This was a motivating factor for government analyst Daniel Ellsberg to release the Pentagon Papers a few years later, during the Nixon administration. Ellsberg knew the war in Vietnam was a disaster. The information he made public helped others reach the same conclusion.
A b/w photo of General William Westmoreland: He presented an optimistic view of the Vietnam War in November 1967.
Photo credit: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images
Image source: NYTimes
On November 2nd 1967, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson and his generals decided the American people should be given more "optimistic" reports on the progress of the Vietnam War.
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