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Just a day after his inauguration, on Jan. 21, 2009, President Barack Obama signed an
executive order revoking the George W. Bush administration’s Executive Order 13222 — an
order that many historians and open-government advocates argued severely limited access to
the records of former presidents.1
President Obama’s new executive order is just the latest in a long history of laws and
regulations affecting presidential libraries and presidential records. Drawing on the work of
other archivists, presidential-records scholars, and journalists, this article provides a brief
historical overview of our nation’s presidential libraries and the laws affecting access to
presidential records. This article also looks at some more recent access controversies
involving presidential records.
After he became president, Washington showed frustration with the lack of organization and
recordkeeping in the new government. In an April 3, 1797, letter to James McHenry,
Washington suggested constructing a separate building on his estate at Mount Vernon “for
the accommodation and security of my military, civil, and private papers which are
voluminous, and may be interesting.” However, that building was never built and Washington
simply packed up his papers and took them with him when he left office, setting a precedent
for future presidents.3
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In fact, until relatively recently the papers and correspondence generated by presidents while
in office were not considered public records. Because of concerns over confidentiality,
separation of powers and partisanship, presidential papers were considered personal
property and that status remained unchallenged for nearly 200 years.4 Ulysses S. Grant lost
many of his papers. Most of Zachary Taylor’s were burned when Union troops occupied his
son’s home in Louisiana in 1862 during the Civil War. On the day before his death in 1886,
Chester A. Arthur set three garbage cans full of documents on fire.5 After Warren Harding’s
death in 1923 the first lady, Florence Harding, burned nearly half of his personal papers.6
By the beginning of the 20th century, however, several families of former presidents began
donating their papers to the Library of Congress, state historical societies or universities,
often with restricted conditions on access. By the late 1930s, the Library of Congress had
acquired the papers of 22 presidents.7 Yet despite several government attempts to preserve
presidential papers, most disappeared, either given away as souvenirs, destroyed, lost in
family attics, or sold to autograph collectors.8
On Dec. 10, 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt set in motion what would eventually
become the precedent for all future presidents by announcing plans to donate his papers,
correspondence, historical manuscripts, books and memorabilia to the U.S. government,
along with his estate at Hyde Park, N.Y., on which he would build a “Presidential Library.” In
April 1939, Congress accepted Roosevelt’s gift, and the National Archives — founded about
four years earlier — was placed in charge of running the new library. The Franklin D.
Roosevelt Library was dedicated on June 30, 1941, establishing the first presidential library
along with the idea that presidential records should belong to the government and made
available to the public.9
Roosevelt’s successor, Harry Truman, also saw the benefit of a library to house his
presidential papers. In 1950, Missouri Supreme Court Judge Ernest M. Tipton and several
other friends of President Truman filed an application of incorporation for the establishment
of the Harry S. Truman Library in Missouri to house Truman’s writings, papers, relics and
memorabilia.10 Truman also urged Congress to establish a system of privately built and
federally maintained presidential libraries. His efforts culminated in 1955 with the passage of
the Presidential Libraries Act, which codified the procedures that Roosevelt had
established for his own presidential library and encouraged other presidents to donate their
papers to the government. Although the Presidential Libraries Act of 1955 did improve public
access to presidential papers, these records were still considered a gift of private property,
and the law allowed for limits to access to documents for a certain period of time, or
indefinitely, depending on the nature of the content.11
Under this and subsequent acts, more presidential libraries were established. It was not until
1974 when the Watergate scandal unfolded during President Richard M. Nixon’s
administration that the law governing access to presidential records changed. On Sept. 7,
1974, nearly a month after he resigned the presidency, Nixon signed an agreement with the
General Services Administration that designated his transfer of presidential records as a
deposit and not a gift, allowed Nixon to restrict access to those records, and gave him the
right to withdraw all materials after three years, except his Oval Office tape recordings.12 After
the press and the public became aware of this agreement, members of Congress acted quickly
to prevent any further action on Nixon's part to conceal his presidential records. On Dec. 19,
1974, Congress overturned Nixon’s agreement with the GSA and passed the Presidential
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Recordings and Materials Preservation Act, which ultimately placed Nixon’s records in
federal custody and stipulated that the National Archives must segregate and return to the
estate of the former president materials identified as purely "personal-private" or "personal-
political" and unrelated to the president's constitutional and statutory duties. Though this law
only applied to Nixon’s records, it established for the first time that the federal government
owned presidential records.13
The Watergate scandal and cover-up left an indelible mark on the history of presidential
records. In an effort to prevent any future concealment of presidential records, Congress
passed the Presidential Records Act of 1978, which permanently changed the legal
ownership of presidential papers from private to public. Beginning with President Ronald
Reagan’s administration, and continuing through every presidential administration
thereafter, the act required the archivist of the United States to assume custody of the
president’s public records after he leaves office.14
Under this new law there were six restrictions that presidents could assert over their records.
