In 1972-73, Kincaid served as vice president and co-treasurer of the Pentagon Papers Fund for the Defense of Human and Civil Liberties
The Bethlehem Press on July 16 reported on a recent presentation by Prof. John Kincaid about his experiences serving on the defense team during the Pentagon Papers Trial.
Kincaid, the Robert B. and Helen S. Meyner Professor of Government and Public Service and director of the Meyner Center for the Study of State and Local Government, spoke about his experiences at the First Presbyterian Church of Bethlehem on May 20 as part of its “Hi Neighbors” speaker series.
In 1972-1973, Kincaid served as vice president and co-treasurer of the Pentagon Papers Fund for the Defense of Human and Civil Liberties–the legal-defense organization for Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo in the Pentagon Papers Trial in Los Angeles.
Ellsberg and Russo were charged with conspiracy, espionage, and theft for photocopying classified U.S. government documents about its actions during the Vietnam War. Just before the case was to go to the jury, the trial judge dismissed all charges against the two because of gross governmental misconduct, including wiretaps and the burglarizing of Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office by the White House “Plumbers” unit in 1971—the unit that triggered the Watergate crisis by burglarizing the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in 1972.