On March 16, 2010, the Columbia Journalism Review hosted a benefit performance of the play Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers, by Geoffrey Cowan and Leroy Aarons. A panel discussion, moderated by Victor Navasky and featuring Daniel Ellsberg, Leslie Gelb, James Goodale, and Nicholas Lemann, followed the performance. A clip from the discussion is embedded below, and can also be accessed here:
Video courtesy Alan Haburchak.
Why the obsession with Ellsberg, he’s a freaking kook! I mean, his association with the People’s Temple, allegations that UN Ambassador Andrew Young confessed to him (and only him) that Martin Luther King jr was assassinated by the FBI, the declaration that Korean Airlines flight 007 was on a surveillance mission when it was shot down, and his recent spiral into the depths of the 9/11 truth movement.
This guy’s a joke!
#1 Posted by Mike H, CJR on Wed 17 Mar 2010 at 11:44 PM
The play, Top Secret, is about the battle over the Pentagon Papers.
We were delighted to have Mr. Ellsberg on our panel afterward since he was the central figure in the case. After all, he risked prison to leak the papers because he thought Americans ought to know the secret history of the war. Others can debate the (in)accuracy of allegations about his views since then.
The panel was taped by C-Span, and when they add it to their schedule, maybe next week, readers can get their own look at Ellsberg and make their own judgment. It was a pretty fascinating evening.
#2 Posted by mike hoyt, CJR on Fri 19 Mar 2010 at 05:18 PM
I realize that Ellsberg had to make a living after his prosecution, but the associations he made and the people he considered his “comrades” put him beneath contempt. There comes a point in a person’s career where they have so soiled their professional and personal credibility that they are no longer welcomed in the company of seriously people.
But I guess that being a good progressive means never having to say you are sorry.
#3 Posted by Mike H, CJR on Fri 19 Mar 2010 at 07:42 PM
Boy, is this thread a party? Because, for a place with no alcohol I seem to be hearing a lot of slurs.
#4 Posted by Thimbles, CJR on Fri 19 Mar 2010 at 09:40 PM
I question the importance of Ellsberg's story to anyone except activist-minded people on the urban or campus political left. The cartoonish notion is that the Papers revealed all the lying behind the escalation in Vietnam. They revealed a lot of hubris in bureaucratic language, but there were no blockbuster revelations. The cartoon version has Nixon as the villain, whereas the Papers dealt exclusively with the history of the war up to the end of the Johnson administration.
Nixon was protecting the institutional self-interest of the executive branch, from which Democratic presidents also benefit. Not the most attractive guy in the world, but painting Nixon as the anti-Christ is one of the more boring themes in modern politics. The 'Pentagon Papers' episode is enthralling to push-button liberals because it is shaped to be an illustrated as a political morality play pitting good liberals vs. bad conservatives, on the level of a Stanley Kramer movie from the 1950s.
Anything challenging the conventional wisdom - a play suggesting, for instance, that Ellsberg was driven by very personal and potentially unattractive psychological issues which he channeled into politics - doesn't get financial backing from those seeking to present comforting narratives to the bourgeois urban theater-going audience in places like New York. Now als well as a hundred years ago, that audience wants simple good guys and bad guys. The 'Papers' case left no real legacy - the morality/legality of publishing stolen government information is still disputed, with liberals and conservatives changing sides depending on the politics. The war went on. The Ellsberg-supported candidate was waxed by Nixon in 1972. After a brief interval of having learned 'the lessons of Vietnam' during the Carter Administration, public opinion returned to believing that the use of military force by the U.S. can serve good ends.
#5 Posted by Mark Richard, CJR on Sat 20 Mar 2010 at 11:24 AM
Here is a great review of The Battle for the Pentagon Papers http://www.videorolls.com/watch/The-Pentagon-Papers-A-Primer-for-Top-Secret-at-New-York-Theatre-Workshop . It seems to be very interesting. I'd love to see the play!
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#11 Posted by Jack, CJR on Wed 9 Mar 2011 at 10:03 AM
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#12 Posted by john, CJR on Fri 2 Sep 2011 at 10:46 AM
Always was interested in this theme! The panel was taped by C-Span, and when they add it to their schedule, maybe next week, readers can get their own look at Ellsberg and make their own judgment. It was a pretty fascinating evening.
Thanks, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
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