The Most Dangerous Man In America

We were supposed to turn in a hard copy of a study guide of The Most Dangerous Man in America but a few things happened which prevented me from doing that:

• My printer freaks out every time I use it now because, apparently what little I've printed has already run through the black ink.
• The Wyview printer was broken for a profuse amount of time
• I was scatterbrained and forgot my flash drive, plus I have no idea where the on-campus printing stations are because, again, scatterbrains!
• I was scatterbrained because I learned that the reason my father wouldn't call me all day yesterday was because he is in the hospital being tested. Hospitals terrify me. It's probably blood pressure, but that has only been determined this morning. Needless to say, I was unusually worried.

So, I thought about my options, and realized that this was the perfect solution. I needed to answer the study guide, and I loved the movie so much, why not blog about it?

As a brief overview, for those of you who have not seen it, The Most Dangerous Man in America is a documentary about Daniel Ellsberg narrated by the man himself. Ellsberg worked as a startegist at The Pentagon during the Vietnam War years. During part of it, he actiually served in Vietnam and witnessed the war firsthand, as few at the Pentagon or its RAND Corporation, for whom Ellsberg worked by assignment.

Eventually, Ellsberg began to doubt what the US government was doing. So, he read and eventually Xeroxed a top-secret government study, now called the Pentagon Papers, which revealed truths about America's involvement in Vietnam that the public at large had no idea of. Ellsberg leaked the study to the New York Times, which was slapped with the government by a prior restraint lawsuit, as was The Washington Post after Ellsberg leaked the study to them. Eventually Ellsberg himself was sued for breaking his security clearance.

The legacy left by the government's actions in regard to the pentagon papers is complex. The legacy the government leaves behind for itself is one of fear--the same overwhelming fear of communism and its spread that had motivated McCarthy's witch-hunts in the senate twenty years earlier. The Pentagon Papers, combined with Watergate, led to a mistrust of government by both the media and the public at large. It probably shook the public's faith in the democratic system--these sort of things weren't supposed to happen when the constitution was followed, yet here they were happening.

The lesson which may be learned from the Pentagon Papers is that the American people cannot be complacent with government. My Dad always used to tell me "Trust, but verify," and that is what Americans must do. Even though the President has been elected by the voice of the people, we must be ever on alert to ensure he does not betray the trust we have put in him--and that actually goes for any government official but the President especially. That is why journalists are so important. We feed the information to the people so they know if something is wrong (I almost put if something Bad is happening, but I've done far too many obscure Wicked references in already, so no).

The Media brought great publicity to Ellsberg and what he was trying to accomplish even though it took awhile. The government could possibly have downplayed what had happened with Ellsberg's leak if the media had not jumped on the story as they did. Ellsberg was interviewed before trial, surrounded by reporters every time he left the courthouse; the media ate it up, bringing enormous attention to Ellsberg and his cause. The way in which it was covered--the leak of major US intelligence documents during major US military action--is reminding me very much of the current WikiLeaks controversy. I still need to read more about that controversy to get the minute details, but the idea is similar; some guy leaked secret government documents and is facing prosecution. The Pentagon Papers have made the media more aggressively suspicious of the government. The Media grew from near-lapdogs to Watchdogs as a result of this and other scandals of the Nixon Administration.

Journalists, in my opinion, should reveal classified information under the both (not merely either) of the following circumstances:

• When the American people have been lied to in a way that negatively affects their life/liberty/pursuit of happiness by the government they have voted into office and trusted as the "guards [of] their future security" (that's from the Declaration of Independence).
• When doing so will not endanger American operatives or citizens

Only when the second condition is not met, and publishing classified information will truly endanger Amercian citizens, particularly our soldiers and operatives who are trying to protect our freedoms, would the government have the right to censor through prior restraint were a newspaper foolish enough to publish something which would do that.

If the Supreme Court had ruled in favor of the Nixon Administration, or if an Espionage Act suit had been undertaken, we would not have a true free press. The press would be scared to go against the government even when necessary for the public good. I think that may have been part of the motivation behind the court's decision.

I believe that, were major media outlets handed documents like the Pentagon Papers, they would make them public. In the first, just today the New York Times published internal US memos about Russia. In the second place, hello, sales and ratings!!! Classified documents that fulfill journalism's watchdog role are a win-win situation for media companies.

It's an amazing movie that I recommend everyone watch, especially if you're interested in media or history.