Daniel Ellsberg's The Most Dangerous Man In America
1121 Words5 Pages
In The Most Dangerous Man in America, a story is being told that explains the events and instances leading up to the copying and printing of the classified Pentagon papers by the Pentagon’s own employee, Daniel Ellsberg. The purpose of this documentary was to show the development of the Vietnam War and the true reasons behind it, and how it all was witnessed and evaluated by Ellsberg as he attempted to make a decision that could possibly end in his own incarceration. The documentary used multiple sources to tell the story, including presidential voice recordings, interviews of those involved, and past news recordings about the incidents the contributed to the final outcome. These sources allowed for a broad view and understanding of the situation…show more content… The documentary then evolves into explanations and stories told by Ellsberg himself, recalling on past events and explaining the purpose of his job. Prior to his work at the Pentagon, Ellsberg worked for RAND in California as a strategic decision making in a pressured situation, this skill caught the attention of the Defense Department, and he received a job working for the Assistant Secretary of Defense, John McNaughton, in 1964 where he specialized in war studies and relations. During this time, he also met radio host Patricia Marx. Marx exposed him to the side of the war that he was not entirely familiar with. Beginning on their first date, Ellsberg started to attend anti-war activists’ protests and gathering. He later took time to travel to Vietnam on special assignment in order to see and understand the situation for himself. After this trip, he began to realize that the whole truth was not being presented by the government. Ellsberg then began to further investigate the situation and was shocked to find that the “lies” and “secrets” the government had been hiding had been occurring during the terms of four different presidents. In his time at the Pentagon, Ellsberg worked under the presidencies of Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon, but the buildup began with Harry S. Truman and continued on to Dwight…show more content… He mulled over the idea of publishing classified documents that proved to the people that they were not being told the truth and that the war did in fact need to be stopped. Ellsberg consulted and met with different people to help him make his decision, the most prominent influence being Randy Kelher. Kelher’s willingness to risk prison time for his believed “good cause” surprises Ellsberg, and he that is when he decides to begin photocopying the McNamara study papers from the Pentagon. During the copying, Ellsberg marries Marx and continues to ask for her advice along with discussing to possibility of him spending time in prison. This was a huge concern for the both of them, but they eventually decided that exposing the papers was the highest priority; therefore, after Ellsberg finished copying the papers (with the help of his two children), Ellsberg met with a reporter with The New York Times to release the