All
the President's Records
When
President Bush signed an executive order that barred
access to the records of past presidents and vice
presidents, it made Stanley Kutler wonder.
Specifically,
he says, it "really makes you wonder what's in those
papers."
Kutler,
an emeritus professor of history, is among many academics
who are concerned that wondering is all they'll be
able to do. Under the Presidential Records Act of
1978, papers, tapes, and other presidential materials
became public record after twelve years — which boosts
the work of historians, authors, and other researchers,
and, they say, the public's faith in government.
Records
from the Reagan administration would be accessible
now, if not for Bush's executive order, which closes
them in the interest of national security. If the
order stands, scholarly inquiry in a number of disciplines
will be undercut severely, Kutler says. "Research
by historians, archivists, and journalists depends
on access to records," he says. "This executive order
has the potential to stall a great deal of work."
Kutler's
own work during the past decade dealt with the presidential
records — audiotapes, to be precise — of Richard Nixon.
In
1992, Kutler successfully filed suit to have the tapes
dealing with the Watergate break-in declared open
to the public. Ten years later, he has joined a lawsuit
to reinstate the Presidential Records Act.
John
Cooper, Kutler's colleague in the history department
and an authority on Woodrow Wilson and the League
of Nations, thinks the matter may be settled before
the suit gets to court. Congress is expected to try
to void the order, and Cooper predicts it will succeed.
"I think Congress will chip away at it," he says,
noting that the elder Bush failed during his presidency
to prevent access to Oliver North's e-mails during
the Iran-Contra affair.
Kutler
concurs. "Congress is looking for an honorable way
out of this (executive order)," he says. "Both parties
are committed to overturning it. This is not in any
way a partisan issue."
He
thinks of it, instead, as a family issue — an attempt
by Bush to help shield his father from a prying public.
The elder Bush's records as Reagan's vice president
have been effectively sealed by the order.
"Bush
Jr. has been aiming toward this (executive order)
since the day he took office," Kutler says. "Really
makes you wonder what's in those files."
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