The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (Documentary 2009)
Directors: Judith Ehrlich, Rick Goldsmith
This is a very important movie. At the very least, it reminds us of what true heroism looks like, but it is also involving as a story, really gripping for those of us who lived through the times.
Ellsberg was a cold warrior of high rank. The RAND Corporation (Research ANd Development) is a nonprofit global policy think tank that whose mission was developing strategic and military policy under contract to the US government. It is, and has been, making policy in many areas including our commitment to space travel and social welfare.
However, it is best known for its creation of systems analysis and for participants like Herman Kahn, who posited the theory of a “winnable” nuclear war. He was one of the models for the character of Dr. Strangelove. Scary.
Ellsberg fit neatly in at RAND, a cold warrior and former Marine with a giant intellect. During the Vietnam war, he was on the ground toting a weapon and scouting for the Pentagon and Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara. Eventually, Ellsberg came to the conclusion that the war was unwinnable, and that the government had been lying to the American public about nearly everything, from the Tonkin Gulf incident, which never happened but served as the basis for Lyndon Johnson’s escalation of the conflict, to reports on how well the war was going.
In one telling incident, Ellsberg briefed McNamara on the sad state of affairs in Vietnam on a plane ride to Washington. McNamara took it all in, and then lied to the assembled press corps upon landing.
At the same time, Ellsberg’s future wife, and friend, Patricia was unable to reconcile the man she knew with the work he was doing. At some point, influenced by anti-war sentiment and his own revulsion at the untruths, he decided to photocopy and release secret documents outlining the true status of the war and the lies of the government.
When several anti-war politicians refused to publish the documents, he went to the New York Times. They published part of the story until they were legally enjoined from any further publication. It was then passed to, among others, the Boston Globe, The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times.
The Nixon administration went off like a bomb. It was this incident that Nixon used to create the “White House Plumbers,” to stop leaks, and to break into Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office to find incriminating material. And thus was born the mentality that resulted in the Watergate scandal.
See this movie. Ellsberg was, and remains, an example of how to behave when confronted with a moral dilemma, even one that negates your life’s work to that point. I hope, if I am ever in the same kind of position that Ellsberg’s example will be my guide.
Ellsberg will be at Cinema 21 Friday night, April 2, to answer questions.
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