Click2History - The Pentagon Papers - Chapter 1 - Preface

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top><table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff cellpadding=5> <tr> <td align=center valign=top><div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>THE PENTAGON PAPERS</b></font></p>  <table width="590"> <tr> <td align="CENTER" valign="top" bgcolor="000000" colspan=2><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="3" color="FFFFFF"><b>STORY CHAPTER LINKS</b></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td align=center valign=top width=50%>  <table width="100%" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5" border="0"> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><a href="#preface"><b>1. STORY PREFACE</b></a></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="50%"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="pentagon_papers_ch2.htm">2. WHAT ARE THE PENTAGON PAPERS?</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="50%"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="pentagon_papers_ch3.htm">3. LEAKS TO THE PRESS</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="pentagon_papers_ch4.htm">4. WHO SUPPORTED THE WAR?</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="pentagon_papers_ch5.htm">5. THE ASSASSINATION PLOT</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="pentagon_papers_ch6.htm">6. DEATH OF A PRESIDENT</a></b></font> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> <td align=center valign=top width=50%>  <table width=100% cellpadding=5 cellspacing=5 border=0> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="pentagon_papers_ch7.htm">7. THE GULF OF TONKIN</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="pentagon_papers_ch8.htm">8. A SECOND ATTACK?</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="pentagon_papers_ch9.htm">9. EXTRAORDINARY POWERS</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="pentagon_papers_ch10.htm">10. THE TRUTH ABOUT TONKIN</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="pentagon_papers_ch11.htm">11. CASE DISMISSED</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="pentagon_papers_ch12.htm">12. THE VERDICT OF HISTORY</a></b></font> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table>  <p><b><font size="3"><u><a name="preface">PREFACE</a></u></font></b></p> <div align=center><b><i><font face="Times New Roman" color="000000" size="3">In revealing the workings of government<br> that led to the Vietnam war, the newspapers<br> nobly did precisely that which the Founders<br> hoped and trusted they would do.</b></i><br><br> Justice Hugo Black<br> <i>New York Times Co. v. United States</i><br> June 30, 1971</i></font><br><br> </div> <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">President <a href="http://www.nixonfoundation.org/TheNixons/images/Rnpn.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Nixon</b></a> did not have a good day on June 13, 1971. Along with everyone else in the country, he was shocked by that day’s edition of <i>The New York Times</i>. There, for all the world to see, was the first of a series of stories sure to anger the American public. </p> <p>Three years earlier, Robert McNamara (Secretary of Defense for Presidents Kennedy and Johnson) had commissioned a top-secret study on American involvement in Vietnam. Documents from that study had found their way into a reporter’s hands. And those hands (belonging to <a href="http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/conversations/Sheehan/SheehanCon.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Neil Sheehan</b></a>) had crafted a story destined to embarrass every Administration from <a href="http://students.vassar.edu/~vietnam/doc5.html" target="_blank"><b>Eisenhower</b></a> on. Unknown to Nixon at the time, the most damaging papers related to the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations.</p> <p>There was only one solution to the government’s problem: Get an injunction to prevent the press from publishing any future stories. Nixon lost that battle, however. The documents were made public. Many paint a picture of government and military <a href="http://media2.bmrc.berkeley.edu/video/projects/cwh/sheehan/SheehSg3.ram" target="_blank"><b>arrogance</b></a>, lies and deception. (You will need Real Audio for this video clip of Neil Sheehan.) </p> <p>Collectively those documents are known as "The Pentagon Papers."</p> </div> <p align="right"><font size="2"><a href="pentagon_papers_ch2.htm">GO TO CHAPTER 2</a></font></p><br>  </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table>  </body>