The Pentagon Papers was commissioned by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in 1967. In June 1971, portions of the report were leaked to the press, and had a monumental impact on the US government’s relationships with the American public, and with the media, which resounds today.
Significant misunderstanding has developed concerning US policy towards Indochina in the decade of World War II and its aftermath. A number of historians have held that anti-colonialism governed US policy and actions up until 1950, when containment of communism supervened. (More…)