Pentagon+Papers

The Pivotal Decision In Establishing The Modern Relationship Between the Press and The American Government...
 * Was made in a London Hotel Room June 1971 by the New York Times publisher Arthur Ochs "Punch" Sulzberger[[image:arthur-ochs-sulzberger.jpg width="135" height="165" align="center"]]
 * It regarded whether to publish the __Pentagon Papers:__ thousands of documents many of them classified, that had been gathered at the order of Robert McNamara when he was secretary of defense under President Lyndon Johnson.


 * Once published "//Times// executives in New York received a telegram from Attorney General John Mitchell to Punch saying that publication of the Papers was a violation of the Espionage Act.


 * Punch decided to keep publishing the stories. Even after the Attorney General shut down publication with a restraining order, other newspapers began to "publish materials from the Papers"


 * Eventually set the stage for the Watergate investigation.