Washington Post's decision to publish the top secret study documenting U.S. involvement in Vietnam. The subsequent trial tested the parameters of the First Amendment, pitting the public's right to know against the government's desire for secrecy. The epic legal battle between the government and the press went to the nation's highest court- arguably the most important Supreme Court case ever on freedom of the press.

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About the Pentagon Papers

"A cantankerous press, an obstinate press, an ubiquitous press, must be suffered by those in authority in order to preserve the even greater values of freedom of expression and the right of the people to know. These are troubled times. There is no greater safety valve for discontent and cynicism about the affairs of government than freedom of expression in any form... "
                                 - Federal Judge Murray Gurfein in his ruling on the publishing of The Pentagon Papers

In a democratic society, should a government be allowed to protect secrets in the name of national security? The publication of the Pentagon Papers tested the parameters of the First Amendment, pitting the public's right to know against the government's desire for secrecy. The subsequent legal battle between the government and the press went to the nation's highest court - arguably the most important Supreme Court case ever on freedom of the press.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara commissioned a study in 1967 on the history of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. The study was completed on January 15, 1969. One volume was housed at a think tank called the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, Calif., which conducts highly sensitive studies for the defense department.

Daniel Ellsberg, a former Defense Department employee, who was working at RAND was one of the few people to read the Pentagon Papers. He had come to believe the Vietnam War was a mistake. Ellsberg and a RAND colleague, Anthony Russo, secretly copied the Papers. First, Ellsberg tried to share some of the documents with the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in hopes that he would hold hearings and make them public. When that failed Ellsberg gave the papers to a reporter at The New York Times. Against the advice of outside lawyers, the Times' publisher and editors prepared a series of front-page articles to publish the secret documents.

The first story appeared in The New York Times on June 13, 1971. On June 14, Attorney General John Mitchell warned the Times via phone and telegram against further publication. On June 15, after the third installment was published, the government sought and won a restraining order against the Time. The Times ceased publication on June 16. A subsequent injunction was extended to the Washington Post when that paper picked up the cause.

On June 25, the Supreme Court granted certiorari on both Times and Post cases, on a 5-4 vote. On June 30, by a vote of 6 to 3, the Supreme Court allowed the Times and Post to resume publication of the Papers. The Pentagon Papers, formally New York Times Co. v. United States (No. 1873) and United States v. Washington Post Co., et al (No. 1885), was decided in less than 16 days. The Supreme Court decided on First Amendment grounds that prior restraint could not prevent publication of the Pentagon Papers, even though the information related to defense and national security.

On the same day that the Supreme Court vindicated the rights of newspapers to publish the information leaked to them by inside government sources, that same source, Daniel Ellsberg, was charged with theft and espionage. In December 1971, he and Russo were named as co-defendants and co-conspirators on 15 counts: Ellsberg, with five counts of theft, six counts of espionage, faced a total of 105 years. Russo, with one count of theft and two counts of espionage, faced 25 years.

The right to publish the Pentagon Papers was viewed as a triumph for free press, but the press's duty to deal carefully with national security has led to many other moments of conflict with the government.