Pentagon Papers
While the U.S. soldiers were busy trying to win Vietnam, the government was back home trying to cover up the mess they had made. With the ongoing lies about "The war is almost over!", it was difficult for the public to keep their head up with so many lies. Other examples included My Lai, the Gulf of Tonkin, and Viet Cong's advances. As soon as the New York Times released a new article with leaked Pentagon papers, the public went insane. These papers were from the Nixon administration office who attempted to censor the papers before they got printed to do a "damage report" to dilute the panic they would cause. However, this issue got to the Supreme Court who ruled in favor of publishing the papers unedited because it infringed on the First Amendment (Freedom of Speech). The papers themselves contained many cover ups about the war in Vietnam. The Secretary of State, Robert McNamara, made an attempt in 1968 to convince Lyndon B. Johnson to stop the bombing campaign and even ordered a full analysis on our position in Vietnam. What he found was less than ideal, especially if it got out to the public. America was bombing nearby Cambodia and Laos, conducting coastal raids on North Vietnam, and organizing Marine Corps attacks, none of which were reported to the media. When the public found out, there was almost no support for Vietnam anymore.