2008 Woodie Awards
Play showcases 1971 battle for Pentagon Papers
Larry Burge
Issue date: 10/22/07 Section: News
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President Richard Nixon met with Attorney General John Mitchell in the Oval Office June 15, 1971, to discuss prohibition of The New York Times' printing excerpts from The Pentagon Papers. The following dialogue was taken from the play "TOP SECRET: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers":
"I don't give a damn about the stuff in the Vietnam papers," Nixon said. "That all happened under the Democrats. It might even be a plus. But it makes my blood boil to have those goddamn newspapers printing stolen government documents," he said."
Nixon's press secretary, Ron Ziegler, entered the room.
"And, Ron," Nixon said, "The New York Times is finished in the White House. No one but you and me even talks to any of those bastards. Do I make myself clear?"
"Absolutely, Mr. President," Zeigler said. "If those guys are aching for a fight, we'll take our gloves off, too."
"We're going to go after the whole crowd," Mitchell said.
"Wonderful. Wonderful," Nixon said.
"TOP SECRET: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers," is scheduled for two performances on 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 8, at the Walton Arts Center. The matinee was underwritten by the UA Hartman Hotz Lecture Series in Law and the Liberal Arts. All 1,201 seats are available free to members of UA students, faculty and staff who obtain a ticket from the Fulbright College.
The L.A. Theatre Works news release described its play as the following, "In 1966, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara commissioned a study on the history of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Five years later, Daniel Ellsberg, a former U.S. Defense Department employee, leaked it to The New York Times. When The Times was prevented [by then President Nixon] from printing more than a few days of its excerpts, The Washington Post stepped into the fray."
The play by Geoffrey Cowan and Leroy Aarons re-enacts the events that surrounded the Post's decision to publish the papers after the Nixon administration took The Times to federal court. The play follows The Post's decision and the court battle with the U.S. government that followed. It also reveals the Nixon administration's attempt to manipulate the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.
"I don't give a damn about the stuff in the Vietnam papers," Nixon said. "That all happened under the Democrats. It might even be a plus. But it makes my blood boil to have those goddamn newspapers printing stolen government documents," he said."
Nixon's press secretary, Ron Ziegler, entered the room.
"And, Ron," Nixon said, "The New York Times is finished in the White House. No one but you and me even talks to any of those bastards. Do I make myself clear?"
"Absolutely, Mr. President," Zeigler said. "If those guys are aching for a fight, we'll take our gloves off, too."
"We're going to go after the whole crowd," Mitchell said.
"Wonderful. Wonderful," Nixon said.
"TOP SECRET: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers," is scheduled for two performances on 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 8, at the Walton Arts Center. The matinee was underwritten by the UA Hartman Hotz Lecture Series in Law and the Liberal Arts. All 1,201 seats are available free to members of UA students, faculty and staff who obtain a ticket from the Fulbright College.
The L.A. Theatre Works news release described its play as the following, "In 1966, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara commissioned a study on the history of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Five years later, Daniel Ellsberg, a former U.S. Defense Department employee, leaked it to The New York Times. When The Times was prevented [by then President Nixon] from printing more than a few days of its excerpts, The Washington Post stepped into the fray."
The play by Geoffrey Cowan and Leroy Aarons re-enacts the events that surrounded the Post's decision to publish the papers after the Nixon administration took The Times to federal court. The play follows The Post's decision and the court battle with the U.S. government that followed. It also reveals the Nixon administration's attempt to manipulate the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.
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