The Post Page #6

---

national defense.

Hell, why bother

fighting the communists?

I think Jefferson just

rolled over in his grave.

Have the courts ever stopped a

paper from publishing before?

Not in the history of the Republic.

Good thing we're not

part of this mess.

I'd give my left one

to be in this mess.

There's our front page lead.

Tomorrow, Chal, that's yours.

All right.

Party's over, let's uh,

get back to work, germs.

...in a news conference to

discuss the Pentagon papers...

Hello.

Hi, it's uh, Ben.

Yes?

Dan?

No.

Oh, um,

I'm trying to get hold of

a fella I used to know.

617-597-4580.

Oh!

Hold-Hold on.

-Was it 4580, 61--?

-Call from another phone.

Uh, 617

597-4580.

Hello.

-Yeah, I'm lookin' for--

-Yeah. Hey, Ben, it's Dan.

Dan!

It's good to hear your voice.

Yeah, it's been a while.

Yeah.

-Who is it?

-It's Ben.

Ben.

Dan.

The study had 47 volumes.

I slipped out a

couple at a time,

took me months

to copy it all.

What the hell?

Well, we were all

former government guys.

Top clearance, all that.

McNamara wanted academics

to have the chance

to examine

what had happened.

He would say to us, "Let the

chips fall where they may."

Brave man.

Well, I think guilt was a

bigger motivator than courage.

McNamara didn't lie

as well as the rest.

But I-I don't think he

saw what was coming,

what we'd find, but it didn't

take him long to figure out--

well, for us all to figure out.

If the public ever

saw these papers,

they would turn

against the war.

Covert ops, guaranteed debt,

rigged elections,

it's all in there.

Ike, Kennedy, Johnson--

They violated the

Geneva Convention,

and they lied to Congress

and they lied to the public.

They knew we couldn't win

and still sent boys to die.

What about Nixon?

He's just carrying on

like all the others.

Too afraid to be the one who

loses the war on his watch.

Someone said this at

some point about

why we stayed

when we knew we were losing.

Ten percent was to help

the South Vietnamese.

Twenty percent was to

hold back the commies.

Seventy percent was to avoid

the humiliation

of an American defeat.

Seventy percent

of those boys

just to avoid being humiliated?

That stuck with me.

They're gonna come

after you, you know?

And I gotta be honest,

the bread crumbs weren't

too hard to follow.

I know.

They're gonna lock you up, Dan.,

Wouldn't you go to

prison to stop this war?

Theoretically, sure.

You are gonna publish

these documents?

Yeah.

Even with the injunction.

Yes.

Well, then, it's not so

theoretical then, is it?

I'm gonna go do some

work in the studio.

My day was great,

thanks for asking.

That picture makes me sad.

Me too.

Bradlee.

I'm in Boston.

I'm gonna need two seats.

Why?

I'm gonna need to buy

two seats on the first

flight out tomorrow--

probably first class.

No sh*t, you have them.

Well, you just get your

ass back here, and uh...

Come straight to the house.

Forget Chal and Meg

and the others,

I don't want the whole newsroom

knowing about this yet.

I gotta go.

Didn't you just invite

a bunch of people over?

Yeah.

Yeah, they'll uh,

they'll show up

sometime tomorrow.

When, sometime tomorrow?

Is this a breakfast thing?

-or a lunch thing?

-Don't know. Don't know.

Do you need me to get things?

Yeah, we'll figure it all out.

Okay, well, where are you going?

Out.

-You going to the newsroom?

-No. Love you, bear.

I got a cake, I hope it's okay?

Oh, sure, as long as

nobody counts the candles.

I'm sorry to barge in again.

Maybe I should give you a key.

Uh, I'm not here to

crash your party.

What's up?

Well, I could use a minute.

So, can I ask you a

hypothetical question?

Oh, dear, I don't like

hypothetical questions.

Well, I don't think you're gonna

like the real one, either.

Do you have the papers?

Not yet.

Oh, gosh, oh, gosh,

because you know the-the uh

position that would put me in.

You know, we have language

in the prospectus...

Yeah, I know, I know

-that the bankers can change

-Which, which

their mind, it's-and I know

what is at stake.

You know,

the only couple I knew that

both Kennedy and LBJ

wanted to socialize with

was you and your husband.

And you own the damn paper.

It's just the way things worked.

Politicians and the press,

they trusted each other

so they could go to the same

dinner party and drink cocktails

and tell jokes

while there was a war

-raging in Vietnam.

-Ben, I don't know what

what we're talking about.

I'm not protecting Lyndon.

No, you got his former

Secretary of Defense

Robert McNamara,

the man who commissioned

-this study--he's one of about

-I'm not protecting him.

-a dozen party guests

-I'm not protecting

-out on your patio.

-any of them. I'm

protecting the paper.

Yeah, well, I wasn't a

stooge for Jack Kennedy.

The night he was assassinated,

Tony and I were down

at the Naval Hospital

so we would be there,

meet Jackie when she landed.

She was bringing Jack's body

back on the plane from Dallas

and she walked into the room.

She was still wearing

that pink suit

with Jack's blood all over.

She fell into Tony's arms

and they held each other for

quite a long time and...

And then Jackie looked at me

and said, "None of this--

"none of what you see,

none of what I say

"is ever going to be

in your newspaper, Ben."

And that just about broke

my heart, I, uh...

I never...

I never thought of

Jack as a source.

I thought of him as a friend. And--

And that was my mistake.

And it was something that

Jack knew all along.

We can't be both,

we have to choose.

And uh...

And that's the point.

The days of us smoking

cigars together

down on Pennsylvania Avenue

were over.

Your friend McNamara's study

proves that.

The way they lied.

The way they lied.

Those days have to be over.

We have to be the check

on their power.

If we don't hold

them accountable,

then, my God, who will?

Well, I've never

smoked a cigar.

And I have no problem

holding Lyndon or Jack or

Bob or any of them accountable.

We can't hold them accountable

if we don't have a newspaper.

When I get my hands

on that study,

what are you going to do,

Mrs. Graham?

Oh, um...

Happy birthday, by the way.

Oh, that's not what I heard.

-Club soda.

-Yes, thank you.

Sir,

I'm gonna need to put your seat

in a full upright position

-before take-off.

-Oh, yeah.

Oh, must be precious cargo.

Yeah...it's just...

government secrets.

Oh.

Please fasten you seatbelt.

-You know why we're here?

-Beats me.

-Hi, Marina.

-Hi.

-Do you want lemonade?

-A little early for me.

Ah, loosen up, I'm buying.

What kind of lemonade

you have there?

Uh, it's the one

with the lemons in it.

Okay.

There you go.

Bill, help me out.

Grab my briefcase.

-Is that...?

-Yup.

It's not the full report,

but it's over 4,000 pages of it.

Huh, are these in order?

I don't think so.

There are no page numbers.

Yeah, that's where the

top secret stamps were.

My source had to cut 'em off.

Rate this script:4.6 / 9 votes