The publication of the Pentagon Papers, an internal top-secret chronicle of America's conduct of the Vietnam War, is having a new moment.

This past fall, in their sprawling ten-part documentary of the war, filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick explored the impact of the New York Times' reporting on the leaked papers in 1971.

Seven thousand pages of highly classified documents and historical narrative,

compiled secretly at the orders of former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara.

He had hoped a study of the decision-making process

that had led the United States to become so deeply involved in Vietnam

would help future policymakers avoid similar errors.

There were plenty of those.

But even more damning, the Times found evidence within the Pentagon papers that

the White House had lied to Congress and the public about their agendas in Southeast Asia for

more than 30 years. Fearing the coverage would turn more Americans against the war and threatened

troops on the ground, the Nixon White

House got a legal injunction to block the Times from further reporting on the papers until

the Supreme Court weighed in. Stephen Spielberg's new film The Post released nationally this weekend

tells the lesser-known tale of the Washington Post's decision to publish more on the Pentagon Papers now that the Times was barred.

If you to publish, we'll be at the Supreme Court next week.

Meaning...

Well, we could all go to prison.

The film, starring Merrill Streep and Tom Hanks, is a throwback to the distant time

when our country still recognized and celebrated journalism. Yet Les Gelb isn't so sure

the press got the meaning of the Pentagon papers right then or today, and he led the team

that researched and wrote them 50 years ago.

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