[Rarebooks] FS: Before WikiLeaks there was THE PENTAGON PAPERS. This set belonged to a chief architect of the Vietnam War, price reduced

[Charles Agvent]

Price reduced: Was $2500.00 Now $2000.00

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE. [THE PENTAGON PAPERS] UNITED STATES-VIETNAM 
RELATIONS 1945-1967. 12 volumes. William Bundy's copy with his 
annotations. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1971. First 
Edition. Twelve quarto (8-1/4" x 10-3/4") volumes in original printed 
brown wraps of the official government publication, popularly known as 
THE PENTAGON PAPERS, collecting the 43 declassified volumes of the 
Department of Defense's 1968 study in 47 volumes (the last 4 volumes had 
not yet been declassified because they dealt with peace negotiations and 
the release of prisoners of war). Illustrated with charts, diagrams, and 
maps. Although not signed by him, this is William Bundy's copy, acquired 
along with a few other Vietnam-related books inscribed to him [See 
entries in our inventory under Westmoreland], and contains his scattered 
annotations. William Bundy had a long, distinguished service in the 
government in the CIA and in the Defense Department. He was appointed 
Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs in March 1964. His 
brother McGeorge was Special Assistant for National Security Affairs to 
Kennedy and Johnson from 1961-1966. Both are considered primary 
architects of America's involvement in Vietnam. In THE BEST AND THE 
BRIGHTEST, David Halberstam stated that during the Kennedy and Johnson 
administrations, William Bundy's name "would probably be on more pieces 
of paper dealing with Vietnam over a seven-year period than anyone 
else's." First published by the New York Times in June of 1971, these 
volumes represented something of a personal defeat for Bundy who at the 
time had an 1100-page unfinished manuscript in which he selectively 
paraphrased from classifed papers in his possession and which was 
rendered unpublishable by the appearance of these volumes. Very Good.

Commissioned by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, the reports were 
leaked by Daniel Ellsberg to reporter Neil Sheehan of the NEW YORK 
TIMES, who began publishing excerpts on 13 June 1971. The “Pentagon 
Papers” revealed several steps the Johnson and Nixon administrations had 
taken to escalate the war in Vietnam without informing the public. 
President Nixon argued that Ellsberg was guilty of felony treason (under 
the 1917 Espionage Act) because they had no authority to publish 
classified documents. Though the TIMES had been advised not to publish, 
they did so claiming the First Amendment right to publish information 
essential to citizens’ understanding of their government. Nixon’s 
Attorney General, John Mitchell, obtained a federal court injunction 
forcing the TIMES to cease publication. After the TIMES appealed, the 
case reached the Supreme Court. A separate case involving the WASHINTON 
POST’s publication of articles based on Ellsberg’s leaks also reached 
the highest court. In June, 1971, the Supreme Court ruled (6-3) that the 
injunctions were unconstitutional. $2,000.00

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CHARLES AGVENT
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