The Post Trivia Quiz

Answer: Vietnam War

In 1966, Dan Ellsberg is an analyst with the State Department sent to the Hau Nghia Province to observe the U.S.' involvement in the Vietnam War. Despite several years of conflict, Ellsberg feels that the situation hasn't improved. Back in the U.S., Ellsberg is working for the RAND Corporation and has access to a Top-Secret 47-volume study entitled "United States - Vietnam Relations, 1945-1967". He begins smuggling volumes of the study out to make copies, a process that takes months, eventually leaking them to "The New York Times". Ellsberg explains his motivation to Ben Bagdikian later in the film. "If the public ever saw these papers, they would turn against the war. Covert ops, guaranteed debt, rigged elections, it's all in there. Ike, Kennedy, Johnson - they violated the Geneva Convention, and they lied to Congress and they lied to the public. They knew we couldn't win and still sent boys to die."

The film depicts anti-war protests erupting all across the U.S. after excerpts of the Pentagon Papers are published in "The Times".

Answer: Tricia Nixon's wedding

Kay has breakfast with Ben Bradlee in Washington, D.C. in 1971. "Haldeman rang. It seems the President has decided not to provide Judith with credentials to cover the Nixon wedding," she informs him. "They said we could send another reporter." Ben is outraged, and even more upset when Kay doesn't take his side. "They're being punitive," Ben asserts. "Of course, it's punitive," Kay replies. "She compared Tricia Nixon to a vanilla ice cream cone." Kay attempts to reason with Ben, but he refuses to send a different reporter. "We can't have them, an administration, dictating to us our coverage just because they don't like what we print about them in our newspaper," Ben reasons.

Back in the newsroom, Ben is brainstorming with his editors about how they are going to cover the Nixon-Cox wedding. He asks which other newspapers have been given credentials, and is informed that "The New York Times", "The Sun", "The Globe", and all the international papers will be in attendance. "All right," he says. "So, we call them, we call all of them and, uh, we say Nixon has shut us out and then we ask them for their notes." Judith Martin, the reporter at the center of the controversy, is doubtful that the idea will work but Ben disagrees. "It'll be an act of solidarity," he says. "They'll be defending the first amendment. We'll tell them the only way to protect the right to publish is to publish."

Answer: A catastrophic event

Kay feels out of her depth running the company, as she was never slated for such a role. The paper has been in her family for years, but when her father died he passed control to Kay's husband, Phil Graham. After after her husband's suicide, Kay found herself in a new position in her forties of having to run a newspaper. As a result, she relies heavily on Fritz and her advisers, and has to constantly battle more dominating male figures around her, like Ben Bradlee and Arthur Parsons, who sits on her board of directors.

After a tense meeting with the bankers during which they express their doubts over whether Kay can successfully lead the paper to turning "a serious profit", she returns to her office with Fritz. "This passage in the prospectus that I read it earlier today," she points out to Fritz, reading from the document. "In the unlikely instance of disaster or catastrophic event in the week following the initial public offering, Lazard Freres & Co. retains the full right to cancel the issue." Fritz tries to reassure her. "It's boilerplate, Kay. It's standard contractual language," he explains. "But the bankers could pull out?" Kay enquires. "Only if there's a true disaster," Fritz replies. "Ben gets hit by a truck. The world runs out of newspaper ink. The truck goes around the block and hits Ben again." Kay laughs at the last comment, but only half-heartedly. "Catastrophic events do occur, you know," she says. "Yeah, but the right to cancel is only for a week. A week from the public offering," Fritz replies. "Seven days after they ring that bell on Tuesday, the deal is done."

Answer: An intern

At breakfast, Ben mentions to Kay that Neil Sheehan, the "New York Times" reporter covering Vietnam, hasn't had an article in three months. He thinks that he might be on to something big. Back at the paper, Ben calls out for an intern and hands him some money. "I want you to take the first train up to New York and go to the Times Building on 43rd - don't tell them who you work for but find a reporter by the name of Sheehan," he instructs. "Find out what Neil Sheehan is working on." The intern is eager to please, but appears unsure. "Is that legal?" he asks. "Well, what is it you think we do here for a living, kid?" Ben replies.

