What were the Pentagon Papers and how did they impact the Vietnam War?

The Pentagon Papers were a compilation of government
reports for the Defense Department on the progress of the war in Vietnam. They
represented reports for a number of years during the course of the war. A Defense
Department Employee, Daniel Elsberg, photocopied the papers with the intent of leaking
them to the Press. He gave them to a reporter for the New York Times
which made plans to publish them. The government attempted to stop
publication, arguing that it was a matter of national security. The Supreme Court in
New York Times Co. vs. United States ruled 6-3 that the Government
had not met its burden to allow prior restraint of publication. In a concurring opinion,
Justice Hugo Black wrote:

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Only a free and unrestrained press can
effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the responsibilities of
a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people
and sending them off to distant lands to die of foreign fevers and foreign shot and
shell.

The decision itself
emphasized the heavy burden required for prior restraint on freedom of the press. The
papers themselves made the public aware that the war had not progressed as had been
reported. The end result was rising opposition to the war and disillusionment with the
government. The opposition to the war which arose at least in part from the Pentagon
Papers ultimately led Lyndon Johnson to abandon plans to seek
re-election.