Most Dangerous: Part III–Epilogue

by Steve Sheinkin
In this suspenseful and meticulously researched book, Steve Sheinkin brings the Vietnam War era to life by focusing on Daniel Ellsberg, a military analyst who initially helped justify the Vietnam War and later released top-secret documents known as the Pentagon Papers.

Here are links to our lists for the text: Prologue–Part I, Part II, Part III–Epilogue
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. speculation
    a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence
    All over the country, speculation about the source of this historic leak began.
  2. unconscionable
    lacking a sense of right conduct
    “It is unconscionable,” Kissinger said of the Pentagon Papers story.
    “It’s unconscionable on the part of the people that leaked it,” Nixon agreed.
  3. wholesale
    on a large scale without careful discrimination
    “There is wholesale subversion of this government under way.”
  4. subversion
    the act of overthrowing or destroying, as a government
    “There is wholesale subversion of this government under way.”
  5. provision
    a stipulated condition
    “As such, publication of this information is directly prohibited by the provisions of the Espionage Law,” Mitchell charged.
  6. contend
    maintain or assert
    “You can’t stop publishing if someone sends you a telegram,” Goodale contended. “If there is a court order, that’s something else. But this is not a court order. There is no penalty for disobeying a telegram.”
  7. injunction
    a judicial remedy to prohibit a party from doing something
    At Nixon’s order, the Justice Department went to the federal court in New York City to demand an injunction against the Times—a legal order to stop publication of the Pentagon Papers.
  8. stifling
    characterized by oppressive heat and humidity
    Goodale hung up and waited in the stifling booth.
  9. haggard
    showing the wearing effects of overwork or care or suffering
    “He was haggard,” Bagdikian recalled, “and complained of a terrible headache.”
  10. rampart
    an embankment built around a space for defensive purposes
    “The security of the nation is not at the ramparts alone,” the judge wrote in a passage that has been quoted ever since.
  11. cantankerous
    stubbornly obstructive and unwilling to cooperate
    “Security also lies in the value of our free institutions. A cantankerous press, an obstinate press, an ubiquitous press must be suffered by those in authority in order to preserve the even greater values of freedom of expression and the right of the people to know.”
  12. ubiquitous
    being present everywhere at once
    “Security also lies in the value of our free institutions. A cantankerous press, an obstinate press, an ubiquitous press must be suffered by those in authority in order to preserve the even greater values of freedom of expression and the right of the people to know.”
  13. subpoena
    a writ issued to compel the attendance of a witness
    One handed him a subpoena, ordering him to show up in court the next morning.
  14. contempt
    disrespect for the authority of a court or legislative body
    Brought before a grand jury that was considering criminal charges against Daniel Ellsberg, Russo absolutely refused to give evidence, even when offered immunity in exchange. The judge declared Russo in contempt of court and sent him to jail.
  15. indict
    accuse formally of a crime
    In Los Angeles, a grand jury indicted Daniel Ellsberg on three felony counts, including theft and unauthorized possession of classified documents, and violation of the Espionage Act.
  16. dereliction
    willful negligence
    “I have in my possession the Pentagon Papers,” Gravel declared. “To not make them public would be a dereliction of duty and morality.”
  17. stenographer
    someone skilled in the transcription of speech
    Gravel began reading the pile of documents he’d gotten from Ellsberg via the midnight exchange with Ben Bagdikian. A stenographer sat taking it all down.
  18. unanimous
    in complete agreement
    Senator Gravel asked for the unanimous consent of all subcommittee members to insert the rest of the Pentagon Papers into the public record.
  19. nicety
    conformity with some standard of correctness or propriety
    Do you think, for Chrissakes, that the New York Times is worried about all the legal niceties?
  20. backlash
    an adverse reaction to some political or social occurrence
    The backlash that really bothered Ellsberg came from his former co-workers. “I was typhoid Mary,” he later said. “I was a leper, with a bell around my neck.”
  21. dapper
    marked by up-to-dateness in dress and manners
    “A short, dapper man,” Krogh later said of Howard Hunt. “He could blend easily into any group without drawing undue attention to himself, a valuable characteristic for a spy.”