Among them, the act established a 12-year moratorium on access to presidential records that
involved classified national-security information, personal privacy, trade secrets or
confidential commercial or financial information.15 The act also distinguished between the
president’s public and private records. Documents such as diaries, journals, personal notes
and any materials relating exclusively to private political associations are deemed “personal
records” and “do not relate or have an effect upon the carrying out of the constitutional,
statutory, or other official or ceremonial duties of the President.”16
In 2001 President George W. Bush issued another executive order that overturned Reagan’s
executive order and established a whole new set of restrictions on the release of presidential
records. In February 2001, shortly after Bush took office, the National Archives notified both
President Bush and former President Reagan that it intended to release Reagan’s records
because the 12-year restriction on the release of certain materials as outlined in the
Presidential Records Act was about to expire. In response, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
requested a 90-day extension, then another, which was soon followed by an indefinite
extension to consider the release of the Reagan records.18 On Nov. 1, 2001, President Bush
signed Executive Order 13233, "Further Implementation of the Presidential Records Act,"
which set a 90-day review period on the release of records for the former president and an
unspecified review period for the incumbent president; required that the release of
information must be approved by both the current and previous president even if privilege is
not claimed; and said anyone who challenges the president’s executive privilege must show a
“demonstrated, specific need” for the records, among other requirements.19
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While litigation, legislation and advocacy against Bush’s executive order continued, President
Obama issued his Executive Order 13489 revoking Bush’s Executive Order 13233.22
Obama’s new executive order restored much of the language that existed in Reagan’s previous
order, giving only the incumbent president and living former presidents the right to claim
executive privilege. Under the previous Bush order, heirs or designees of deceased presidents
could assert claims of executive privilege. The Obama order also removed a significant
loophole in the Bush executive order that gave former vice presidents the right of executive
privilege. Obama’s order made it clear that vice presidential records are included under the
definition of “presidential records.”23
In June 2001 the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, requested
information about the people involved in the task force and the “nature, purpose and
attendees in connection with the meetings,” eventually suing in federal court to force a release
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of documents related to the task force.29 Cheney refused to release that information, claiming
executive privilege, and the Sierra Club and Judicial Watch also sued.30
On Aug. 2, 2002, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan ruled that the Bush administration
had 30 days to turn over documents and written responses to questions about the task force
from the Sierra Club and Judicial Watch, but Cheney’s attorneys appealed, arguing in court
that the release of those documents would improperly inhibit the decision-making abilities of
the executive branch. On Oct. 17, 2002, Sullivan again ordered the release of task-force
documents, and again the Bush administration appealed the decision.31 The case eventually
went before U.S. District Judge John D. Bates, who ruled in December 2002 that the GAO
had no legal standing to sue Cheney.32 On June 24, 2004, the U.S. Supreme Court also ruled
in Cheney’s favor on the case involving the Sierra Club and Judicial Watch, stating in a 7-2
majority that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit had not given due
weight to the executive branch’s need to be free of “vexatious litigation.”33
In a separate case from March 2008, archivists at the Clinton Library blocked the release of
material related to 140 pardons that President Clinton approved on his last day in office. The
documents were withheld on advice from the president’s attorneys, who cited confidentiality
clauses in the Presidential Records Act of 1978 that allow presidents to restrict access to such
documents for up to 12 years after the presidents leave office.35
Both issues became political fodder during the 2008 Democratic presidential primary when
Hillary Clinton cited her experience as first lady as one of her qualifications to be president.
