True will–must!–out.

Hi out there,
just wanted to let you know Rick Goldsmith and I are here on-line if you have any questions or comments for us.
Judith Ehrlich

Sounds incredibly exciting!! Have any “powers that be” tried to stop it yet?

awesome! is ellsberg consulting?

No. In fact we are looking forward to major funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcast. They also funded my last film on WWII pacifists. There are still some bright spots in a grim landscape of “the powers that be”. We hope this film does cause some soul searching within the government.

When do you think it will be finished and released?

There is a video of a panel presentation last year with Ellsberg, Gravel, and Bob West, who was president of the UUA at the time which ran and still runs Beacon Press talking about what they had to go through to get the Pentagon Papers published. I think it may even have aired on CSpan well after the fact. Fascinating back story. Gravel talked about preparing to read the Papers into the Congressional Record in filibuster style. It might make for some interesting additions to your work.

Dan Ellsberg has been incredibly helpful: sitting for interviews, sharing photographs and home movies, discussing issues and providing expert fact-checking, while always clarifying his understanding that we are the directors and will make final decisions on the film. We are very lucky to have a main character who is still standing up and is willing to generously share his expertise and ideas with us. Patricia Ellsberg has also been an inspiration and wonderfully supportive.

we are editing now and have about 2/3 of the film shot. We are hoping to be finished in early 2009.

I’m interested in how Dr. Ellsberg feels about Kissenger’s continued influence in the government to this day.Does he fell there is an agenda We the People are, as yet, unaware…or anything like that? I hope that question is not off base, but if it is that’s fine. I’m just curious.

We do have a DVD of that event (from Democracy Now).
Thanks

excellent – i’m glad to know that. ellsberg’s book, Secrets, read like a adventure story and would make a great movie. i hope you will include the bit where ellsberg explains how he came to think of risking getting arrested and going to prison. also, a scene with the affinity group that includes ellsberg, noam chomsky and howard zinn is something i had fun imagining. so many good bits to choose from. can’t wait to see what you create.

Gravel was a great interview for us. We’re telling the story largely through the players of the Pentagon Papers episode– you see a few in the clip, such as journalists Hedrick Smith, Max Frankel, Plumbers head Egil Krogh. Others “in the can” include Dan’s wife Patricia Ellsberg, Robert Ellsberg (Dan’s son who was 13 at the time and integrally involved in the story), Mort Halperin (head of the McNamara study, Len Weinglass (lawyer for the defense team), “co-conspirator” Tony Russo and others. More to come.

Yes, it was Democracy Now. I was at the event and the story of the “palace intrigue” of passing off the documents and the secrecy were amazing. I think few people know of or remember what Mike Gravel did to get this into the public record. We owe him a lot as well as Ellsberg. The current generation of whistle blowers are just as courageous but have not had the congressional support that they need to root out the corruption that has taken over the government.

IIRC, Gravel did not have a whole lot of support for his role, although Proxmire and a couple of others supported him.

I don’t think I’ve asked him that question as you’ve posed it.
I don’t think he is surprised by the reality of how our government worked and continues to work or would be surprised by Kissenger’s continued place in it. I do think he is committed to exposing that reality and that’s why he leaked the Pentagon Papers and continues to support current whistle blowers–with his organization the Truth Telling Project. http://www.ellsberg.net/truthtellingproject/

you recommended that to me after you attended the event – and i’m so glad you did. that was a fun to listen to. amy goodman moderated, and here’s a bit that was broadcast.

Gravel was out there alone for the most part and felt he was taking a risk of being arrested for his action. Paul McClosky was about to release the papers at the time they were published in the NY Times.

Thanks very much for the link!

I neglected to ID myself (above) as Rick Goldsmith, Judith Ehrlich’s partner-in-crime on this film. And, yes, Howard Zinn was another of our interviewees who was not only in the Affinity group you mention with ellsberg and Chomsky, but at the movies with the Ellsbergs, watching “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” on the night of June 12, 1971, after which they got a phone call alerting them to the fact that the big story would come out in the New York times the next day– on the same front page that carried the news of Tricia Nixon’s wedding.

That was what I was thinking, not so much remembering McCloskey, but that Gravel was not getting a whole lot of support from the other Senators.

wow. i don’t remember if it was in ellsberg’s book or if i just inferred it, but when ellsberg went into hiding, iirc just for a bit while getting copies out, he went to zinn for help.

it’s just such a great story. i am so looking forward to your movie… that you are getting cooperation (interviews, etc) from the people who were part of it is excellent.

iirc, didn’t ellsberg get strung along by at least a senator or two (maybe fulbright? i could be misremembering, i read the book when it first came out so it’s been a few years). wish we had some gravels in congress now.

Selise- in response to your question
“i hope you will include the bit where ellsberg explains how he came to think of risking getting arrested and going to prison” We recently sat Dan and Randy Kehler down on camera together to discuss the impact on Ellsberg of Randy’s decision to go to prison rather than be drafted. He describes it as “splitting his life in half”.

The discussion about McCloskey and Gravel brings up an interesting point that is often forgotten. Ellsberg spent 20 months trying to get members of Congress to bring the Pentagon papers to the public– Fulbright, McGovern, Goodell, Mathias, Dellums were all approached in addition to McCloskey and Gravel. No one would run with it, and Ellsberg’s decision to give it to the press came only after a long period of giving these papers to our elected representatives– all of whom were oppposed to the war. It speaks to both the political pressures on members of Congress and the issue of political courage. Isn’t the same happening today? For all the denouncements of Bush’s policies in Iraq, even coming from Capital Hill, the war continues to be funded by (the Democrat-majority) Congress.

wonderful, wonderful!! that bit was what actually made the biggest impression on me and has stuck with me more than anything else. i am soooo glad to know you have that interview.

Please consider the Fargo Film Festival in March — I’d think it would be a terrific venue for your doc.

Isn’t the same happening today?

i think it’s even worse – but maybe that’s only because we have c-span nowadays. the past year of lame hearings has been such a disappointment.

Thanks for your enthusiasm. We are soooo glad to have it too!

New Jane a couple of flights up on the pot (Fox) calling the kettle (MSNBC) biased.

Thanks for the thought.

For those who are on the East Coast, we’ll be at the Woods Hole Film Festival on Cape Cod the last week of July -first weeekend of August- check the schedule for the exact date. They’ve invited us to show a rough cut to discuss with festival goers.

i might just do that – i live not too far away in MA, and woods hole is beautiful in the summer (even have friends there i could visit with).

thanks judith and rick and laura!

If you do, please introduce yourself, thanks for making this so lively.

Thanks for all your participation. It’s time to go back to making the film. looking over this exchange,I just wanted to clarify one thing. our funding from Corporation for Public Broadcast comes from ITVS, the Independent Television Service of CPB….just wanted to give them a plug for all the good work they do for documentary production. see http://www.itvs.org to see all the great films they are supporting and broadcasting.

And many, many thanks to Laura for her wonderful work and for inviting us to participate today. All the best with your wonderful new series!! I am inspired by what i have seen so far.
and to Patricia Foulkrod, who made this connection and whose powerful film, “The Ground Truth” is not to be missed, and finally to Lisa Guido, Laura’s producer…and to Rick and to Daniel and Patricia Ellsberg etc. etc.
Cheers,
Judith
I’ll try to check back later to see if there are other questions and comments.

Came in late but I applaud your effort to bring this story out. So many today do not understand what Viet Nam was all about. This Nam vet thanks you.