ˈPentagon ˌPapers, the
secret government documents that discussed the US's military involvement in Vietnam during the 1960s. These papers were taken from the Pentagon and printed in the New York Times in 1971. President Nixon tried to prevent the papers being printed, but the US Supreme Court said that the newspaper had a right to print them, because of the First Amendment. The court case examined the government's right to keep important information secret, and showed that the public has the right to know what its government is doing.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