The pentagon papers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The pentagon papers - Essay Example Firstly, it came to be known that Nixon had sought a way to illegally discredit and outright stop Ellsberg during his first and only term as president. This understanding and realization was worth more than most people initially realized; due to the fact that the desire to stifle dissent and promote continued engagement in Vietnam was an issue that both political parties tacitly supported. Secondly, the impact upon society with respect to an understanding of democracy was one that encouraged people to question what the government actually was taking part in; no longer was allowing for the luxury of believing spokesmen with respect to the activities that were going on within the military or within governance. As such, the principal values that were eroded with respect to this situation can be determined to be predicated upon public trust in the government. Further, the impact upon the constitutional strength of the first amendment was also profound. The underlying reason for this has do to with the fact that even though individuals within the government originally sought to prosecute those responsible for the publication of these documents, any effort to do so was eventually understood as causing further damage to the administration. Similar to the situation of Edward Snowden, the ethical concern that is illustrated within this case, and within the film, had to do with the fact that publication of these documents was clearly an abrogation of the law (Freivogel, 2013). However, due to the number of individuals that continued to die in the Vietnam conflict each and every day, Ellsberg was faced with the ethical dilemma of whether or not the lies and fabrications that the government had thus far been responsible for warranted the unprecedented release of information. Ultimately, the answer that was determined was that the loss of trust a nd outright lies that the US government had been peddling for nearly 8 years was