Posted on 11/01/2001 8:38:48 PM PST by JohnHuang2
Bush Keeps a Grip on Presidential Papers
By ELISABETH BUMILLER
ASHINGTON, Nov. 1 President Bush signed an executive order today to allow a sitting president to keep secret the papers of a previous president, even if a previous president wants his papers made public.
Administration officials said the order would provide an "orderly process" to help archivists handle requests for presidential papers. Ari Fleischer, the White House press secretary, said today that "more information will be forthcoming" because of the order.
Some historians and public interest lawyers disagreed.
"Those claims are absurd," said Hugh Davis Graham, a presidential historian at Vanderbilt University who has seen the order. Mr. Graham said he viewed the executive order as the latest effort by the Bush White House to clamp down on the flow of information to the public.
The five-page executive order, drafted by the White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales, would give either an incumbent president or a former president the right to withhold the former president's papers from the public.
"We thought it would be more appropriate to really give the primary responsibility regarding presidential records to the former president whose records they belong to," Mr. Gonzales said in a briefing for reporters, "and to have the incumbent president sort of be the backstop in making decisions about whether or not those documents should in fact be released."
At issue are 68,000 pages of records from the Reagan administration, which by law were due to be made public in January of this year. But the current White House blocked the release of those documents, which contain confidential communications between President Reagan and his advisers, including Mr. Bush's father, George Bush, who was Mr. Reagan's vice president.
Critics have accused the current administration of trying to withhold documents that might be embarrassing not only to the president's father, but to other administration officials who served Mr. Reagan. Among them are Secretary of State Colin L. Powell; Mitchell E. Daniels Jr., the budget director; and Lawrence B. Lindsey, the chief White House economist.
Historians say the documents most likely include memorandums of policy decisions, briefing papers and correspondence among White House advisers.
Until 1977, American presidents controlled the release of their own papers. But after Watergate and President Richard M. Nixon's attempt to retain his records and tape recordings, Congress passed the 1978 Presidential Records Act, which called for the release of presidential papers 12 years after an administration.
That law took effect in 1981. The Reagan documents would be the first presidential papers released under the act.
The White House delayed that release three times, saying it needed time to review the papers.
Mr. Graham, the presidential historian, said the current administration was also concerned about protecting its own secrets during the war with Afghanistan.
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Bump!
This bird cage-lining rag isn't fit to be called a newspaper.
Dear Miss Marple, in a delicate sense, my wife and I are not sure how the Federal Gov't can release the "Clinton Papers."
There is probably too much DNA on the Clinton papers that would match white stains on Monica Lewinski's dress.
the Hillary wouldn't have a problem though.
BTW, does anyone know where Slick and the Hillary are bunking out these days? Just had to ask... Sorry for the interrupt on this issue?
Administration officials said the order would provide an "orderly process" to help archivists handle requests for presidential papers. Ari Fleischer, the White House press secretary, said today that "more information will be forthcoming" because of the order.
Wow...what a perfect example of "doublespeak".
Way to cover-you-a$$es guys!
Bush Jr. is no exception.
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