Knowing full well his actions might result in his spending the rest of his days behind bars,
Ellsberg leaked the document to the Times. The Nixon administration knew what the impact of
this leak might be.
“To the ordinary guy, all this is a bunch of gobbledygook,” H.R. Haldeman told Nixon on June
14. “But out of the gobbledygook comes a very clear thing: you can't trust the government; you
can't believe what they say; and you can't rely on their judgment. And the implicit infallibility of
presidents, which has been an accepted thing in America, is badly hurt by this, because it
shows that peopie do things the president wants to do even though it's wrong, and the president
can be wrong.”
Further demonstrating just how wrong a president can be, Nixon ordered the Times to
halt publication. This was done through a temporary restraining order from federal district court.
When the government and the Times tangled, the Washington Post entered the fray
by publishing parts of the Pentagon Papers on June 18, 1971… this despite a personal plea
from Assistant U.S. Attorney General William Rehnquist (now Chief Justice of the U.S.
Supreme Court).
Within two weeks, the case reached the Supreme Court, where, in a 6-3 decision, the
government was told it could not block publication of the Pentagon Papers. Two days earlier,
Ellsberg had been charged with theft, conspiracy, and espionage, but Nixon's ability to be wrong
knew no bounds. In September 1971, the president had the infamous G. Gordon Liddy and E.
Howard Hunt break into Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office in an effort to dig up dirt on the
Ellsberg leaked the document to the Times. The Nixon administration knew what the impact of
this leak might be.
“To the ordinary guy, all this is a bunch of gobbledygook,” H.R. Haldeman told Nixon on June
14. “But out of the gobbledygook comes a very clear thing: you can't trust the government; you
can't believe what they say; and you can't rely on their judgment. And the implicit infallibility of
presidents, which has been an accepted thing in America, is badly hurt by this, because it
shows that peopie do things the president wants to do even though it's wrong, and the president
can be wrong.”
Further demonstrating just how wrong a president can be, Nixon ordered the Times to
halt publication. This was done through a temporary restraining order from federal district court.
When the government and the Times tangled, the Washington Post entered the fray
by publishing parts of the Pentagon Papers on June 18, 1971… this despite a personal plea
from Assistant U.S. Attorney General William Rehnquist (now Chief Justice of the U.S.
Supreme Court).
Within two weeks, the case reached the Supreme Court, where, in a 6-3 decision, the
government was told it could not block publication of the Pentagon Papers. Two days earlier,
Ellsberg had been charged with theft, conspiracy, and espionage, but Nixon's ability to be wrong
knew no bounds. In September 1971, the president had the infamous G. Gordon Liddy and E.
Howard Hunt break into Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office in an effort to dig up dirt on the
119
… YOU'RE NOT
SUPPOSED TO KNOW
SUPPOSED TO KNOW