White house team, the plumbers, to dig up dirt on daniel ellsberg, the. The leak of the pentagon papers study of the vietnam war became a turning point in the. Former secretary of state urged study of nixon white house recordings the most dangerous man in america. Rick perlstein interviews daniel ellsberg about his new. Nixon aide john ehrlichman passes on the presidents recommendations to the heads of the plumbers, egil krogh and david young see july 20, 1971, regarding pentagon papers leaker daniel ellsberg see late junejuly 1971. Daniel ellsberg, the original whistleblower, looks back. The document set in motion a chain of events that ended not only the nixon presidency but the vietnam war. Gordon liddy, part of the group known as the watergate plumbers, broke into the office to gain information about ellsberg, the pentagon official who leaked the pentagon papers to the new york times in 1971.
Tapes of all nixon s conversations in white house, nixon edited them tapes show his guilt in watergate and he resigns 18 minute gap a key segment of the june 23rd tape, in which nixon met with advisors to discuss the arrests of the watergate defendants, was mysteriously erased from the tapes. In 1971 former cold war hardliner daniel ellsberg made history by releasing the pentagon papersa 7,000page topsecret study of u. On this edition of the nixon now podcast, were talking the nixon tapes again, with specific focus on president nixon s conversations about daniel ellsberg and the case of the pentagon. These newly released tapes reveal richard nixon at his worst, which was. Nixon s statesmanlike response was to fund a secret investigative team to bedevil ellsberg and anyone else whom nixon, in his overweening paranoia and narcissism, deemed a risk to national. Tell keogh he should do whatever he considers necessary to get to the bottom of this matterto learn what ellsbergs motives and potential further harmful action might be. Daniel ellsberg, the original whistleblower, looks back and forward the leaker of the pentagon papers had expected to spend his life in prison. The article was based on a 7,000page, topsecret defense department history of american involvement in vietnam leaked to the newspaper by disillusioned former pentagon employee daniel ellsberg. The pentagon papers was the name given to a topsecret department of defense study of u.
Edgar hoover that he wanted federal law enforcers to target daniel ellsberg, the man. The nixon tapes and the supreme court tapes national security archive electronic briefing book no. Daniel ellsberg discussed the effort to end the nuclear arms race and other topics. Hunt was also responsible for organising the burglary of the office of daniel ellsberg s psychiatrist, lewis fielding. June th, 2011, marks the 40th anniversary of the initial publication of the pentagon papers in the new york times daniel ellsberg was interviewed for pieces in both the new york times and cnn on the anniversary, and on the governments decision to declassify the papers in the new york times piece, daniel said its absurd. Ive known daniel ellsberg for only five minutes, but, curious, i unwind it from my neck and give it over. The evidence found on the nixon white house tapes about the watergate breakin was crucial to bringing down nixon, especially because the prosecutors didnt want to be seen to be defending daniel. Jews, intellectuals and ivy leaguers, says ken hughes, a. Robert ellsberg, is publisher and editorinchief of orbis books. Jewish or not, daniel ellsberg provides grist for a film j. No, they were worried that i knew about their nuclear threats. Daniel ellsberg on the pentagon papers, nuclear doom, and.
The nixon tapes, the chennault affair, and the origins of watergate published by the uva press. Daniel ellsberg explains why he leaked the pentagon papers. Kutler busted doctoring nixon tapes to help john dean. Why accidents are rarely accidental by marc gerstein, with michael ellsberg. Daniel ellsberg and adrienne arsenault listen to part of the nixon tape that refer to the pentagon papers leak, which ellsberg says was the beginning of the end for nixon s government 0. Nixons resignation, and hundreds of books on watergate, can there. It tended to focus on audio tapes made via nixon s white homestead group wherein. In this portion of tapes recorded during his time in the white house. This conversation with attorney general mitchell also reveals the presidents frustration with j.
The nixon presidential materials staff at the national archives and records administration formally opened these conversations in the october 5, 1999 release of 3646 conversations totaling approximately 443 hours of nixon tapes. Daniel ellsberg, who leaked the top secret pentagon papers during the nixon administration, says donald trump and his effort to destabilize the press is far more dangerous than anything richard nixon did. And while nixon didnt mind his predecessors being placed in a bad light, he feared leaks by ellsburg or others about his own vietnam policy both present and past might come to the surface. Daniel ellsberg born april 7, 1931 is an american economist, activist and former united states. In a new documentary film by kovno communications, the most dangerous man in. Miller center researcher whos written two books on nixons tapes. Credit for forcing this longoverdue process of releasing the nixon tapes should go to. They show that not only was dean one of the original planners of the intelligence operation that led to the breakin, but that he hired liddy in part because of liddys successful breakin at the office of daniel ellsberg s psychiatrist. Within days, keogh and young will give ehrlichman a memo detailing the. It is now the morning of july 24, 1971, and nixon, fulminating about daniel ellsberg and the new york times and administration leaks, finds his thoughts drifting back to the bureau of labor. I have participated in several major organizational catastrophes.
