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(FWD) NCC WASHINGTON UPDATE, Vol. 8, #10, March 15, 2002



NCC WASHINGTON UPDATE, Vol. 8, #10, March 15, 2002
by Bruce Craig <rbcraig@nccph.org>
National Coordinating Committee for the Promotion of History (NCCPH)
*****************

1.  "Dear Colleague" Letter Issued: Hearing Set for Presidential Records E.O.
Nullification Bill
2.  Reagan Presidential Materials Released
3.  Legislation Introduced: Clinton Presidential Site Study; Buffalo
Soldiers Memorial; Hubbard Museum of the American West Grant Authorization 4.
 News Bits and Bytes: NCC Events at OAH Meeting (New Policy Board Meeting
Time); House Committee Passes Spending Resolution; LC Releases Lincoln Papers
Online
5.  Articles of Interest: National Public Radio: "Challenges Museums Face"


1.  "DEAR COLLEAGUE" LETTER ISSUED; HEARING SET FOR PRESIDENTIAL RECORDS E.O.
NULLIFICATION BILL
On March 7, 2002, Representative Stephen Horn (R- CA), Chairman of the
Subcommittee on Government Efficiency, issued a "Dear Colleague" letter to
members of the House of Representatives, requesting co-sponsors for a bill
designed to "fix a serious, but readily solvable, problem in the
implementation of the Presidential Records Act of 1978."

The letter that was distributed to all members of the 107th Congress states:
"The Presidential Records Act of 1978 was a landmark law.  It declared for
the first time that the official records of a former President belong to the
American people and imposed 'an affirmative duty' on Federal officials 'to
make such records available to the public as rapidly and completely as
possible consistent with the provisions of this Act.' Unfortunately,
implementation of the Act has been bogged down by excessive delays as the
Administration decides whether to assert 'executive privilege' claims over
the records of former President Reagan."

According to the Horn letter, "Last November, the Administration issued an
Executive Order that prevents the disclosure of records 'unless and until'
the former and incumbent President affirmatively approves their release.  The
Order also requires Federal officials to honor executive privilege claims by
a former President regardless of the merits of the claim.  Members of
Congress of both parties, as well as many legal experts, historians, and
archivists have pointed out that these and other features of the Executive
Order violate both the letter and the spirit of the Presidential Records Act.
 My bill preserves the constitutional rights of former and incumbent
Presidents to assert executive privilege.  However, unlike the Executive
Order, it does so in a manner that is fully consistent with the Act."

Horn's letter also attaches a copy of the draft bill entitled, "The
Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2002."  In the bill summary the
Representative writes:

"The Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2002 establishes statutory
procedures to govern the assertion of executive privilege claims by a former
or incumbent President over records covered by the Presidential Records Act.
It preserves the constitutional right of a former or incumbent President to
assert privilege claims, but does so in a way that complies with the
framework and intent of the Presidential Records Act.  It supersedes the
procedures established in Executive Order 13233."

"The bill requires the Archivist to provide advance notice of 20 working days
to the former and incumbent Presidents before releasing presidential records
in accordance with the provisions of the Act.  The Archivist would release
the records upon the expiration of this 20-day period, except any records (or
parts of records) for which the former or incumbent President asserts a claim
of privilege.  The Archivist could extend the 20-day period for an additional
20 days if the former or incumbent President demonstrated a need for
additional time to review the records.  Additional time should rarely be
needed.  The former and incumbent Presidents have access to the records and
could conduct their reviews well before the time the records are ready for
public release.  The Archivist also would have thoroughly categorized and
screened the records before a notice is issued, which should greatly
facilitate reviews by the former and incumbent Presidents."

"The bill also requires that any claim of privilege be in writing and signed
by the former or incumbent President, specify the records to which it
applies, and state the nature and grounds of the privilege claim.  Notices of
the proposed release of records, as well as any privilege claims, would be
made public.  If the former President submitted a privilege claim, the
Archivist would withhold the records covered by that claim for another 20
working days.  This would permit the former President to seek judicial
enforcement of his privilege claim, as already provided for in the
Presidential Records Act.  After expiration of this 20-day period, the
Archivist would release the records unless a court ordered their continued
withholding.  This approach places the burden of establishing a privilege
claim on the former President.  Privilege claims should be extremely rare,
given the protections already built into the Act and the age of the records."
"If the incumbent President submitted a privilege claim, the Archivist would
withhold the records unless and until the incumbent President withdrew the
claim or there was a final, non-appealable court order directing the
Archivist to release the records.  This approach recognizes the legal and
practical reality that the Archivist must honor a privilege claim by an
incumbent President."

"The bill would apply similar procedures to requests for access to records by
Congress and the courts.  The time periods, however, would be modified to
ensure compliance with deadlines imposed by subpoenas or other legal process.
 Also, the bill does not specify an outcome if the incumbent President
claimed privilege in response to a congressional or judicial access request.
Disputes between the incumbent president and either the Congress or the
courts would be left for resolution on a case-by-case-basis."

"The bill makes several conforming changes to existing provisions of the
Presidential Records Act.  It recognizes that authority to claim executive
privilege is personal to a former or incumbent President and cannot be
delegated to their representatives.  This is consistent with current legal
theory and practice concerning executive privilege. It also recognizes that a
former or incumbent Vice President cannot claim presidential privileges.
Finally, the bill provides that Executive Order 13233 shall have no force or
effect."

