Join us on this episode of Explaining History, where we journey back to one of the most politically turbulent eras in American history. We’re privileged to have Mary McNeil, a renowned historian and scholar, as our guide through the labyrinth of events that transpired from the release of the Pentagon PapersPentagon Papers Full Description:A secret Department of Defense study of U.S. political and military involvement in Vietnam. Leaked by Daniel Ellsberg in 1971, its publication infuriated Nixon and led directly to the formation of the “Plumbers” unit to prevent further leaks. The Pentagon Papers revealed that four successive presidential administrations had systematically lied to the public and Congress about the scope and progress of the Vietnam War. Nixon fought a Supreme Court battle to stop their publication (New York Times v. United States), arguing national security, but lost. Critical Perspective:Although the papers mostly implicated previous administrations (Kennedy and Johnson), Nixon’s obsessive reaction to them triggered the Watergate saga. He feared they set a precedent for leaking his own secrets. This connects Watergate directly to the Vietnam War; the domestic crimes of the administration were a direct result of its desire to prosecute an unpopular foreign war in secrecy.
Read more to the fall of the Nixon administration in the Watergate scandal.Mary elucidates the critical roles that Daniel Ellsberg and John Dean played in these defining moments of the early 1970s. She