The Post Page #4

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Do we have any leads?

There's a guy Phil

and I know in Boston

who worked at Defense when

McNamara commissioned the study.

All right, call him.

Anybody else?

So that's it?

My best goddamn lead is

coming from editorial?

We are suckin' high tit

in our own backyard.

Ben, come on, it's one story.

No, it's 7,000 pages

detailing how the White House

has been lying about the

Vietnam war for 30 years.

It's Truman and

Eisenhower and...

Jack...

LBJ lying--lying about

Vietnam--and you think

that's one story?

Let's do our jobs.

Find those pages.

Ben, uh...

I might...have something...

maybe.

Well, let me know when

it's a little less...wishy-washy.

I'm gonna go chase

down a lead of my own.

Why don't you cut your bangs?

-Mummy,

-Just a little bit.

I'm right in the middle.

It's a bit hard to read,

isn't it?

Harder for you, I imagine.

No.

Why?

These were your

people--McNamara?

And Kennedy and Johnson.

Jack and Lyndon were

your father's friends.

You flew down to Texas with Lyndon

the weekend after his convention.

Well, that's your fault, you

wanted to see his helicopter.

And the instant he saw you,

he invited you to the ranch.

Oh, well, he just wanted

the paper to endorse--

Yes, but my point is, you had

Steve and Bill waiting at home

-who had houseguests

-I know.

waiting at the farm.

You had nothing but dirty

clothes in your suitcase.

How do you know what

I had in my suitcase?

Jumped on Air Force Once,

spent the weekend--

-I did not jump, you and

-swimming and

Livvie Pearce and

said "I had to go!"

speedboating with

Lyndon and Lady Bird.

It's hard to say...

no to the President

of the United States.

Were you expecting someone?

At this hour?

I hope I'm not too early.

Not at all, must be urgent.

Where's your sister?

It's mine too, darling.

Where's your sister?

Let's go find her.

I trust you saw

the New York Times.

Hmm.

The study--the-the one

they're working off

that was commissioned

by McNamara.

Yeah.

And if he commissioned it,

he might have a copy.

I need to tell you that

finding a source

is like finding a

needle in a haystack.

I don't need the metaphor.

I haven't been a

writer for a while

so that old clich--

that was the best comparison

I could come up with.

I need a copy

of that study, Kay.

Give her the ball, Ben.

-Oh, here you go.

-Thank you.

You know, Ben,

as much as I do relish

a good investigative assignment,

-Bob McNamara's an old friend.

-Mm.

He's going through a lot in

his life right now. I just--

He's probably said

all he wants to say.

Why, do you think?

-Why?

-Why?

Why is he talking to you?

Well, I just told you

he's my friend, and

Well, is he talking

to any other friends?

I'm not sure I appreciate the

implication of what you just--

McNamara is talking to you

-because you are the publisher

-That's not true!

-of The Washington Post.

-No.

-That is not why.

-Because he wants you

to bail him out.

-No, there's no ulterior--

-Because he wants you on his side.

No, Ben, that's not my role.

You know that.

I wouldn't presume to tell

you how to write about him.

Just as I wouldn't

take it upon myself

to tell him

he should hand over

a classified study,

which would be a crime,

by the way,

just so he can serve

as your source.

Our source, Katharine.

No, I--no.

I'm not. I'm not going to

ask Bob for the study.

I...

I get it, you have a

relationship with Bob McNamara.

But don't you think you

have an obligation as well

to the paper and to the public?

Let me ask you something.

Was that how you

felt when you were

palling around

with Jack Kennedy?

Where was your sense

of duty then?

I don't recall you pushing him

particularly hard on anything.

I pushed Jack when I had to--

I never pulled any punches.

I-Is that right?

'Cause you used to dine at the

White House once a week.

All the trips to Camp David.

Oh, and that drunken birthday

cruise on the Sequoia

you told me about.

Hard to believe you would've

gotten all those invitations

if you didn't

pull a few punches.

Street protests broke out

today across the country

after the publication

of more excerpts

of a classified Department

of Defense study

in The New York Times.

The study commissioned by former

Secretary of Defense

Robert McNamara

has ignited further debate

over the ongoing

war in Vietnam.

As it makes clear that

Kennedy and Johnson

as well as

Eisenhower and Truman

deeply misled the

country on Vietnam

The bombshell series has

appeared for the last two days

in The New York Times.

We don't want

your stinkin' war!

Ive stumbled on the side

of twelve misty mountains

Ive walked and Ive crawled

on six crooked highways

And my brother Mario said,

"There is a time when the operation

of the machine becomes so odious

"that you've got to put

your body upon the gears

"and upon the wheels

and upon the levers

"and you've got to make it stop!"

One, two, three, four!

We don't want

your stinkin' war!

One, two, three, four!

So that the President

doesn't have to admit something

the entire world already knows.

You dinner with Mr. and Mrs.

Rosenthal's at 7:00 in the Oak Room.

And then I'll meet you tomorrow

morning in the lobby at 8:00

so you'll have plenty of time to

get Downtown before the offering,

-And the...

-and the breakfast.

-Bagdikian.

-It's Harry Rowan.

Hey, um...

Let me call you back from

outside the newsroom.

Excuse me.

Are you important?

I'm a general standard reporter.

Okay.

Uh, I think I got something.

Be my guest.

And they are the

source of the story.

Every time I read The New

York Times above the fold--

-Mr. Bradlee?

-No.

I feel like somebody's shoving

a hot poker up my ass.

I think I got something.

Where'd you get these?

Somebody left them on my desk.

None was secretly

suggesting that McNamara

did provoke the North so we'd

have grounds for escalation.

Yeah, it was in The Times

article. It was a good piece.

You should check it out.

-It was well--

-Jesus Christ.

Give it to someone who can

type 91 words a minute.

-Ben.

-and have it proofed, okay?

-Ben.

-Yeah.

I think we got something.

What is it?

Jesus Christ.

Sh*t. Are these part of the

pages of the McNamara study?

Where did you get these?

Somebody left them on my desk.

On your desk?

I didn't--i-it was a woman.

-What a woman?

-We got over a

-hundred pages of the McNamara

-What woman?

-study here.

-She was a hippie woman,

she had one of those, uh,

-Hey, Debbie, give me Bagdikian.

-Don't know what they're called

-but it's one of those skirts

-He's uh,

-that looks like your uh,

-He's out, he just went

-swirling in colors.

-somewhere

-I don't--

-Probably between 5'4 and 5'6.

Well, these are the real thing.

Oh, she's uh,

-We are back in the ballgame.

-It was a tie-died, sir.

It was a tie-died skirt.

This is gonna be the

front page of tomorrow's

paper. Um...

Give it to uh...

give it to Marder,

it's his lucky day.

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