The intern gets to "The Times", and asks a delivery man outside for directions to the newsroom. He enters on the pretense of delivering an envelope, and ends up in the elevator behind some "Times" reporters discussing the next day's cover story. Back at "The Post", the intern shares what he learnt with Ben Bradlee. "I saw a mock-up of tomorrow's front page," he says, as he draws the outline on a piece of paper. "There's a big gap. Nothing there but the name." In the three columns devoted to the story, he writes in big, bold letters, "NEIL". Ben curses, and the next morning, Ben, Bagdikian, and Howard Simons pick up copies of "The Times" the moment it reaches the newsstand. The cover story is titled "Vietnam Archive: Pentagon Study Traces 3 Decades of Growing U.S. Involvement", which everyone at "The Post" reads with interest. "Well, at least we got the wedding," Ben says in a meeting with his editors, as he throws down a copy of the "Post" with the cover story "Tricia Nixon, Ed Cox Wed in Rose Garden". When Simon comments that they were scooped on one story, Ben corrects him. "No, it's 7,000 pages detailing how the White House has been lying about the Vietnam War for 30 years. It's Truman and Eisenhower and Jack, LBJ lying about Vietnam, and you think that's one story?" He slams the paper on the table. "Let's do our jobs. Find those pages," he orders.

Answer: The Nixon administration obtains an injunction against "The Times".

A woman enters the newsroom for "The Post", carrying in her hands a shoebox. She locates a reporter working at his desk and places the box unceremoniously on his typewriter. It contains hundreds of pages of the McNamara study. When Kay rings Ben up to inform him that the President is seeking an injunction against "The New York Times", Ben is elated to be back in the game, but Kay is more cautious. "If a federal judge stops 'The Times' from publishing, well I don't see how we could publish, even if we could get hold of a copy," she says. Ben omits telling Kay that they already have some pages of the study.

Meanwhile, Ben Bagdikian thinks he might know someone from his time in RAND who would have been capable of leaking the Pentagon Papers. He manages to track down Ben Ellsberg and meets him at his motel room to obtain a copy of the study. The gravity of what they are doing finally hits Bagdikian. "Wouldn't you go to jail to stop this war?" Ellsberg asks. "Theoretically, yes," Bagdikian replies. "You are going to publish these papers?" Ellsberg asks, requiring assurances, which he obtains from Bagdikian. "Even with the injunction?" Ellsberg asks, before getting another affirmative response. "Well, it's not so theoretical then, is it?"

The reporters from "The Post" get confirmation of the injunction while watching a news broadcast on television. When someone asks, "Have the courts ever stopped a paper from publishing before?", Fritz replies, "Not in the history of the Republic."

Answer: Hosting a party

Earlier, Ben had interrupted Kay's birthday party, when he showed up at her door with the hypothetical question of what would she do if they did manage to obtain the Pentagon Papers. "We have to be the check on their power," he said, referring to the unbridled reach of the Presidency. "If we don't hold them accountable, then, my God, who will?"

With only ten hours to go before the publishing deadline, "The Post" obtains over 4,000 pages of the study, and a select group of reporters gather at Ben's house to work on the story. They are soon joined by their lawyers, Roger Clark and Anthony Essaye, who advise Ben that they are likely to be held in violation of the Espionage Act. Fritz also arrives, and is concerned that publishing the story will jeopardize the public offering, and possibly the very future of the paper. "If the government wins, and we're convicted, 'The Washington Post' as we know it will cease to exist," he says. "Well, if we live in a world where the government could tell us what we can and cannot print, then 'The Washington Post' as we know it has already ceased to exist," Ben replies.

Fritz and Ben eventually call Kay up at home, where she is throwing another party. Arthur Parsons is in attendance, and monitors the call on the other line. Everyone makes their arguments for and against publication, with Ben adding that they also need to consider the paper's reputation. When Kay asks for Fritz's views on what she should do, he tells her, "I think there are arguments on both sides, but I guess I wouldn't publish." Kay thinks about it for a minute, before finally saying, "Let's... let's go. Let's do it. Let's go, let's go, let's go. Let's publish." She hangs up the phone and returns to her party.

Answer: His wife

When Ben informs his wife, Tony, that they are going ahead with the story, Tony expresses her amazement. "I didn't think Kay'd do it. That's brave," she says. "Kay is in a position she never thought she'd be in. A position I'm sure plenty of people don't think she should have. And when you're told time and time again that you're not good enough, that your opinion doesn't matter as much, when they don't just look past you, when to them, you're not even there, when that's been your reality for so long, it's hard not to let yourself think it's true. So, to make this decision, to risk her fortune and her company that's been her entire life? Well, I think that's brave."

