The free flow of information is the oxygen of democracy.

Thirty-seven years ago, a small group of powerful men tried to stop the flow. You'll likely remember the White House Plumbers: E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy, to name two. Their operation later metastasized into the Watergate conspiracy, which destroyed the president and damaged the presidency.

Today, as we mark the beginning of Sunshine Week 2008, it is perhaps instructive to recall the events of those tumultuous years.

Former Marine and Vietnam veteran Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1971 —- 7,000 pages of documents detailing a pattern of lies and distortions by the government regarding U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

The Plumbers' response was to break into the office of Ellsberg's psychiatrist in search of information with which they could discredit Ellsberg. It was not to be their last break-in.

The National Security Archive at George Washington University notes this small irony: The New York Times printed its first Pentagon Papers article on the front page in June 1971, right next to a wedding picture of the president's daughter, Tricia, in the Rose Garden.

The next day, H.R. Haldeman, the president's chief of staff, tried to explain to Nixon the devastating impact of the Pentagon Papers. According to White House tapes of the conversation, he said:

"To the ordinary guy, all of this is a bunch of gobbledygook. But out of the gobbledygook comes a very clear thing ... you can't trust the government; you can't believe what they say; and you can't rely on their judgment; and the —- the implicit infallibility of presidents, which has been an accepted thing in America, is badly hurt by this."

That, of course, was the legacy of the Nixon years, and the ultimate consequence of lying and denying information to the American people.

AJC's open government heroes

Johns Creek Mayor Mike Bodker

Marietta councilman Grif Chalfant

Activists Mindy and David Egan

Activist Michele Mitchell

Activist Babs McDonald

Lawyers Beth Tanis and John Chandler

 WALTER CUMMING / Staff
Illustration of a key.