Replies

Notice: former Presidents, including all of the Founders who held that office, considered themselves to be the sole judges of what unofficial papers would be released and when.
The PRA is a violent and blatantly unconstitutional subversion of the presidency.
The only way to costitutionally change this long-standing practise begun by George Washington,is with a Constitutional amendment.
Which should be done, in my opinion.

From the NARA site:
"In the past, Presidents had tremendous power to dispose of their papers as they saw fit. Of the first 30 men to hold the Presidential office, only 13 made specific bequests of their papers. Presidents Van Buren, Garfield, Arthur, Grant, Pierce, and Coolidge are among those who destroyed significant numbers of their papers. President Van Buren destroyed a large portion of his Presidential correspondence while he was still in office. Similarly, President Garfield destroyed many of his Presidential materials in the 2 months between being shot by an assassin and his death in 1881. President Arthur apparently burned three large garbage cans filled with his papers.
Franklin Roosevelt negotiated an arrangement with Congress in which he gave his White House materials to the United States on the condition that they be maintained in a library to be built on Roosevelt's estate in Hyde Park, NY. A historian is said to have asked Roosevelt why his papers did not come within the class of official government documents. The President replied that he was following the precedent set by Washington: "When I came to the White House there was not a scrap of paper in that room; when I retire, I shall not leave a scrap. The room will be swept clean for my successor."
The Presidential Records Act of 1978 terminated the long-standing historical tradition of private ownership of Presidential papers and hence the reliance on Presidential giving for the government to acquire legal custody."

Your reply to the Judge generally reflects my feelings on the pro side of this matter, but my FOI hairs on the back of my neck still stood up and tingled.

I think sometimes the making of the sausage is a messy business and often misunderstood by casual observers. I do believe that the sausage making should be revealed at a time after the sausage makers have retired. I think this would satisfy the history buffs and protect the current and future civil servants who are already reluctant to serve largely because of risky potential legal expenses. I hope I have chosen the proper stance because I hate for Mr. Bill to get away with anything more than he allready has.