Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.; S0058; The Pentagon Papers
- Episode Number
- S0058
- Episode
- The Pentagon Papers
- Producing Organization
- Southern Educational Communications Association
- South Carolina Educational Television Network
- Contributing Organization
- Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University (Stanford, California)
- AAPB ID
- cpb-aacip/514-5x2599zs1r
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- Description
- Episode Description
- The term "Pentagon Papers" has entered the language, but we may have forgotten that the papers in question were a study commissioned by Secretary of Defense Robert Strange McNamara on the background to the United States' involvement in Vietnam. It was Mr. Ellsberg who in 1971 had turned the secret papers over to the Washington Post and the New York Times; the Supreme Court had ruled that the newspapers had the right to publish them, but, as Mr. Buckley phrases it, "that decision ... did not derivatively exonerate those who gave the classified material" to them, and at the time of this show, Mr. Ellsberg was on trial. To Mr. Buckley's first question--whether his guest had immunity for anything he might say in the next hour--Mr. Ellsberg replies: "Well, you haven't come to an expert. I'm a beginner at being a defendant, and all I know is what I've heard in court, really." The discussion begins calmly enough with consideration of the Espionage Act, but once we get to Vietnam, we're off to the races. Currently there is only a digitized transcript available for this episode.
- Series Description
- The television series Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr. was a venue for debate and discussion on political, social, and philosophical issues with experts of the day. Firing Line broadcasts from 1966 through March 1971 were produced and syndicated by WOR-TV, a commercial station in New York, but some of them were also broadcast on noncommercial television stations. Starting in April 1971, Firing Line broadcasts were produced by the Southern Educational Communications Association, an arm of South Carolina Educational Television. Hoover Institution Library & Archives' Firing Line collection guide can be found at: https://www.hoover.org/library-archives/collections/firing-line.
- Date
- 1972-07-25
- Asset type
- Episode
- Genres
- Talk Show
- Topics
- Public Affairs
- Subjects
- Vietnam War, 1961-1975; United States; Journalistic ethics; Government and the press; Ellsberg, Daniel; Pentagon Papers
- Rights
- Copyright held by Stanford University. This copy is provided for educational and research purposes only. No publication, further reproduction, or reuse of copies, beyond fair use, may be made without the express written permission of the Hoover Institution Library & Archives on behalf of Stanford University.
- Media type
- Moving Image
- Credits
-
-
Guest:
Ellsberg, Daniel
Host: Buckley, William F., Jr.
Producing Organization: Southern Educational Communications Association
Producing Organization: South Carolina Educational Television Network
- AAPB Contributor Holdings
-
Stanford University
Identifier: 80040.301 (Hoover Institution)
Generation: Proxy
Duration: 1:00:00
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- Citations
- Chicago: “Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.; S0058; The Pentagon Papers,” 1972-07-25, Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed May 12, 2026, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-514-5x2599zs1r.
- MLA: “Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.; S0058; The Pentagon Papers.” 1972-07-25. Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. May 12, 2026. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-514-5x2599zs1r>.
- APA: Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.; S0058; The Pentagon Papers. Boston, MA: Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-514-5x2599zs1r