When the prospect of them being held in contempt of court comes up, everyone gathers yet again at Kay's house to thrash things out. "We could all go to prison," Ben says to Kay, explaining the latest complication. "Now putting that aside, Katharine, I've just come to realize just how much you have at stake." Fritz also weighs in with his views, sharing that Kay's criminal indictment would most certainly constitute a catastrophic event for the purposes of the public offering. Kay takes this all in, but begins to formulate a counter-argument. "The prospectus also talks about the mission of the paper, which is outstanding news collection and reporting, isn't that right?" she says. "And it also says that the newspaper will be dedicated to the welfare of the nation, and to the, uh, principles of a free press. So, one could argue that the bankers were put on notice." When Arthur suggests that she is squandering the legacy of the paper, Kay tells him, "Arthur, this company has been in my life for longer than most of the people working there have been alive, so I don't need the lecture on legacy. And this is no longer my father's company. It's no longer my husband's company. It's my company. And anyone who thinks otherwise probably doesn't belong on my board." She gets Ben to confirm that publishing the story won't place any American soldiers in harm's way, and then informs the group that her previous decision stands.

Ben picks up the phone and calls the paper. "It's Ben Bradlee. Run it," he says. Upstairs, the objects on Bagdikian's desk begin to rattle. The printing presses are running.

Answer: Newspapers

After "The Post" publishes their first story on the Pentagon Papers, Ben receives a call from the Assistant Attorney General. "Good morning, this is William Rehnquist from the office of legal counsel at Justice," says the voice on the end of the line. "I have been advised by the Secretary of Defense that the material published in "The Washington Post" this morning contains information relating to the national defense of the United States and bears a Top-Secret classification. As such, the publication of this information is directly prohibited by the Espionage Act, Title 18 of the United States Code, Section 793. As publication will cause irreparable injury to the defense interests of the United States, I respectfully request that you publish no further information of this character, and advise me that you have made arrangements for the return of these documents to the Department of Defense." Ben thanks Mr. Rehnquist for his call, but politely declines the request.

The "Post" team apply to court for an audience before the U.S. Supreme Court, and are granted a hearing date. A day before the hearing, Bagdikian walks into Ben's office carrying a large brown paper bag. He cannot hide his happiness as he says, "I always wanted to be part of a small rebellion." Ben looks inside the bag and takes it immediately to Kay's office. He removes the contents and lays them out one by one on her coffee table - nine local newspapers including "The St. Louis Dispatch", "The Christian Science Monitor", "The Boston Globe", "Tallahassee Democrat", "Detroit Free Press", and "The Philadelphia Inquirer", all with cover stories about the Pentagon Papers. "They all followed your lead, published the papers," Ben says. "At least we're not alone," Kay replies in astonishment. "No matter what happens tomorrow, we are not a little local paper anymore," Ben says.

Answer: True

Kay is in the queue to get into the Supreme Court, and is recognized by a young female lawyer, who informs her that there is an entrance over to the side just for the appellants. Although she works for the Solicitor General, she takes the opportunity to confess something to Kay. "Mrs. Graham, I probably shouldn't say this. My brother, he's still over there, and, well, I hope you win. Besides, I like someone telling these guys what's what. But don't tell my boss I said that. He'd fire me just for talking to you," she confides.

Ben, Kay, and the rest of the "Post" editorial team are in the newsroom when Meg Greenfield receives a phone call about the court's decision. "The vote is six to three," she begins, but is interrupted by Gene Patterson emerging from his office. "Six to three, we win! We win! And so does 'The Times'," he declares. Everyone cheers and applauds, but they are hushed by Meg, who reads out part of Justice Black's opinion. "The founding fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy," she says. "The press was to serve the governed, not the governors."

As Ben and Kay oversee the Linotype setting for the next day's cover story, "Court Rules for Newspapers, 6-3", they chat over the victory. "Do you know what my husband said about the news? He called it the first rough draft of history," Kay says with a smile. "That's good, isn't it?"

Answer: Watergate

The film ends with an excerpt of Nixon's conversation with White House Press Secretary, Ron Ziegler. "I want it clearly understood that from now on, never, no reporter from 'The Washington Post' is ever to be in the White House, is that clear?" Nixon says. "And no photographer either. Is that clear? None ever to be in." As the audio for this conversation plays out, we see a security guard with a flashlight walking down the hallway of an office complex at night. He comes across a door and notices that someone has placed some tape over the latch. He enters to find the inner door leading into the offices of the Democratic National Committee ajar, and people inside. The guard makes a call to the D.C. Police, Second Precinct. "Yes, hello, this is Frank Wills. I think we might have a burglary in progress at the Watergate," he says.

The Watergate scandal and the subsequent coverage by "The Washington Post" eventually lead to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. These events are depicted in the 1976 film "All the President's Men".