The Post Page #13

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Have the courts ever stopped a

paper from publishing before?

Not in the history of the Republic.

Good thing we're not

part of this mess.

I'd give my left one

to be in this mess.

There's our front page lead.

Tomorrow, Chal, that's yours.

All right.

Party's over, let's uh,

get back to work, germs.

...in a news conference to

discuss the Pentagon papers...

Hello.

Hi, it's uh, Ben.

Yes?

Dan?

No.

Oh, um,

I'm trying to get hold of

a fella I used to know.

617-597-4580.

Oh!

Hold-Hold on.

-Was it 4580, 61--?

-Call from another phone.

Uh, 617

597-4580.

Hello.

-Yeah, I'm lookin' for--

-Yeah. Hey, Ben, it's Dan.

Dan!

It's good to hear your voice.

Yeah, it's been a while.

Yeah.

-Who is it?

-It's Ben.

Ben.

Dan.

The study had 47 volumes.

I slipped out a

couple at a time,

took me months

to copy it all.

What the hell?

Well, we were all

former government guys.

Top clearance, all that.

McNamara wanted academics

to have the chance

to examine

what had happened.

He would say to us, "Let the

chips fall where they may."

Brave man.

Well, I think guilt was a

bigger motivator than courage.

McNamara didn't lie

as well as the rest.

But I-I don't think he

saw what was coming,

what we'd find, but it didn't

take him long to figure out--

well, for us all to figure out.

If the public ever

saw these papers,

they would turn

against the war.

Covert ops, guaranteed debt,

rigged elections,

it's all in there.

Ike, Kennedy, Johnson--

They violated the

Geneva Convention,

and they lied to Congress

and they lied to the public.

They knew we couldn't win

and still sent boys to die.

What about Nixon?

He's just carrying on

like all the others.

Too afraid to be the one who

loses the war on his watch.

Someone said this at

some point about

why we stayed

when we knew we were losing.

Ten percent was to help

the South Vietnamese.

Twenty percent was to

hold back the commies.

Seventy percent was to avoid

the humiliation

of an American defeat.

Seventy percent

of those boys

just to avoid being humiliated?

That stuck with me.

They're gonna come

after you, you know?

And I gotta be honest,

the bread crumbs weren't

too hard to follow.

I know.

They're gonna lock you up, Dan.,

Wouldn't you go to

prison to stop this war?

Theoretically, sure.

You are gonna publish

these documents?

Yeah.

Even with the injunction.

Yes.

Well, then, it's not so

theoretical then, is it?

I'm gonna go do some

work in the studio.

My day was great,

thanks for asking.

That picture makes me sad.

Me too.

Bradlee.

I'm in Boston.

I'm gonna need two seats.

Why?

I'm gonna need to buy

two seats on the first

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