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Pentagon Papers

Cultural  
  1. A classified study of the Vietnam War that was carried out by the Department of Defense. An official of the department, Daniel Ellsberg, gave copies of the study in 1971 to the New York Times and Washington Post. The Supreme Court upheld the right of the newspapers to publish the documents. In response, President Richard Nixon ordered some members of his staff, afterward called the “plumbers,” to stop such “leaks” of information. The “plumbers,” among other activities, broke into the office of Ellsberg's psychiatrist, looking for damaging information on him.


Example Sentences

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Pentagon Papers: New court documents show in detail the uneasy back-and-forth between Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and Emil Michael, the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering.

From The Wall Street Journal Jul. 5, 2026

This process is what led to the Pentagon Papers, and allowing it to be criminalized in the way that it was against Villarreal would make the service of journalism impossible.

From Slate Mar. 26, 2026

The Nixon administration convened a grand jury to indict New York Times reporters Neil and Susan Sheehan for obtaining and copying the Pentagon Papers from Daniel Ellsberg.

From Salon May 1, 2025

Members of her board most certainly did not support publishing portions of the Pentagon Papers.

From Los Angeles Times Mar. 6, 2025

With the question still burning in his brain, Ellsberg spent the summer reading the Pentagon Papers.

From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin

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