The Harrington School hosted a virtual screening with filmmaker who produced film about the man behind the leaked Pentagon Papers during Nixon’s presidency. PHOTO CREDIT: imbd.com
Rick Goldsmith’s documentary “The Most Dangerous Man in America” had students on the edge of their seats at Thursday’s showing, as they got an inside look into the secrets hidden within the Pentagon Papers.
The documentary, released in 2010, follows the journey and actions of Daniel Ellsberg, the man that leaked the Pentagon Papers, which were top-secret government documents.
According to the film, the documents revealed information about the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War and proved that the government had been deceiving the American people during the war. Four presidents— Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson— were involved in censoring news about the United States’ involvement in Vietnam mainstream media.
By the time President Richard Nixon was in office, Ellsberg was ready to leak the 7,000-page document. He distributed copies to 17 different news sources, including The New York Times and The Washington Post, despite the Nixon Administration’s best attempts to keep it under wraps.
Ellsberg was charged under the Espionage Act with theft and conspiracy, which, according to the film, led to him being seen as a heroic figure by the American people for preserving the First Amendment right of free speech despite the consequences he faced. The charges against him were dropped after a landmark Supreme Court case regarding government censorship.
According to Goldsmith, his inspiration to collaborate with Ellsberg in making this film started from reading his 2002 book “Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and The Pentagon Papers.”
He said that knowing about the Pentagon Papers and other relevant history is important for Americans today, as it is relevant to our current political situation. He believes that his film has played a major role in educating viewers about the 1970s, a time when there was a lot of turmoil between the government and the American people.
“I think it put into perspective some of what was happening during those years,” he said.
Paul Vozzella, a sophomore sports media and journalism student that attended the film screening, agreed that it’s important for young people to learn about American history.
“I think it’s important we learn about American history such as the Pentagon Papers because it influences Americans’ morals and how they make life decisions,” he said. “To me, Ellsberg was making the ultimate sacrifice to himself to benefit the citizens of the country.”
Goldsmith said that he and Judith Ehrlich, who co-produced the film, conducted all of the interviews featured in the documentary together. Because Goldsmith had already worked with Ellsberg in a previous film, it was easy for them to access the key interviewees, such as Ellsberg and his wife, Patricia Marx, he said.
Even though they had a previous acquaintanceship with Ellsberg, Goldsmith said that the goal of the film was not to show his “heroism” on things but to present all of the information to the viewer and let them come to their own conclusions.
Vozzella said he felt that Ellsberg was heroic due to the fact that “he sacrificed his own freedom for the benefit of all the citizens of America who were oblivious to what was happening with the Vietnam War.”
He said that he chose Ellsberg as a subject because of Ellsberg’s decision to put “conscience over his career.” To Goldsmith, Ellsberg seemed like an important figure to display because he exposed the people in power that left the American people in the dark.
“I felt like we had a responsibility, not so much to say whether Ellsberg was right or wrong, a traitor or a hero, but for people to understand the journey that he took, from beginning to end and to understand it in the context of American politics,” he said. “The fact that we admired what he did, I’m sure wasn’t hidden in the presentation, but I feel like it wasn’t what the presentation was about.”
Goldsmith ended the night by announcing that his next project will be out sometime next year, he just does not have a set time frame yet.