The Week

From John V. Lindsay’s statement, August 11, announcing his rebirth: “I consider this decision a reaffirmation of my commitment to the needs of this great and vital city. . . . Men without jobs, families without hope, indecent housing, blighted neighborhoods, crowded hospitals, crime, poverty, polarization—these are real. And again and again I have seen them on our streets.” Of course that was under a Republican mayor.

Like it or not, Dr. Daniel Ellsberg of Massachusetts must face charges in California on August 16 for unauthorized possession of those 47 volumes of government secrets known as the Pentagon Papers. Underlaying the California indictment is the government’s contention that Ellsberg had access to the documents while at the Rand Corporation in Santa Monica. Ellsberg (who mentioned on August 4 that he would welcome a full court trial so as to “strengthen constitutional rights in this country”), counseled by his lawyer Leonard Boudin (whose daughter Kathy survived the blast on NYC’s West 11th St. last year), has entered, so far unsuccessfully, a million or so objections, appeals and other delaying motions. The courts have rejected his protest of alleged federal wiretapping to secure evidence for the warrant. In the ruling the judge said: “The entire allegation of wiretapping is irrelevant and immaterial to removal proceedings.”

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William F. Buckley Jr.

From John V. Lindsay’s statement, August 11, announcing his rebirth: “I consider this decision a reaffirmation of my commitment to the needs of this great and vital city. . . . Men without jobs, families without hope, indecent housing, blighted neighborhoods, crowded hospitals, crime, poverty, polarization—these are real. And again and again I have seen them on our streets.” Of course that was under a Republican mayor.

Like it or not, Dr. Daniel Ellsberg of Massachusetts must face charges in California on August 16 for unauthorized possession of those 47 volumes of government secrets known as the Pentagon Papers. Underlaying the California indictment is the government’s contention that Ellsberg had access to the documents while at the Rand Corporation in Santa Monica. Ellsberg (who mentioned on August 4 that he would welcome a full court trial so as to “strengthen constitutional rights in this country”), counseled by his lawyer Leonard Boudin (whose daughter Kathy survived the blast on NYC’s West 11th St. last year), has entered, so far unsuccessfully, a million or so objections, appeals and other delaying motions. The courts have rejected his protest of alleged federal wiretapping to secure evidence for the warrant. In the ruling the judge said: “The entire allegation of wiretapping is irrelevant and immaterial to removal proceedings.”