Mike Gravel Reads Pentagon Papers

In late June 1971, Senator Mike Gravel of Alaska, who had severe dyslexia, smuggled the secret Pentagon Papers into his congressional office in two large suitcases and had disabled Vietnam War veterans guard them. On the night of June 29, 1971, he used his position as chair of the obscure Senate Subcommittee on Public Buildings and Grounds to convene a meeting, began reading from the study, and then moved to insert 4,100 pages into the subcommittee’s Congressional Record so they would become public. By exploiting that little-known committee seat, he forced the Pentagon Papers into the official record and ensured that anyone could read and publish them. Although Gravel exposed the contents in 1971, the U.S. government did not officially declassify and release the full Pentagon Papers until 2011, forty years after they first leaked.

Previous Fact Next Fact