Her Democratic primary challengers criticized her for restricting access to records from her
husband’s administration. With more than 250 FOIA requests pending and only 11 archivists
at the Clinton Library to process them, NARA officials said they could not predict whether
any of the material would be released before the election, but by March 19, 2008, the Clinton
Library did release 11,000 pages of records, including the details from the first lady’s
meetings, trips, speaking engagements and social activities — but a third of those records
were redacted to protect the privacy of Clinton's associates.36
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in February 2008 university trustees unanimously approved a resolution allowing the library
to be built. Then United Methodist Church approval was required because SMU is owned by
the South Central Jurisdiction of the church. A small group of Methodist clergy signed a
petition opposing the new library and public policy center, but in July 2008 the United
Methodist Church dismissed the petition and approved the project.38
Another controversy involved a 2008 Times of London report that Houston businessman and
Bush campaign fund-raiser Stephen Payne was caught on tape offering access to top
administration officials in exchange for six-figure donations to President Bush's library
foundation. The Bush administration promptly distanced itself from Payne, whose name had
also surfaced in 2006 in connection with White House visitor logs (see below). Press
Secretary Dana Perino called Payne’s actions “inappropriate” and said, “No one is allowed to
try to say that there would be official action done under this administration in connection to
any contribution that they may or may not make to the library.”39
Further, in August 2008 the Associated Press obtained a nine-page internal White House
draft document outlining the administration’s e-mail problems to companies bidding on a
project to recover the missing electronic messages. The document stated that as many as 225
days of e-mail dating to 2003 were missing and outlined a process in which private
contractors would attempt to retrieve lost e-mail from 35,000 disaster-recovery backup
tapes.43
In September 2007, both CREW and the National Security Archive, an independent,
nongovernment research institute and library located at George Washington University, sued
the Executive Office of the President to force the Bush administration to recover the missing
e-mails.44 After several months of legal arguments and court appeals, U.S. Magistrate Judge
John Facciola issued an opinion on Jan. 15, 2009, that said the White House had failed in its
obligation to safeguard all electronic messages and ordered the administration to conduct a
search of all offices for the missing e-mails.45 In his opinion, Facciola said, “I have always
begun with the premise that, as just indicated, the emails that are said to be missing are the
very heart of this lawsuit and there is a profound societal interest in their preservation. They
are, after all, the most fundamental and useful contemporary records of the recent history of
the President’s office. If Napoleon was right when he said that he did not care who wrote
France’s laws if he could write its history, then the importance of preserving the e-mails
cannot be exaggerated.”46
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Meanwhile, CREW filed two separate lawsuits in 2006 seeking access to Secret Service visitor
logs. CREW wanted to determine whether nine conservative religious leaders visited the
White House and Vice President Dick Cheney's residence, and also whether Texas
businessman and campaign fundraiser Stephen Payne had visited the White House. As noted
earlier, Payne allegedly tried to sell access to administration officials in exchange for
contributions to Bush's presidential library fund.51
Because Secret Service visitor records were subject to Freedom of Information Act requests,
the Bush administration ordered Secret Service visitor logs to be turned over to the White
House, where they would be treated as presidential records outside the scope of the public-
records law. The White House argued that revealing the Secret Service logs would impede the
president’s ability to perform his constitutional duties.52 However, on Jan. 9, 2009, U.S.
District Judge Royce Lamberth rejected that claim and declared that the government illegally
deleted Secret Service computer records. According to papers filed in the case, the deletions
went back as far as 2001, the year President Bush took office.53
In a Dec. 8, 2008, filing with the court, Cheney’s attorneys went further, saying, “The vice
president alone may determine what constitutes vice presidential records or personal records,
how his records will be created, maintained, managed and disposed, and are all actions that
are committed to his discretion by law.”55 On Jan. 19, 2009, U.S. District Judge Colleen
Kollar-Kotelly ruled in favor of the vice president, rejecting CREW’s claim and accepting a
pledge by a senior White House aide that Cheney’s documents and other materials would be
transferred as required to the National Archives.56
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In response to Clark’s multiple FOIA requests, NARA initially said all of those records were
“operational” and not suitable for transfer to the National Archives, but later agreed to release
more than 250 cubic feet of records deemed relevant to Clark’s work and to make those
records available to him on a monthly schedule.58 Clark, however, unsatisfied with NARA’s
timeliness and responsiveness to his requests, established a blog detailing his ongoing
challenges in accessing NARA's presidential records.59 (See http://www.anthony-clark.com/)
After his election in November 2008, Obama, his staff and national-security advisers
negotiated a compromise, announced Jan. 22, 2009, that would allow Obama to continue
using his BlackBerry as president. The deal allows him to stay in touch with senior staff and a
small group of friends using the device. Anyone given access to Obama's private e-mail
address received a briefing from the White House counsel’s office; forwarding messages from
the president to anyone else was prohibited. The Associated Press reported on Jan. 23 that
Obama’s BlackBerry communications would be subject to the Presidential Records Act,
although according to White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs exemptions would be made for
“strictly personal communications.”
