‘The Post’ was a good movie, but Daniel Ellsberg was no hero: Ted Diadiun

‘The Post’ was a good movie, but Daniel Ellsberg was no hero: Ted Diadiun Awhile back, somebody sent me a mock-up of what the April 17, 1775 front page of The New York Times might have looked like if the Grey Lady had been around when Paul Revere made his famous ride. Secret Lantern Signals of the American Colonists Revealed,” said the headline, and in a drophead: “Conspirators include Paul Revere, other ‘Patriots’ and a group of Christian Ministers.” The story underneath began as follows: “Unnamed American colonist sources who spoke on condition of anonymity have revealed a secret plan for tomorrow to warn patriot colonist militia forces of the route that English regular soldiers plan to take as they move their forces to Lexington and Concord.” I thought about that Friday night after I went to see “The Post,” Steven Spielberg’s celebration of the events leading up to The Washington Post’s decision to publish excerpts from a stolen, top-secret government document titled “History of U.S. Meryl Streep as Post Publisher Katharine Graham and Tom Hanks as Executive Editor Ben Bradlee were fun to watch as they breathed life into the age-old news side/business side conflict and resolution. But it’s not a stretch to imagine a Daniel Ellsberg back in 1775 deciding that a break with England would be dangerous folly, and a newspaper editor deciding that it was the people’s right to know what was afoot.