"The Most Dangerous Man in
America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers" Nominated for Oscar
nixontapes.org was Consultant
for Nominee for Best Documentary Feature
Early in the
research for this film,
nixontapes.org was
contacted in order to obtain copies of all relevant Nixon tape
conversations pertaining to the leak and publicaton of the
Pentagon Papers, which commenced on June 13, 1971 with a New
York Times frontpage article entitled
"Vietnam Archive: Pentagon Study Traces 3 Decades
of Growing U.S. Involvement."
President
Richard Nixon first learned about the publication of the
study--which he preferred to call the "McNamara Papers" or
"Johnson Papers" in order to distance his administration from
the leak--from Alexander M. Haig on June 14, 1971. Following
that conversation, several others took place over the next few
days, as immediate answers were needed as to how the government
should respond, whether the New York
Times could be forced to stop
publication, and whether the leak and publication raised
additional security concerns related to other initiatives taking
place. President Nixon was alarmed that ongoing talks with
adversaries China and Soviet Union could be jeopardized by the
leak, because if those nations did not have confidence that what
they were saying to the Americans would remain secret, then both
American adversaries and allies would greatly lose confidence in
the United States government's ability to manage its own
internal affairs.
The following
are among the Nixon tape conversations pertaining to the leak
and publication of the Pentagon Papers that were provided to
Kovno Communications for use in the film. A number of excerpts
from these conversations were prominently used in the final
version of the documentary.
For a key to participants' names, click here
(136k).
Conversation Number
|
Date
|
Time
|
Participants |
Download Audio
|
WHT 005-050 |
06/13/1971 |
Unk between
12:18 pm and 12:42 pm |
P, AMH |
mp3
(2.2m) |
WHT 005-058 |
06/13/1971 |
1:28 - 1:35 pm |
P, WPR |
mp3 (6.5m) |
WHT 005-059 |
06/13/1971 |
3:09 - 3:22 pm |
P, HAK |
mp3 (12.6m) |
WHT 005-068 |
06/14/1971 |
7:13 - 7:15 pm |
P, JDE |
mp3 (2.3m) |
WHT 005-070 |
06/14/1971 |
7:19 - 7:22 pm |
P, JNM, HAK |
mp3 (2.8m) |
WHT 005-081 |
06/15/1971 |
6:21 - 6:27 pm |
P, CWC |
mp3 (5.2m) |
WHT 005-086 |
06/15/1971 |
6:35 - 6:38 pm |
P, JNM |
mp3 (2.0m) |
WHT 005-089 |
06/15/1971 |
6:44 - 6:47 pm |
P, WPR |
mp3 (3.5m) |
WHT 005-097 |
06/16/1971 |
7:48 - 7:56 pm |
P, RLZ |
mp3 (7.4m) |
WHT 005-101 |
06/16/1971 |
8:22 - 8:25 pm |
P, JDE |
mp3 (3.0m) |
WHT 005-109 |
06/17/1971 |
2:22 - 2:37 pm |
P, CWC |
mp3 (12.8m) |
WHT 005-113 |
06/17/1971 |
6:38 - 6:45 pm |
P, CWC |
mp3 (6.5m) |
WHT 005-115 |
06/17/1971 |
6:55 - 6:56 pm |
P, CWC |
mp3 (693k) |
WHT 005-117 |
06/17/1971 |
7:39 - 7:45 pm |
P, HAK |
mp3 (4.8m) |
WHT 005-120 |
06/17/1971 |
8:10 - 8:11 pm |
P, CWC |
mp3 (784k) |
WHT 005-121 |
06/17/1971 |
8:21 - 8:24 pm |
P, GRF |
mp3 (2.8m) |
WHT 005-123 |
06/17/1971 |
8:25 - 8:28 pm |
P, FEH |
mp3 (2.1m) |
WHT 005-124 |
06/17/1971 |
8:46 - 8:48 pm |
P, HAK |
mp3 (1.2m) |
WHT 005-127 |
06/17/1971 |
9:29 - 9:35 pm |
P, HRH |
mp3 (5.5m) |
WHT 005-130 |
06/22/1971 |
10:24 - 10:30 pm |
P, RLZ |
mp3 (4.2m) |
WHT 005-131 |
06/22/1971 |
10:31 - 10:38 pm |
P, HAK |
mp3 (6.3m) |
nixontapes.org wishes Kovno
Communications the best of luck in anticipation of the
announcement of the Academy Award winner for Best Documentary
Feature on March 7, 2010.
|