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Ellsberg grew up in Detroit and graduated from Harvard University with a Ph.D. in Economics in 1959. He served as a company commander in the Marine Corps for two years, and then became an analyst at the Rand Corporation. A committed Cold War warrior, he served in the Pentagon in 1964Events January January 1 Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. January 3 Senator Barry Goldwater announces that he will seek the Republican nomination for President. January 5 In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Ort under Secretary of DefenseThe United States Secretary of Defense is the head of the United States Department of Defense concerned with the armed services and military matters. The Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet. This position was created in 1947, when the Navy, A Robert McNamaraRobert Strange McNamara (born June 9, 1916), American businessman and politician, was Secretary of Defense from 1961 to 1968. He resigned that position to become President of the World Bank from 1968 to 1981. Early life and career McNamara was born in San. He then served for two years in VietnamThe Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a country in Southeast Asia. It borders China, Laos, Cambodia, and the Gulf of Tonkin. Cng Hoa Xa Hi Ch Nghia Vit Nam ( In Detail) (Full size) National motto: Dc lp, t do, hnh phuc (Independence, Liberty, Happiness Off as a civilian in the State DepartmentThe United States Department of State often referred to as the State Department is the Cabinet-level foreign affairs agency of the United States government, equivalent to foreign ministries in other countries. It is administered by the United States Secre, and became convinced that the Vietnam War was unwinnable. He further believed that nearly everyone in the Defense and State Departments knew, as he did, that the United States had no realistic chance of achieving victory in Vietnam, but that political considerations prevented them from saying so publicly. McNamara and others continued to state in press interviews that victory was "just around the corner". As the war continued to escalate, Ellsberg became deeply disillusioned.
Working again at Rand, Ellsberg managed to procure, photocopyPhotocopying is a process which makes paper copies of documents and other visual images quickly and cheaply. The prevalence of its use is one of the factors that prevented the development of the paperless office heralded early in the digital revolution., and return a large number of classifiedClassified information is secret information to which access is restricted by law or corporate rules to a particular hierarchical class of people. A security clearance is permission to handle classified documents or class of information, often requiring a papers regarding the execution of the war. These documents later became collectively known as the Pentagon Papers. They revealed the knowledge, early on, that the war would not likely be won and that continuing the war would lead to many times more casualties than was admitted publicly. Further, the papers showed a deep cynicism towards the public and a disregard for the loss of life and injury suffered by soldiers and civilians.
Ellsberg knew that releasing these papers would most likely result in a conviction and sentence of many years in prison. Throughout 1970Events January events January 1 Construction begins on Arcosanti, by Paolo Soleri, in Mayer, Arizona, located 65, miles north of Phoenix, Arizona. January 1 Unix epoch at 00:00:00 UTC. January 12 Biafra capitulates, ending the Nigerian civil war. January, Ellsberg covertly attempted to convince a few sympathetic Senators (among them J. William Fulbright who refused to break the law) to release the Pentagon Papers on the Senate floor, because a Senator cannot be prosecuted for anything he says on record before the Senate. No Senator was willing to do so.
Finally, Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times. On June 13, 1971, the Times began publishing the first installment of the 7000 page document. For 15 days, NYT was prevented from publishing its articles on the orders of Nixon administration. However, Supreme Court ordered publication to resume freely. Although the Times did not reveal the source of the leak, Ellsberg knew that the FBI would soon determine that he was the source of the leak. Ellsberg went underground, living secretly among like-minded people. He was not caught by the FBI, even though they were under enormous pressure from the Nixon Administration to find him.