Daniel Ellsberg, Pentagon Papers source, had an uneasy relationship with The Times

The relationship between The New York Times and its most famous source, Daniel Ellsberg, reads like a thriller, filled with clandestine encounters, top secret documents and a war raging in the background.

The connection was mutually beneficial. For Mr. Ellsberg, a former military analyst who died on Friday at age 92, uncovering a secret government history about the Vietnam War changed the way the nation thought about a conflict it opposed. And the publication of the documents in 1971, which became known as the Pentagon Papers, revived The Times’ reputation as a government watchdog.

Yet Mr Ellsberg had conflicting feelings about The Times.

Mr. Ellsberg was pleased with the prominent attention The Times gave to the Pentagon Papers – “their courage to do so and the risks they took” – Robert, Mr. Ellsberg’s son, said in an interview. And he respected Neil Sheehan, the story’s lead reporter, in believing he picked the right person for the leak.

But the younger Mr. Ellsberg said his father had “some regret and resentment about the way he felt he had been treated, which he felt was very unnecessary.”

In particular, Mr. Ellsberg was dissatisfied with Mr. Sheehan’s deception. Mr Ellsberg was also upset by the way The Times later described in an article how he had provided the documents.

Mr. Ellsberg and Mr. Sheehan discussed the Pentagon Papers at length in March 1971, during an hour-long conversation that lasted well into the night. Mr. Ellsberg had smuggled the Pentagon Papers—all 7,000 pages—out of an office past guards in the fall of 1969.

Finally, Mr. Ellsberg allowed Mr. Sheehan access to the papers, but with a condition: Mr. Sheehan could study the documents and take notes, but he was not allowed to make copies of them.

Mr. Sheehan violated that agreement by making copies of the documents with the help of his wife, Susan Sheehan, a former writer for The New Yorker. Mr. Sheehan didn’t tell Mr. Ellsberg. In the following months, he misled Mr. Ellsberg about the paper’s timetable for publishing a story about the documents.

When The Times was about to finish publishing his stories, Mr. Sheehan asked Mr. Ellsberg for a full copy of the documents, believing the request would be interpreted as a sign that the paper was preparing to run a story to publish. But Mr. Ellsberg missed the signal. He provided the documents, but was surprised when The Times published the first article revealing the documents on June 13, 1971.

The Nixon White House demanded that the newspaper stop publishing the information contained in the documents. The Times prevailed in court against the Nixon administration, setting a precedent that blunted previous government restraint. Later, the government demanded jail time for Mr Elsberg. A judge dismissed the case against Mr. Ellsberg for government misconduct.

Decades later, on the day Mr. Sheehan died, The Times published an article about the leak of the Pentagon Papers. The article was largely based on an interview with Mr Sheehan that took place in 2015, in preparation for his obituary, the first time he had spoken publicly at length about his role in obtaining the papers. He allowed the interview on the condition that his account would not be revealed until after his death, according to Janny Scott, the reporter who wrote the article. “That prevented me from managing his account by anyone, including Mr Ellsberg, until after Mr Sheehan’s death,” said Ms Scott, who left the newspaper years before the article was published.

In the interview, Mr. Sheehan said he misled Mr. Ellsberg about the timing of the article because he was concerned that Mr. Ellsberg was acting irrationally and would do something to jeopardize the story. He said the documents were too important to leave in his hands.

Mr. Ellsberg disagreed with Mr. Sheehan’s characterization that he feared imprisonment, and was unhappy that he was not given a chance to comment on that point and other points in the article.

Mr Ellsberg tweeted a complaint about the article shortly after it was published, noting that he had given Mr Sheehan a copy of the documents before The Times published the first installment of the Pentagon Papers. Mr Ellsberg later criticized his treatment by The Times in an interview with The New Yorker.

Mr Ellsberg’s son said his father was always willing to give the documents to The Times if he had a commitment that the newspaper would publish them – even at the cost of a prison sentence.

“The effect of not telling was, among other things, that he was caught unprepared with a copy of the papers in his apartment where the FBI could have raided and found them,” Robert Ellsberg said.

The New York Times said on Monday it had no comment on Mr Ellsberg’s complaints about the relationship.

Months after the article on Mr. Sheehan, Mr. Ellsberg was part of The Times’ 50th anniversary package on the Pentagon Papers. He gave numerous comments for an oral history. He also did an interview with the opinion section and for a podcast.

Still, he remained puzzled by some of his interactions with the newspaper. He sat in his senior year for numerous interviews, including with Jill Abramson, a former editor-in-chief at The New York Times, and James Risen, a former reporter at The Times who now works for The Intercept. In both interviews, Ms Abramson and Mr Risen said he expressed his frustration with The Times.

Neither interview has been published. Ms Abramson was in talks with The Times to write a guest opinion column about Mr Ellsberg’s relationship with the company, although The Times later ran an op-ed by a staff writer instead. Mr Risen said his article, also on Mr Ellsberg’s relationship with The Times, will be published soon.

In his 2003 memoir, “Secrets,” Mr. It was clear to Ellsberg that he was excited about the climax of the story that he helped set in motion. When he heard that the first article was being published, he bought a copy of the Sunday paper with his wife late Saturday night.

“We came up the stairs to Harvard Square and read the front page, with the three-column story about the secret archive, and felt very good,” wrote Mr. Ellsberg.