The Post

A few basic facts: Richard Nixon, a Republican, ENDED the war in Vietnam even though the anti-war movement prolonged the war by a good seven years by sending the wrong message to Hanoi. Lyndon Johnson, a Democrat, and his Secretary of State Robert McNamara ESCALATED the war, sending 58,000 American troops to their deaths when they had known since 1965 that the war was unwinnable! Steven Spielberg’s movie about The Washington Post gaining national prominence by publishing what’s known as The Pentagon Papers goes out of its way to demonize Nixon by tying the suppression of Top Secret documents to Watergate, which is unconscionable and an obvious gift to his Hollywood liberal pals! In 1971, a former Defense Department official, Daniel Ellsberg, smuggled and leaked the Top Secret study commissioned by McNamara to the press in hopes of exposing damaging lies concerning how the war in Southeast Asia was being conducted. Struggling for recognition and a seat at the big boy’s table, The Washington Post jumped at the chance to publish these documents while The New York Times was forbidden from doing so under court order. Tom Hanks plays managing editor Bill Bradley to Meryl Steep’s portrayal of Kay Graham, the first female newspaper publisher, in this film that focuses more on news gathering operation than Ellsberg’s stance and intentions. Bob Odenkirk as Ben Bagdikian makes the initial gesture to Ellsberg to secure the documents as lawyers and stockholders squirm.

[PG-13]