The Pentagon Papers (2002)

This dramatic true-life account follows Daniel Ellsberg (James Spader), the Harvard graduate and ex-Marine who disclosed information from the Pentagon Papers in 1971, exposing secrets about the U.S. involvement in Vietnam that contributed to Richard Nixon's resignation from the presidency. The made-for-cable film is based on Ellsberg's biography, tracking his actions from his early days as a soldier to his position as military analyst for the Pentagon, where he discovers a top-secret document chronicling the government's deliberate misinformation about the Gulf of Tonkin incident that led to the Vietnam War. Ellsberg suffers through a crisis of conscience as he comes to grips with the importance of the papers and debates whether or not to leak them to the New York Times--a move that could be punishable as treason. Directed by Rod Holcomb, THE PENTAGON PAPERS is a thrilling recreation of a pivotal moment in American history when citizens were forced to confront the idea that their own government had deceived them.