Steve Sheinkin - Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War

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In memory of Lynn and Jill

Daniel Ellsberg is the most dangerous man in America. He must be stopped at all costs.

Henry Kissinger

DANIEL ELLSBERGS FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND ASSOCIATES

Carol Cummings Ellsbergs first wife

Patricia (Marx) Ellsberg Ellsbergs second wife and partner in activism

Robert Ellsberg Ellsbergs son with Carol Cummings

Mary Ellsberg Ellsbergs daughter with Carol Cummings

Dr. Lewis Fielding Ellsbergs psychiatrist

Randy Kehler antiwar activist who influenced Ellsberg

Tony Russo a former colleague from the Rand Corporation and co-conspirator in copying the Pentagon Papers

Harry Rowen Ellsbergs boss at Rand

Lynda Sinay let Ellsberg and Russo use her Xerox machine to copy Pentagon Papers

John Paul Vann retired Army colonel who showed Ellsberg around Vietnam

Howard Zinn Boston University professor and antiwar activist

PRESIDENTS AND THEIR STAFFS

Harry S. Truman U.S. President from 19451953, supported Frances bid to retake Vietnam in 1945

Dwight D. Eisenhower U.S. President from 19531961, opposed elections in Vietnam in an effort to block Communists from taking power

John Fitzgerald Kennedy U.S. President from 19611963, increased the number of American troops in Vietnam from a few hundred to more than 16,000

Lyndon Baines Johnson U.S. President from 19631969

Claudia Lady Bird Johnson First Lady

Hubert Humphrey Vice President

Dean Rusk Secretary of State

Robert McNamara Secretary of Defense

John McNaughton Assistant Secretary of Defense

McGeorge Bundy National Security Advisor

Walt Rostow National Security Advisor

John McCone CIA Director

Bob Komer aide to President Johnson

Richard Nixon U.S. President from 19691974

Pat Nixon First Lady

Tricia Nixon older daughter of Richard and Pat Nixon

Julie Nixon younger daughter of Richard and Pat Nixon

Gerald Ford Nixons Vice President, 197374

Bob Haldeman Nixons White House Chief of Staff

John Mitchell Attorney General, later Nixons campaign manager

Henry Kissinger National Security Advisor, later Secretary of State

Mort Halperin National Security Council staff member

Melvin Laird Secretary of Defense

Ron Ziegler White House Press Secretary

Erwin Griswold Solicitor General

Charles Colson White House Counsel

John Dean White House Counsel

John Ehrlichman Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs

THE PLUMBERS

Egil Krogh White House aide, head of Special Investigations Unit, also known as the Plumbers

G. Gordon Liddy formerly of the FBI

Howard Hunt formerly of the CIA

David Young of Kissingers staff

Kathy Chenow Plumbers secretary

Steve specialist with the CIAs technical services

Bernard Barker recruited by Plumbers to break into Dr. Fieldings office and the Watergate

Felipe DeDiego and Eugenio Martinez anti-communists working with Barker

James McCord former CIA technician who worked with the Plumbers

U.S. MILITARY PERSONNEL

General Earle Wheeler Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 19641970

John McConnell Air Force Chief of Staff

General William Westmoreland Commander of U.S. military operations in Vietnam, 19641968

Admiral Ulysses Sharp Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Pacific fleet, 19631964

Captain John Herrick Commodore of the USS Maddox and Turner Joy

Commander James Stockdale pilot in the Gulf of Tonkin, prisoner of war (POW)

Lieutenant Everett Alvarez pilot, first American POW in Vietnam

Lieutenant Philip Caputo one of the first marines to fight in Vietnam, later a journalist

John McCain prisoner of war at the Hanoi Hilton, later U.S. Senator

John Kerry first Vietnam veteran to speak against the war in Congress, later presidential candidate and Secretary of State to President Barack Obama

General Victor Krulak U.S. Marines, demonstrated the flaws in General Westmorelands attrition strategy

U.S. CONGRESS

Senator Wayne Morse (D-OR), early objector to American involvement in Vietnam, cast the sole opposing vote against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

Senator William Fulbright (D-AR), helped steer the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, later regretted his participation and considered releasing the Pentagon Papers

Norvil Jones, aide to Senator Fulbright

Senator Barry Goldwater (R-AZ), ran against Johnson for president in 1964

Senator Everett Dirksen (R-IL), powerful senator, friend to Lyndon Johnson

Senator George McGovern (D-SD), antiwar senator, later presidential candidate, considered taking the Pentagon Papers public

Senator Mike Gravel (D-AK), read sections of the Papers into public record

IN VIETNAM

Ho Chi Minh (Nguyen Tat Thanh) President, North Vietnam

Nguyen Van Thieu President, South Vietnam

Le Duc Tho North Vietnamese negotiator

Bui Diem South Vietnamese Ambassador to the United States

THE PRESS

The New York Times

Neil Sheehan Reporter, broke Pentagon Papers story

Abe Rosenthal Managing Editor

James Goodale General Counsel

Hedrick Smith Reporter, worked with Sheehan on Pentagon Papers

Arthur Sulzberger Publisher

Louis Loeb attorney for the New York Times

The Washington Post

Katherine Graham Publisher

Ben Bradlee Executive Editor

Ben Bagdikian Assistant Managing Editor

The Boston Globe

Thomas Winship Publisher

Tom Oliphant Reporter

CBS News

Gordon Manning Vice President

Walter Cronkite Anchor

THE COURTROOM

Matthew Byrne Presiding Judge in the case against Daniel Ellsberg

Murray Gurfein Presiding Judge in case against the New York Times

Alexander Bickel and Floyd Abrams Attorneys, defended the New York Times in Pentagon Papers case

Charlie Nesson Defense Lawyer for Daniel Ellsberg

David Nissen Chief Prosecutor in the case against Daniel Ellsberg

T HEY CAME TO CALIFORNIA TO RUIN A MAN . Not to kill him, not literally. But the next best thing.

On a summer day in 1971, two men in wigs and glasses strolled along a sunny sidewalk in Los Angeles. One had a black mustache and walked with a limp. The other carried a camera on a strap over his shoulder.

They stopped in front of a three-story building of brick and glass. The man with the mustache posed beside the entryway, smiling like a tourist while his friend snapped a series of surveillance shots. They quickly repeated the process in front of alternative entry and escape pointslow windows and the door in the back.

As they headed to their hotel, the mustached mans limp grew increasingly pronounced and by the time they reached the lobby, he was struggling to keep up. After shutting the door of their shared room, he yanked off his shoe, causing a heel-shaped hunk of lead to drop to the carpet. He pulled off his wig and glasses. The mustache stayed on; that part was real. This was G. Gordon Liddy, former agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The photographer, a retired Central Intelligence Agency agent named Howard Hunt, sat down to take notes. All that remained was to visit the target building under operating conditions. That is, at night.