Newstalgia Reference Room - The Freedom Of Information Act - March 30, 1965
(Sen. Al Gore with Rep. John Moss - Next time you're digging around the National Archives, thank the guy on the right.)
On March 30, 1965, California Representative John Moss introduced legislation in Congress that would give the public access to the inner workings of the government. It was met with a lot of resistance. LBJ swore to veto it if it arrived on his desk. The idea that a government that was transparent, that actually would be accountable, where the press would actually have access to documents seemed very abstract to some.
And it wasn't until 1966, when LBJ had a change of heart (or a change of some provisions in the bill) that The Freedom of Information Act was finally signed into law.
A lot of attempts have been made to stymie the law, including a Bush Executive Order which rendered it null for the better part of 8 years. Still, the bill came from someplace and it was someone's idea that the people were entitled to know the truth.
So here is a report by Fred Morrison from March 30, 1965, outlining the reactions on Capitol Hill to the newly introduced bill.
I believe I am correct, but I believe it was with the help of an Illinois congressman named Donald Rumsfeld, that this act was made into law. Ironic, eh?
http://www.bushsecrecy.org/PageIndex.cfm?Pare...
such as the Graham-Lieberman photo suppression amendment favored by Obama
here
excerpt:
We should try to keep these folks honest.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
I wanna see all the torture videos and photos. Do does the various warcrimes commissions.
When we hang someone for treason, sedition, murder and warcrimes, we wanna make certain we have all the facts.
I hope we find GWB in a hole he dug under some brush he cleared and the interpol officer who finally arrests him will say
"The international community sends its regards."
'The devil crept into Heaven, God overslept on the 7th, the New World Order was born on Sept 11th.' - Immortal Technique
*
Get a haircut hippy...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
...and thanks to C&L for the post. I did not know he was the force behind the FOIA.
The concept was good. The government still tries to hide too much of what it's doing, and people who do evil things in the name of government are not held accountable.
Comments are closed on this entry