After reading the "Washington Post", I wrote a short review: movies that are in line with the current political correctness of the United States, media freedom of speech, feminism, journalistic pursuits and economic interests and many other conflicts, broke out in the first half of the preparation and the second half, which is quite satisfactory. Spielberg is very good at scheduling, and the multi-party telephone at night to discuss whether to publish the drama is really wonderful. I have read Linda's book, the Pentagon Documents, Ellsberg, the New York Times, and the Department of Justice are very interesting. Unfortunately, the film only loses its color from the perspective of the Post.
I have seen Lin Da’s "A Closer Look at the United States: Like a Comet in the Night Sky" before, combined with Lin Da’s book and Wikipedia, to add more stories behind the movie:
McNamara and the Pentagon file:
Robert Strange McNamara was the U.S. Secretary of Defense from 1961 to 1968 and the President of the World Bank from 1968 to 1981. He was appointed Secretary of Defense from the position of President of Ford Motor Company after Kennedy took office in 1961; after Kennedy was assassinated, Johnson came to power and McNamara remained as Secretary of Defense. McNamara participated in the entire process of making Vietnam War policy during this period.
The Pentagon document, "U.S.-Vietnam Relations, 1945-1967: A Study of the Department of Defense", is a secret report of the U.S. Department of Defense's assessment of the U.S. political and military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967.
In June 1967, the then Minister of National Defense McNamara launched a research project, hoping to leave an "Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War". To this end, a "Vietnam War History Task Force" was established. Leslie Gelber is in charge. The study did not notify President Johnson and the Secretary of State. McNamara wanted this task force to comprehensively collect information on U.S. policies on Vietnam and Indochina over the past few decades, edit and summarize them by category, and demand that they be "all-encompassing and objective." Other than this request, he will no longer interfere in this project. In fact, he never met with the head of the task force, Gelber, even though they were in the same building.
By June 1969, the final report of the topic group was finally formed, divided into 47 volumes, including more than 3,000 pages of historical analysis and more than 4,000 pages of original archives, which was later known as the "Pentagon Documents".
This set of documents reveals the origin of the US policy towards Vietnam and how it has evolved. It can be seen from the document that as early as the end of World War II, Truman’s White House ignored Ho Chi Minh’s call for US support and turned to support Wu Tingyan in South Vietnam. From Eisenhower to Kennedy, they sent "military advisers" to South Vietnam in the same line. The document reveals how the United States has embarked on the path of escalation of the war with major events in its Vietnam policy in the past 30 years. For the first time, this set of documents clearly revealed the fears of US government officials at the time. This was the so-called "domino": they feared that if South Vietnam fell and voted for the Soviet camp, it would have a chain reaction to all Indochina countries, and even all of them. Southeast Asian countries will change color one by one and expand to other places, and the balance of power between the two sides of the Cold War will have a big change. But at the same time, the CIA has told successive presidents time and time again that the so-called dominoes do not exist and that the United States should withdraw from Vietnam. But this voice has been ignored by successive presidents.
A total of 15 sets of the report were printed. The first set was sent to McNamara, two of which were given to the National Archives, two to the State Department, and two to the RAND Corporation (one set was sent to the company’s headquarters in California, the other set Sent to the company's branch in Washington).
Ellsberg and Pentagon documents:
It is said that very few people have actually read the document. Except for the project leader, Gailbo (according to a close friend of McNamara, McNamara has not read the document once after receiving it), only one person has read it carefully: Daniel Ellsberg.
Daniel Ellsberg (1931 -), played for the US Marine Corps from 1954 to 1956, and joined the RAND Corporation in 1958. He received a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University in 1962. His dissertation researched on decision-making theory and found that people's decisions under vagueness and uncertainty lack consistency, that is, Ellsberg's paradox. In 1964, he entered the Pentagon to work. In 1965, he went to Vietnam for a field trip. This trip changed his view of the Vietnam War, from a hawk to a dove. (This change is reflected in the beginning of the movie). In 1967, he participated in the work of the Vietnam War History Task Force as an employee of the RAND Corporation. After returning from Vietnam, he has repeatedly conveyed dovish views to Congress, the media, and government figures, including Kissinger, which may have no effect. In 1969, Ellsberg carefully read and analyzed the Pentagon documents. He increasingly doubted the legitimacy of the U.S. intervention in the Vietnam War. He felt that the truth of the war should be announced, so he copied the documents in batches.
For the public documents, he first chose Congress, Senator Fulbright, who is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a member of the Senate who advocates withdrawal from Vietnam. Because of the procedural legality of the documents, Fulbright refused.
