Pentagon Papers

Cultural

A classified study of the Vietnam War that was carried out by the Department of Defense. An official of the department, Daniel Ellsberg, gave copies of the study in 1971 to the New York Times and Washington Post. The Supreme Court upheld the right of the newspapers to publish the documents. In response, President Richard Nixon ordered some members of his staff, afterward called the “plumbers,” to stop such “leaks” of information. The “plumbers,” among other activities, broke into the office of Ellsberg's psychiatrist, looking for damaging information on him.

Example Sentences

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The paper, known in part for its coverage of the Watergate scandal and the Pentagon Papers, has struggled to find a sustainable business model in the face of waning web traffic and changes to the way consumers access news and information online.

From The Wall Street Journal

In The New York Times vs. the United States, the Nixon administration tried to block publication of the Pentagon Papers by arguing that publication of classified documents about the Vietnam War would endanger national security, necessitating prior restraint to protect vital security interests.

From Salon

Instead, as George and Teddy Kunhardt’s film meticulously shows, she became a key player in the paper’s rise to prominence, courageously agreeing to publish the Pentagon Papers, standing behind her journalists during their Watergate investigation and generally serving as a publisher and chief executive who always put the need for an informed nation first.

From Los Angeles Times

Daniel Ellsberg’s leaks of the Pentagon Papers occurred more than 50 years ago.

From Salon

When asked to name personal highlights of LATW, Loewenberg mentioned her experience of taking the docudrama “Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers” to China when President Obama and China’s President Xi Jinping happened to be holding a bilateral meeting in California.

From Los Angeles Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023