"Gibbs did not say how that classification would be determined," AP reported, "but made
clear that the device could be used for both business and personal exchanges."61
With this agreement, Barack Obama became the first U.S. president to use e-mail while in
office.62 Privacy concerns led Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, to discontinue using e-
mail just before his inauguration in 2001. In a Jan. 17, 2001, e-mail to 42 friends and
advisers, Bush said, “My lawyers tell me that all correspondence by e-mail is subject to open
record requests… Since I do not want my private conversations looked at by those out to
embarrass, the only course of action is not to correspond in cyberspace. This saddens me. I
have enjoyed conversing with each of you."63
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Endnotes:
1 “Obama orders rollback of government secrecy,” First Amendment Center Online, Jan. 22,
2009, at http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=21145; “Obama Overturns
Bush Order on Presidential Records,” Chronicle of Higher Education, Jan. 21, 2009, at
http://chronicle.com/news/article/5836/obama-overturns-bush-order-on-presidential-
records; “Executive Order – Presidential Records” at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/ExecutiveOrderPresidentialRecords/; See
also: “EXECUTIVE ORDER 13233 - FURTHER IMPLEMENTATION OF THE
PRESIDENTIAL RECORDS ACT,” at http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/2001/11/eo-pra.html;
American Historical Association v. NARA 402 F.Supp.2d 171 (D.D.C. 2005), at
http://fas.org/sgp/jud/aha.pdf.
4 Geoffrey C. Ward, “Future historians will curse as well as praise me,” Smithsonian, 20:9
(Dec. 1989), pp. 58 (11); Nancy Kegan Smith and Gary M. Stern, “A Historical Review of
Access to Records in Presidential Libraries,” Public Historian, 28:3 (summer 2006), 81.
5 Cynthia M. Koch and Lynn A. Bassanese, “Roosevelt and His Library,” Prologue, 33:2
(summer 2001) at http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2001/summer/roosevelt-
and-his-library-1.html.
7 Ibid.
8 Koch and Bassanese, “Roosevelt and His Library,” 33:2 (summer 2001).
9 Smith and Stern, “A Historical Review of Access to Records in Presidential Libraries,” 81-
82.
10 “Group Seeks Library for Truman Papers,” Washington Post, July 12, 1950; “Friends Begin
a Move for a Truman Library,” New York Times, July 12, 1950; “Truman to Group Papers,”
New York Times, Nov. 3, 1950.
11 David Glenn, “When History Becomes Legacy,” Chronicle of Higher Education, March 9,
2007; U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, “Presidential Libraries Act of
1955,” at http://www.archives.gov/presidential-libraries/laws/1955-act.html; U.S. National
Archives and Records Administration, “Presidential Library History: A Brief History,” at
http://www.archives.gov/presidential-libraries/about/history.html.
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13 Smith and Stern, “A Historical Review of Access to Records in Presidential Libraries,” 88;
Cox, “America’s pyramids,” 51; “Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act
(PRMPA) of 1974,” National Archives and Records Administration, at
http://www.archives.gov/presidential-libraries/laws/1974-act.html.
14 Smith and Stern, “A Historical Review of Access to Records in Presidential Libraries,” 96-
97; “Presidential Library History: A Brief History,” at http://www.archives.gov/presidential-
libraries/about/history.html.
15 Smith and Stern, “A Historical Review of Access to Records in Presidential Libraries,” 98;
Hugh Davis Graham, “Presidency: The Reagan Papers Runaround,” History News Network,
Nov. 7, 2001, at http://hnn.us/articles/386.html.
16 Smith and Stern, “A Historical Review of Access to Records in Presidential Libraries,” 97;
"Statement by Allen Weinstein, Archivist of the United States to the Subcommittee on
Information Policy, Census, and National Archives of the Committee on Government
Oversight and Reform House of Representatives Congress of the United States On the
Implementation and Effectiveness of the Presidential Records Act of 1978," March 1, 2007, at
http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20070309102342-88832.pdf.
