Pentagon Papers

The Pentagon Papers were a classified U.S. government report that detailed the political and military involvement of the United States in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967. Leaked in 1971, they revealed that the government had misled the public and Congress about the Vietnam War's scope and progress. The release sparked significant controversy, intensifying anti-war sentiment and raising questions about government transparency and accountability. The Supreme Court ruled that prior restraint couldn't be applied, allowing newspapers to publish the documents, which contributed to a growing distrust of the government during that era.