Daniel Ellsberg Biography

Has access to the complete set of documents which reveal that the Government had knowledge all along that the war would not likely be won, and that continuing the war would lead to many times more casualties than admtted. Contributes to a top-secret study of classified documents regarding the conduct of the Vietnam War that had been commissioned by Defence Secretary McNamara

With the assistance of his former RAND Corporation colleague, Anthony Russo, Ellsberg secretly made several sets of photocopies of the classified documents he had access to - these became known as the Pentagon Papers

Tries to persuade sympathetic senators to release the Pentagon Papers

The Pentagon Papers, officially titled United States – Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense.

The papers were released by Daniel Ellsberg who had worked on the study, and first brought to the attention of the public on the front page of The New York Times.

is a United States Department of Defense history of the United States' political-military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967.

For his disclosure of the Pentagon Papers Ellsberg was initially charged with conspiracy espionage and theft of Government property

The papers revealed that the U.S.

but the charges were later dropped after prosecutors investigating the Watergate Scandal soon discovered that the staff members in the Nixon White House had ordered the so-called White House Plumbers to engage in unlawful efforts to discredit Ellsberg

had secretly enlarged the scale of the Vietnam War with the bombings of nearby Cambodia and Laos, coastal raids on North Vietnam, and Marine Corps attacks, none of which were reported in the mainstream media.

For 15 days, the Times was prevented from publishing its articles by court order requested by the Nixon administration, meanwhile, Ellsberg leaks the documents to The Washington Post and 17 other newspapers. Ellsberg releases the documents to New York Times correspondent Neil Sheehan & On Sunday, June 13, 1971, the Times publishes the first of nine excerpts and commentaries on the 7,000 page collection

In February 1971, Ellsberg discussed the study with The New York Times reporter Neil Sheehan, and gave 43 of the volumes to him in March

The New York Times begins publishing material from the Pentagon Papers leaked by Ellsberg, intensifying Nixon administration concern about unauthorized disclosures.

The New York Times began publishing excerpts on June 13, 1971; the first article in the series was titled "Vietnam Archive: Pentagon Study Traces Three Decades of Growing US Involvement". The study was dubbed The Pentagon Papers during the resulting media publicity. Street protests, political controversy, and lawsuits followed

Leaked Pentagon Papers begin appearing in the New York Times

On June 18, 1971, The Washington Post began publishing its own series of articles based upon the Pentagon Papers; Ellsberg gave portions to editor Ben Bradlee

Admits to delivering the Pentagon Papers to New York Times

The Supreme Court ordered publication of the Times to resume freely (New York Times Co. v. United States). Although the Times did not reveal Ellsberg as their source, he went into hiding for 13 days afterwards, suspecting that the evidence would point to him as the source of the theft

Howard Hunt burgals the office of the psychiatrist of Daniel Ellsberg, the leaker of the secret "Pentagon Papers" about the Vietnam War

Howard Hunt burgals the office of the psychiatrist of Daniel Ellsberg, the leaker of the secret "Pentagon Papers" about the Vietnam War

Howard Hunt burgals the office of the psychiatrist of Daniel Ellsberg, the leaker of the secret "Pentagon Papers" about the Vietnam War

The federal case against Ellsberg and Anthony Russo is dismissed after government misconduct, including illegal evidence gathering connected with the Fielding break-in, is exposed.