17 “Basic Laws and Authorities: Executive Order 12667 – Presidential Records,” National
Archives and Records Administration, at
http://www.archives.gov/about/laws/appendix/12667.html.
19 Smith and Stern, “A Historical Review of Access to Records in Presidential Libraries,” 105;
David Banisar, “Government Secrecy: Decisions Without Democracy,” People for the
American Way Foundation, at http://www.openthegovernment.org/govtsecrecy.pdf.
21 Smith and Stern, “A Historical Review of Access to Records in Presidential Libraries,” 106-
107.
23 “President Obama Revokes Bush Presidential Records Executive Order (updated Jan. 22),”
National Coalition for History, at http://historycoalition.org/2009/01/21/president-obama-
revokes-bush-presidential-records-executive-order/.
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24 Smith and Stern, “A Historical Review of Access to Records in Presidential Libraries,” 86.
26 Smith and Stern, “A Historical Review of Access to Records in Presidential Libraries,” 79-
116.
28 Charles Lane, “High Court Backs Vice President; Energy Documents Shielded for Now,”
Washington Post, June 25, 2004.
29 Mike Allen, “Cheney Spurns GAO Request; Agency Seeks Information on Energy Task
Force’s Contacts,” Washington Post, June 19, 2001.
30 Neely Tucker, “White House Told to Turn Over More Data on Energy Panel,” Washington
Post, Aug. 3, 2002; Neely Tucker, “Cheney-GAO Showdown Goes to Corut,” Washington
Post, Sept. 28, 2002; Neely Tucker, “Judge Orders White House Papers’ Release,”
Washington Post, Oct. 18, 2002.
31 Ibid.
32 Neely Tucker, “Suit Versus Cheney Is Dismissed; Judge Gives Administration Broad
Victory on Oversight,” Washington Post, Dec. 10, 2002.
33 Charles Lane, “High Court Backs Vice President; Energy Documents Shielded for Now,”
Washington Post, June 25, 2004.
34 “Papers from Clinton years not likely out before election,” Associated Press, Aug. 15, 2007;
Michael Isikoff, “Papers? I Don’t See Any Papers,” Newsweek, Oct. 29, 2007.
35 Peter Eisler, “Archivists block release of Clinton papers,” USA Today, March 7, 2008.
36 Peter Nicholas, “Clinton records locked up,” Los Angeles Times, Aug. 14, 2007; Mike
Dorning, “Clinton library a closed book,” Chicago Tribune, Nov. 12, 2007; Daniel Nasaw,
“11,000 pages detailing Hillary Clinton’s White House years set for release,” Guardian (U.K.),
March 18, 2008.
37 Paul Meyer, “SMU seals library deal University, foundation confirm Bush site after lengthy
pursuit,” Dallas Morning News, Feb. 23, 2008; Holly K. Hacker, “Professors remain wary of
policy institute; Faculty members are relieved that center won't be part of school,” Dallas
Morning News, Feb. 26, 2008.
38 Holly K. Hacker, “Methodist faction fighting Bush library at SMU Clergy unveil petition as
president leans 'heavily' toward university as site,” Dallas Morning News, Jan. 19, 2007;
Adam B. Ellick, “Texas: Approval for Bush Library,” New York Times, July 18, 2008.
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39 Daniel Foggo and Steven Swinford, “Stephen Payne: a hotshot lobbyist who can get you
into White House,” Times Online, July 13, 2008, at
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article4322719.ece; Sheryl
Gay Stolberg and Adam Ellick, “Fund-Raiser Faces Inquiry Over Offer Of Access, New York
Times, July 17, 2008.
41 WITHOUT A TRACE: The Story Behind the Missing White House E-mails and the
Violations of the Presidential Records Act, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in
Washington, April 12, 2007, at
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20070905/041207WithoutATraceFullReport.pdf.
42 Ibid.; See also: Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “Advisers' E-Mail Accounts May Have Mixed Politics
and Business, White House Says,” New York Times, April 12, 2007; Alexis Simendinger,
“Whose E-Mail Is It?,” National Journal, March 24, 2007.
43 “White House missing as many as 225 days of e-mail,” Associated Press, Aug. 23, 2008, at
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=20448.
45 “White House ordered to preserve e-mails,” Associated Press, Jan. 15, 2009, at
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=21117.
