Vietnam War: Part 10

The Vietnam war was an interesting period that has interesting pieces with the war vs hippies and an antiwar movement. The Vietnam War book was requested by my cousin as it was an interesting period and the start of the war against the enemy. The Vietnam War was one of the longest wars in history, and one of the few that they lost with the United States being a rare country that has a plus 90%-win rate in wars. This Piece of writing on the Vietnam War includes first, second and third person sources.

              Document #1: Oral Argument by William R. Glendon, Esq., on Behalf of Respondent: Washington Post:

The restraining order on the Washington Post- from the government- about releasing the Pentagon papers- was only the second time in 200 years that blocking the newspapers happened. The Government suggested that publishing the papers would cause 100 young men to die from publishing it alone.  The government was frustrated that the New York Times got the papers after the Washington Post received a restraining order against them. The top-secret classification was normal for that kind of military work’s – media- and was necessary to protect American troops and the military operation in Vietnam. The government brought them forward on the specified first amendment right and they went into court then. The court said that the first amendment’s right to publish the news was very important and it’s critical to do that.

The government argued that the First Amendment needed to be limited for the first time in 200 years because of the cost to the war’s morale, soldiers’ lives and the nation’s secrets.  The New York Times wanted to publish the critical article because it was extremely effective. The United States started the suit and suggested that they would go to full hearings- and record both records. The District of Columbia case should go to the court of appeals however the basic claim should include the proper standard and the general limitations.

Document #2 Supreme Court of the United States No. 1873 and No. 1885

June 30, 1971:

The case went to the supreme court which includes the different structures and the restraints of expression and includes the court. The judges on the Supreme court argued that they should dismiss the government’s case against the Washington Post. The injunctions by the court - because of the First amendment – said that the Press had a constitutional First Amendment right to publish this article, so the supreme court was unlikely to allow the blocking of publishing the article. The espionage act said the congress could regulate certain things including top secret information if the information was collected illegally. Another case- Austin V. Keefe- U.S said that” Any prior restraint on expression comes to this court with a heavy presumption against its constitutional validity. The first amendment was the first amendment which shows how important it was to the framers of the constitution- “The dominant purpose of the First Amendment was to prohibit the widespread practice of governmental suppression of embarrassing information.  “(Sheehan 731.) The President of the United States has more constitutional power in comparison to another type of government system- a prime minister of parliament. The Government has the power to create laws that determine the extent of the first amendment, but they can be struck down by a judge/blocked.

Document #3

The judge wrote: “So clear are the constitutional limitations on prior restraint against expression, that from the time of Near V. Minnesota, 283 U.S. 697(1931) until recently in Organization for a better Austin V. Keefe--- U.S--- (1971) we have had little occasion to be concerned with cases involving prior restraints against news reporting on matters of public interests.---- The first amendment is absolute and permits of no restraint in any circumstances or for any reason” are really in a position to act.”  The case was not easy because there is a right of the executive government to be able to do its job and they need to know all their facts. The judge also mentioned that asking the government what parts of the news was acceptable could include limiting the damage publishing the news could cause.

Analysis:

The court case of Washington Post Vs. U.S was very important and included many different things like the First Amendment, espionage act and parliament vs congress. The judge said that limiting the first amendment would only happen in extremely critical times and was generally not desired, but this case was a particularly unique/ exceptional circumstance. They said that the publishing of the document would cost at least 100 lives as well as expose the U,S military secrets which could be used by the enemy to kill U.S troops, win the war or cause chaos.