The Day the Presses Stopped: A History of the Pentagon Papers Case

Despite Americans' constitutional right to a free press, certain government information--particularly that concerning military affairs--has been placed beyond the realm of public access. A U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1971, however (brought about when the Nixon administration sued the the New York Times) knocked a howitzer-sized hole in that theory when the case allowed the New York Times and the Washington Post to print excerpts from the Pentagon Papers, a 7,000- page document regarding U.S. involvement in Vietnam. After years of poring over secret documents and transcripts, David Rudenstine has written the definitive analysis of the dramatic case in all its various contexts and from the perspectives of all the players. Clearly negotiating a maze of facts and legalese, The Day the Presses Stopped explains the powerful political forces at work behind the case, weighing the arguments of freedom of information versus national and diplomatic security in a vivid and engaging manner.