Daniel Ellsberg an expert on nuclear warfare, former Marine officer, CIA officer and US Military analyst was asked by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to compile a report about the history of our involvement in Vietnam.
When Ellsberg learned we got into Vietnam to help the French get back its former colony and not because we were helping the South Vietnamese battle communists, he knew he and the American people had been lied to.
When the Pentagon locked up the report and refused to release it to the public he believed he had to release it so the American people could decide if this war was worth fighting.
The New York Times published what became known as the Pentagon Papers and Ellsberg was tried under the Espionage Act of 197. The case was eventually dismissed and the Nixon administration's efforts to undermine Ellsberg eventually lead to Watergate.
WW8 and 9