Then Ellsberg decided to go to the press. First he went to Neil Sihan of the Washington branch of The New York Times (the two had met in Vietnam). After Sihan reported to the director of the Washington branch, the two asked The Times Editor-in-Chief Rosenthal and other high-level officials informed them and asked for more manpower. This led to the process that the Times team headed by Xihan in the film studied materials and organized writing behind closed doors at the Washington Hilton Hotel. In order to avoid legal troubles and ensure the accuracy and objectivity of the published articles, the Times team sorted out the public speeches, speeches, writings and other materials of the State Council, the Pentagon and other officials on the one hand, and sorted out the Times’ reports on the Vietnam War in the past ten years, and carried out documents. Compare, at the same time, thoroughly investigate and eliminate content related to national security in articles to be published.
Sulzberger, the publisher of The Times, learned about this later. He immediately thought of whether there was legal trouble. The law firm in charge of The Times’ legal affairs did not recommend publishing articles. One of the vice presidents, Reston, advocated publication. He received the Yalta meeting documents from the State Council in 1954, which earned the Times a great reputation. It was not until two days before the publication of the Times that the publisher Sulzberg made a decision on the ten-day series, with six pages each day starting with Xihan's articles, and choosing key Pentagon documents for publication. On Sunday, May 13, 1971, the "New York Times" began to continuously publish Pentagon documents. Choosing to publish the first article on Sunday is a thief, because government officials take a rest and react slowly.
Then the government stepped in. The Department of Defense contacted the Department of Justice to take charge of the matter, but the Department of Justice did not know what the Pentagon document was. The Department of Defense was asked to write a memorandum explaining the document, but the Secretary of Defense could not find one who was completely familiar with the document. people. Before the publication of the third issue, The Times received an injunction issued by the Ministry of Justice. The Times responded with refusal and stated that it would obey the "final decision of the Supreme Court." At this time (11 o’clock in the evening) The Times’ law firm had no choice but to invite the Yale University law professor Beagle to appear in court. The federal court judge in New York did not make any judgments on the right or wrong of both parties in the case, but agreed to issue a court. The prohibition order rejected the request of the Ministry of Justice to confiscate documents.
Due to the prohibition order received by The Times, Ellsberg thought of television again, but was rejected by NBC/ABC/CBS. Because CBS might have been accused by the House of Representatives that CBS refused to cooperate with the Congress to provide information, it had to refuse; but Ellsberg expressed his understanding and later agreed to accept an interview with CBS (Ellsberg’s TV interview is reflected in the film ).
At the same time as the courtroom scenes between The Times and the Department of Justice began, it was possible to start talking about the "Washington Post." Boston got the documents, went back to Washington overnight, and went to the post's editor-in-chief Bradley (played by Tom Hanks) to start writing. The Post's internal opinions were not uniform, and finally the publisher Catherine Graham (played by Meryl Streep) decided to publish it. Then the Department of Justice stepped in and the two parties went to the Federal Court of Washington. The judge recognized the complete freedom of the press guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution and criticized the Department of Justice for misusing the "Counter Espionage Act." The court did not see any evidence that the publication of documents would Endanger national security.
Later, the "New York Times" in New York and the "Washington Post" in Washington respectively went from the Federal Court to the Court of Appeals with the Department of Justice. In the end, the two cases went to the Supreme Court together, and the Supreme Court ruled the media victory 6:3.
The document was opened to the public for declassification in June 2011.
This article only supplements some causes and consequences on the basis of movies. There are many stories outside of the post that are also very exciting. Unfortunately, the movies are limited and can only be started from a relatively few angles.
The media, including not only the Times and Post, which were the first to be involved, but later more media received and published documents provided by Ellsberg; the government, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Defense; the judiciary, the Federal Court, the Court of Appeal And the Supreme Court. The fighting among the three is very exciting. Starting from their own positions, they are fighting for their own positions and interests on the basis of respecting and following legal procedures. It is highly recommended to read Mr. Lin Da's book. The book is very detailed from the perspectives of media freedom of speech and justice. The language is easy to understand. There are rules and coincidences in the court competition, which fully reflects the professionalism of people in different industries.
One more thing:
"Washington Post", Eugene Mayer bought in 1933. In 1935, he published his newspaper principles in the newspaper office:
1. The first mission of the newspaper is to report as close as possible to the truth that has been confirmed as a fact.
2. The newspaper should report all the truths we can learn about important American and international affairs.
3. As a disseminator of news, the newspaper must be as decent as a gentleman.
4. The content of the newspaper should be suitable for all ages.
5. Newspapers should be responsible to readers and ordinary people, not to the self-interest of newspaper bosses.
6. As long as it is good for the public, newspapers must be prepared to sacrifice their own interests in order to insist on truthful reporting.
7. Newspapers will not be aligned with any special interests, but they must be fair, free and sound when reporting public affairs and public figures.
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