Name: Mia Sullivan

Social Justice Group: 2018-2019, Freedom of the Press

Date of Fieldwork: January 20, 2019

Name of Organization: The Post

Person (people) with whom I met and their job titles: No One

Type of Fieldwork: Watching a Movie

What I did:

This weekend I watched a movie called, The Post. It is about The Washington Post’s involvement in the Pentagon Papers case of 1971. These events would eventually lead to the national scandal that set the ball rolling for former President Nixon’s resignation.

What I learned:

I learned about the issues that the Pentagon Papers caused, that had never been brought up or dealt with before. The government and the citizens of the United States were not prepared for what was going to happen, and no one had a backup plan for if the documents were released. Citizens suddenly doubted their government for the first time, and our country was forced to admit some embarrassing secrets, that it had not had to before. Aside for the trouble and chaos that this case caused, it also was the start of a new era for the American people and their government. Suddenly the government was forced to be more open with the people, and admit secrets that they would have preferred to stay secret. Citizens started trusting the government more because there was more communication and less deception between them. Overall The Pentagon Papers had a positive effect on both the government and citizens of the United States.

What I learned about Social Justice “work” and/or Civil and Human rights “work” from this fieldwork:

Through this fieldwork, I learned that sometimes what looks right, is not actually right or good. For example, the American people were under the impression that the Vietnam War was helping their country when really it was harming both our economy and killing hundreds of thousands of American boys per year. We were only fighting for pride, but from the perspective, of the American people we were fighting for Vietnam.