(Reagan signing the Simpson-Mazzoli Immigration Reform Bill - 1986 - smiling faces . . .mostly)

Passing by a comfortable margin in the House and passed with ease by the Senate, in what was referred to as the first piece of sweeping legislation in the area of Immigration was signed into law on November 1986. The bill, known as the Simpson-Mazzoli Act of 1986, penalized employers for hiring illegal aliens and offering amnesty to aliens who illegally entered the country before 1982 was an attempt to offer some solution to a broken system in need of fixing since the last piece of legislation authored by Peter Rodino in the early 1970's.

Of course, it had its detractors, including the Mexican government. Seems in the area of Immigration, you just can't please everybody - or in some cases, most anybody.

(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.