  22. self-righteous
    excessively or hypocritically pious
    Liddy summarized his view of Ellsberg: “Unstable, self-righteous, egotistical.”
  23. surreptitious
    conducted with or marked by hidden aims or methods
    “The more Liddy and I discussed both the problem of, and the opportunity presented by, Dr. Fielding’s file,” Hunt recalled, “the more apparent it became that the file should be photographed by surreptitious means.”
  24. tradecraft
    the techniques and skills used in espionage
    Hunt and Liddy had promised a very nervous Egil Krogh to use “good tradecraft”—expert spying techniques, in other words.
  25. fervor
    feelings of great warmth and intensity
    Several observers commented on Ellsberg’s intensity, the fire in his eyes. “It was almost like he glowed with this fervor,” noted one reporter.
  26. clandestine
    conducted with or marked by hidden aims or methods
    But Hunt suggested they contact Bernard Barker, a Cuban American living in Miami who had done clandestine work for the CIA in the past.
  27. unrepentant
    not feeling or expressing remorse
    Russo, like Ellsberg, was unrepentant.
  28. mobilize
    get ready for war
    “I’m concerned about the civilians,” he said, “because I don’t want the world to be mobilized against you as a butcher.”
  29. cynical
    believing the worst of human nature and motives
    It was a cynical bargain on both sides.
  30. foreboding
    a feeling of evil to come
    Instead, Nixon grappled with a sense of foreboding.
  31. mar
    cause to become imperfect
    “I am at a loss to explain the melancholy that settled over me on that victorious night,” he later wrote. “Perhaps it was caused by the painful tooth. To some extent the marring effects of Watergate may have played a part.”
  32. quip
    make jokes or witty remarks
    In a meeting with Le Duc Tho, Kissinger quipped that he had accomplished the impossible: he had unified Vietnam.
    “Both North and South Vietnam hate me now.”
  33. livid
    furiously angry
    The peace deal was on the brink of collapse. Nixon and Kissinger were livid with Thieu, but he was an ally. So they turned their fury on the North.
  34. dub
    give a nickname to
    “Despair. Horror.” That was Daniel Ellsberg’s response to the renewed bombing—the “Christmas Bombing” as the press dubbed it.
  35. vilification
    slanderous defamation
    “In his life, President Johnson endured the vilification of those who sought to portray him as a man of war,” Nixon said. “But there was nothing he cared about more deeply than achieving a lasting peace in the world.”
  36. impassive
    having or revealing little emotion or sensibility
    In a Washington courtroom a week later, G. Gordon Liddy stood with his arms folded, his face impassive, as the clerk read the jury’s verdict: guilty on eight counts related to the Watergate break-in.
  37. brazen
    not held back by conventional ideas of behavior
    Byrne may or may not have recognized this for what it was—a brazen attempt to win influence with him.
  38. cauterize
    burn, sear, or freeze using a hot iron or electric current
    Privately, in another desperate attempt to cauterize the Watergate wound before it spread all the way to the president, Nixon had pressured his two closest aides to step down.
  39. disquieting
    causing mental discomfort
    “We may have been given only a glimpse of what this special unit did regarding this case,” he read, “but what we know is more than disquieting.”
  40. transgression
    the violation of a law or a duty or moral principle
    But the government’s transgressions could no longer be ignored.
  41. bedlam
    a state of extreme confusion and disorder
    Judge Byrne said, “Thank you very much, gentlemen, for your efforts,” his voice drowned out by the bedlam in the courtroom.
  42. circumscribe
    restrict or confine
    “With every passing day, Watergate was circumscribing our freedom of action,” Kissinger, the one person unscathed by scandal, later said. “We were losing the ability to make credible commitments, for we could no longer guarantee congressional approval.”
  43. subdued
    softened in tone
    In a subdued voice, Kissinger said that history would one day rank Nixon among the great presidents.
  44. maim
    injure or wound seriously and leave permanent disfiguration
    Thousands of unexploded bombs and mines would continue to kill and maim civilians in the years ahead.
  45. tumultuous
    characterized by unrest or disorder or insubordination
    At the end of his trial four decades earlier, he had told reporters he intended to live a fairly quiet life from that point on—quiet, at least, in comparison to the tumultuous Pentagon Papers years.
Created on Tue Sep 10 18:31:45 EDT 2019 (updated Mon Sep 23 16:08:47 EDT 2019)

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