In 1971, former marine daniel ellsberg leaked documents that exposed us. In this portion of tapes recorded during his time in the white house, president nixon discusses the publishing of the pentagon papers by the. Nixons oval office tape from june 14, 1971, shows h. For anyone researching a book attempting to cover daniel ellsberg, the pentagon papers, the vietnam war, and watergate, there is a nearly endless supply of sources to. Their most notable previous crime was a burglary at the office of daniel ellsberg s psychiatrist in 1971. President richard nixon talks with chuck colson about the leaked secret government documents about the vietnam war, the pentagon papers. When upperechelon military analyst daniel ellsberg leaked thousands of pages of classified pentagon documents about the vietnam war to the new york times and other newspapers in 1971, he was embraced as a man of conscience by many jews and attacked as a jewish traitor by president richard nixon.
Interestingly, ellsberg speculates that the breakin by nixons plumbers was as much an attempt to blackmail fielding as it was a gambit to stop ellsberg. As the tapes show, nixon was talking about the possible use of nuclear weapons against north vietnam. That excerpt from the watergate tapes, whose evidence of presidential misconduct contributed to president richard nixon s downfall, is quoted in a recent book by daniel ellsberg, the former government official who leaked the pentagon papers to the public in 1971. I was aware on my first visit to vietnam in 1961 that the situation there a failing neocolonial regime we had installed as a successor to french rule. Some 3000 hours of secret tapes from president nixon have been released, but. Daniel ellsberg may be the most notorious, even the most nefarious, mod. The nixon tapes, the chennault affair, and the origins of watergate. The document set in motion a chain of events that ended not only the nixon. Two tapesbased books published this summer, timed to the 40th anniversary of nixons resignation on august 9, 1974, go a long way toward showing nixons underappreciated geopolitical genius and how he became the victim of his own emotionalism.
Its the story of daniel ellsberg leaking the defense departments classified history of u. The official whose assessment was paraphrased by nixon s chiefofstaff was. Stay tuned for an illuminating documented discussion of secrecy and lies. They discuss the leaker, daniel ellsberg, and nixon. In this portion of tapes recorded during his time in the white house, president nixon told fbi director j.
Forty years after the leak and subsequent publication of the pentagon papers in the. His daughter, mary ellsberg, is vice president of research and programs at the international center for research on women in washington, d. There are three groups about whom nixon is particularly paranoid. In a new documentary film by kovno communications, the most dangerous man in america. Clifford, halperin and gelb had some knowledge of two of nixons most damaging vietnam secrets. The worlds most famous filing cabinet after daniel ellsberg leaked the pentagon papers, the notorious plumbers broke into his psychiatrists office, looking for a way to discredit him.
This electronic briefing book features, for the first time published anywhere, the audio. Fred graboske, head of the nixon tape project for the national archives nara, writes. A memoir of vietnam and the pentagon papers 9780142003428. Daniel ellsberg and the pentagon papers nominated for oscar. Jews, intellectuals and ivy leaguers, says ken hughes, a university of virginia miller center researcher whos written two books on nixons tapes. The book suffers somewhat from the overabundance of detail and repetition that also flawed tom. Late in this year this edited version was published in the book the pentagon papers as published by n. The nixon tapes, the chennault affair, and the origins of watergate, however, miller center scholar ken hughes argues that nixon was worried the pentagon papers leak would be followed by disclosure of his own vietnam secretsspecifically, the undisclosed bombing of cambodia, one of his first acts as president, and the. Daniel ellsberg explains why he leaked the pentagon papers in 1971, ellsberg leaked the pentagon papers to the press in the hope that they would help end the. Daniel ellsberg and the pentagon and papers, septenegarian daniel ellsberg educates a new generation about why in 1971 he committed a massive breach of national security by removing a copy of a highly classified, forty volume study on the vietnam war from the rand corporation and sent it to the new york times for publication.
Richard nixon on the phone in the oval office ollie atkinsrichard nixon presidential library. To keep the scoop secret, the times kept it from most of its own employees and rented a suite at a manhattan hotel where a small hive of reporters feverishly parsed the leaked information. As director of the fbi, hoover was in charge of the official investigation into ellsberg. The tapes he reprints of nixon plotting to damage him is like. The untapped secrets of the nixon tapes the atlantic. Daniel ellsberg says nuclear winter is a very real possibility, unless we act now. In 1971 former cold war hardliner daniel ellsberg made history by releasing the pentagon papers a 7,000page topsecret study of u. Nixon almost took vietnam war nuclear in november 1969 there was pressure to make the war larger and nuclear targets were picked by the nixon administration, the. This electronic briefing book features, for the first time published anywhere, the audio and transcripts of nixons first recorded conversations on june, 14 and 15 after publication of the pentagon papers began.
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