I'd bet dollars to a whole bunch of doughnuts that not many people watching this film today are aware that the history of the Vietnam War precedes the presidency of Richard Nixon by four prior administrations, dating all the way back to Harry Truman. Nixon gets most of the blame of course, for the country's failure in Vietnam, somewhat undeservedly, whereas he does shoulder all of it for the break-in at the Watergate Hotel. Perhaps the title of this picture might better have been 'The Pentagon Papers', with the Washington Post playing it's role, but it was Katherine Graham's newspaper, and as portrayed by Meryl Streep, Graham's stewardship required the requisite amount of diplomacy and resolve. I thought her confrontation with Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks) over his relationship with the Kennedys while JFK was in office was quite remarkable, knowing that as President, he did get a pass on all of his extracurricular activities.
What this film probably does best is bring us back to a time in the country when there was such a thing as investigative journalism. Sources were double and triple checked before stories made it into print, while today all it takes sometimes, is a tweet, to send reporters into a frenzy. Personally, when the Pentagon Papers story broke, I was somewhat conflicted and on the fence whether or not a newspaper ought to print stories based on classified government data. In retrospect, the country's national security posture was not harmed, and as an informed public, we're better off knowing what our leaders are up to, especially when decisions to send soldiers into harm's way are concerned.
What this film probably does best is bring us back to a time in the country when there was such a thing as investigative journalism. Sources were double and triple checked before stories made it into print, while today all it takes sometimes, is a tweet, to send reporters into a frenzy. Personally, when the Pentagon Papers story broke, I was somewhat conflicted and on the fence whether or not a newspaper ought to print stories based on classified government data. In retrospect, the country's national security posture was not harmed, and as an informed public, we're better off knowing what our leaders are up to, especially when decisions to send soldiers into harm's way are concerned.