Written by Yorba Linda is home to one of Southern California’s most famous locations: The birthplace and home of our 37th president, Richard Nixon, which has now been turned into a library and local point of interest. For the most part, the museum is known for its displays of Nixon-related memorabilia, such as re-creations of his White House rooms, and his old home in Yorba Linda. There is, however, a new addition to the Nixon Library that is going to be attracting a different kind of visitor.
On June 14th, 40 years after the first batch of leaked words made their way to the front page of the New York Times, the US Government is releasing the until now classified Pentagon Papers, more officially known as United States – Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense. This report supposedly outlines the systematic way that President Johnson and his administration deceived Congress and the general public regarding the US involvement in Vietnam. A later report from the Johnson Administration’s Department of Defense admitted that a large reason for their persistence in Vietnam was to avoid a humiliating defeat for the US, among other things.
For the first time, all 7,000 pages of this report are going to be made available to the general public, with the exception of 11 words. These 11 words are the only parts of the paper that the Federal Government refuses to declassify. Judging by the oddly specific and relatively infinitesimal portion of the paper they are choosing not to release, I would say that these eleven words have information that is not going to be released any time soon.
The question still remains as to why the government is choosing this old home in Yorba Linda as one of the first places the document is going to be made available. Well, interestingly enough, while the contents of the paper outline events that took place between 1945-1967, it was actually completed in 1969, only five days before the inauguration of President Nixon. Nixon decided that there was nothing he should do regarding the contents of the paper or the leak of information, since it involved two previous administrations, and not his own. With this information in mind, it should be no shock that the late-President’s old house in Yorba Linda actually has a copy of the paper on hand, safely tucked away in the vault, ready to be released on the 13th of this month. While this may be very interesting for some, I believe that very few will actually read the full contents of the 7,000 page paper any time soon. It does, however, invoke curiosity as to the contents of those 11 unknown words.