46 Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington v. Exec. Office of the President, CA
Nos. 07-1701, 07-1577, (D.D.C. Jan. 15, 2009), at https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-
bin/show_public_doc?2007cv1707-105.
47 “White House logs of Abramoff visits to be released,” Associated Press, May 9, 2006, at
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=16873.
48 “Group sues to get White House visitor logs,” Associated Press, March 1, 2006, at
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=16567.
49 Ibid.
50 “White House logs of Abramoff visits to be released,” Associated Press, May 9, 2006, at
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=16873.
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51 Federal judge rules against White House on visitor logs,” Associated Press, Jan. 12, 2009,
at http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=21103.
52 “Judge rules White House visitor logs are public documents,” Associated Press, Dec. 18,
2007, at http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=19464.
53 “Federal judge rules against White House on visitor logs,” Associated Press, Jan. 12, 2009,
at http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=21103.
54 Christopher Lee, “Lawsuit to Ask That Cheney’s Papers Be Made Public,” Washington
Post, Sept. 8, 2008, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2008/09/07/AR2008090702260.html?hpid=moreheadlines.
55 “Cheney says he gets to decide which records to archive,” Associated Press, Dec. 18, 2008,
at http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/36138.
56 R. Jeffrey Smith, “Ruling on Records Delivers a Win to Cheney,” Washington Post, Jan.
20, 2009, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2009/01/19/AR2009011903042.html?hpid=topnews; “Federal judge:
Cheney has broad discretion over records,” Associated Press, Jan. 20, 2009, at
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=21131.
57 Anthony Clark, "Why Is It So Hard to Get Documents from the National Archives About
the National Archives?" History News Network, July 21, 2008, at
http://hnn.us/articles/52350.html.
59 See: http://www.anthony-clark.com/.
60 Stephanie Clifford, “For BlackBerry, Obama’s Devotion Is Priceless,” New York Times,
Jan. 8, 2009, at
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/09/business/media/09blackberry.html?ref=politics;
Brad Stone, “The High Security Risk Attached to Obama’s Belt,” New York Times, Jan. 11,
2009, at
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/12/technology/internet/12blackberry.html?ref=politics.
61 “News access issues concern reporters covering Obama,” Associated Press, Jan. 23, 2009,
at http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=21151.
62 Jeff Zeleny, “For a High-Tech President, a Hard-Fought E-Victory, New York Times, Jan.
22, 2009, at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/us/politics/23berry.html?ref=politics;
Jimmy Orr, “Obama wins the BlackBerry war,” Christian Science Monitor, Jan. 22, 2009, at
http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/01/22/obama-wins-the-blackberry-war/;
Christi Parsons and Jim Puzzanghera, “The BlackBerry accord of 2009,” Los Angeles Times,
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63 Richard L. Berke, “The Last (E-Mail) Goodbye, From 'gwb' to His 42 Buddies,” New York
Times, March 17, 2001.
Selected bibliography
Freidel, Frank. “Roosevelt to Reagan: The Birth and Growth of Presidential Libraries,”
Prologue 21 (summer 1989).
Geselbracht, Raymond. “The Four Eras in the History of Presidential Papers,” Prologue 15
(spring 1983).
Glenn, David. “When History Becomes Legacy,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, March 9,
2007.
Hirshon, Arnold. “Recent Developments in the Accessibility of Presidential Papers and Other
Presidential Historical Materials,” Government Publications Review, vol. 6, no. 4 (1979).
Hufbauer, Benjamin. Presidential Temples: How Memorials and Libraries Shape Public
Memory, University Press of Kansas, 2006.
Lantzer, Jason S. “The Public History of Presidential Libraries: How the Presidency is
Presented to the People,” Journal of the Association for History and Computing, vol. 6, no. 1,
April 2003.
Smith, Nancy Kegan, and Stern, Gary M. “A Historical Review of Access to Records in
Presidential Libraries,” The Public Historian, vol. 28, no. 3 (summer 2006).
Span, Paula. “Monumental Ambition: Presidential libraries are history and hagiography,
archival mother lodes and gift shops pushing star-spangled dish towels,” The Washington
Post, Feb. 17, 2002.
Wolff, Cynthia J. “Necessary Monuments: The Making of the Presidential Library System,”
Government Publications Review 16 (1989).
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Related Articles at
www.FirstAmendmentCenter.org
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