With Congress taking this action, YOUR HELP IS NEEDED!  The historical and
archival communities are urged  to contact members of Congress and encourage
them to be "original cosponsors" of this legislation.  A simple phone call to
the member of the House of Representatives that represents you will do: the
Capitol switchboard telephone number is (202) 224-3121.

The message that needs to be communicated is simple: request that your
Representative become an original co-sponsor of  "The Presidential Records
Act Amendments of 2002" being introduced by Representative Horn on April 11.
Request that your Representative write you a letter in response to your
request.  The goal of this advocacy effort is to see the legislation
introduced with well over 100 House members as co-sponsors -- the higher the
number, the stronger the message will be to the Bush Administration.  A
hearing on the legislation is tentatively scheduled for April 11, 2002.
PLEASE TAKE ACTION TODAY!

2.  REAGAN PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS RELEASED
After months of delay, the Bush White House has finally cleared for release a
total of 59,850 pages of Reagan era presidential records.  Approximately 150
pages technically remain "under review" by Administration officials; those
papers are believed to contain "deliberations about potential appointees to
public office."  There is no word from the White House when or even if the
150 pages still under review will ever be opened to the public.  The released
records, however, will be available to researchers at the Ronald Reagan
Library in Simi Valley, California, beginning at 9 am on Friday, March 15,
2002.

To force the opening of these and other records, a suit was brought by Public
Citizen on behalf of the American Historical Association, the Organization of
American Historians, and other plaintiffs (see "Lawsuit Challenges Bush
Presidential Records Executive Order," NCC WASHINGTON UPDATE, November 29,
2001).  According to Scott Nelson, the Public Citizen attorney handling the
suit, the organizations that brought suit deserve to take major credit for
forcing the release of these papers. "Without bringing suit, it is
questionable whether any of these documents would be available to researchers
today" stated Nelson.  He also said that "even if all the Reagan era P-5
papers had been approved for release by the White House, the court challenge
would continue to move forward because the central focus of the suit
questions the legality of aspects of  the Bush Executive Order as well as
forcing the release of the Reagan papers. We will continue with our action
until all the issues under challenge are resolved."

In accordance with the procedures established by Executive Order 13233
("Further Implementation of the Presidential Records Act"), representatives
of former President Reagan and President Bush reviewed some 68,000 pages of
records to determine whether to assert any applicable constitutionally based
privilege.  Late last year, President Reagan's representatives decided not to
make any constitutionally based privilege claims with respect to any of these
records.  The Bush White House, however, opted to closely scrutinize the
records before authorizing their release.  Early in November 2001, Bush
issued an executive order (E.O. 13233) that established new procedures for
the review and release of such presidential papers; soon afterward, Public
Citizen and other plaintiffs filed a lawsuit.  On January 3, 2002, the Reagan
Library opened the first segment of these records --  approximately 8,000
pages.

This release is the second segment of the approximately 68,000 pages of
records that were previously withheld at the direction of President Reagan
under the Presidential Records Act's 12-year, post-Presidency protection for
records reflecting confidential advice (the so-called P-5 exemption) among
White House officials.  This opening consists of records from staff member
and office files, National Security Council files, and the alphabetically
arranged Subject Files of the White House Office of Records Management
(WHORM). For an inventory of restricted (P-5) materials tap into the Reagan
Library webpage at: <http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/p5inv031502.htm>.

In addition to the approximately 150 pages of records still not cleared for
release, there are tens of thousands of papers left behind by Reagan's
Vice-President, George H. W. Bush, at the Bush presidential library in Texas
that the White House has not yet even begun to review.

3.  LEGISLATION INTRODUCED: CLINTON PRESIDENTIAL SITE STUDY; BUFFALO SOLDIER
MEMORIAL
Clinton NHS:  On February 27, 2002, Representative Michael Ross (D-AR),
joined by 29 co-sponsors, introduced legislation (H.R. 3815) to authorize the
Secretary of the Interior to conduct a suitability/feasibility study with the
goal of establishing a Presidential National Historic Site in Hope, Arkansas
to recognize the historical significance of former President Bill Clinton.
The bill specifically seeks to consider the birthplace home in Hope as the
potential National Historic Site.  The bill directs the Secretary to report
back to Congress "describing findings, conclusions, and recommendations of
the study." The measure was referred to the House Committee on Resources for
action.

Buffalo Soldiers Memorial: On March 5, 2002, Senator Mary L. Landrieu (D-LA)
introduced legislation (S. 1988) to authorize the American Battle Monuments
Commission to establish in the state of Louisiana a memorial to honor the
Buffalo Soldiers. Specifically, the memorial is to honor the 9th and 10th
Cavalry regiments and the 24th and 25th Infantry regiments that were
comprised of significant numbers of African-American soldiers who performed
outstanding service to the United States during the Indian Wars, the
Spanish-American War, the Philippine Insurrection and the raids against
Poncho Villa. The bill authorizes a memorial to be constructed on federal
land or on donated lands in New Orleans and authorizes "military artifacts"
to be loaned or transferred to the Louisiana State Museum "for a permanent
display to memorialize and educate the public regarding the contributions of
the Buffalo Soldiers."  The bill was referred to the Senate Energy and
Natural Resources Committee.

Hubbard Museum of the American West Grant Authorization: On February 26,
2002, Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) introduced legislation (S. 1964) to direct
the Secretary of the Interior to make a grant of $4.5 million in FY
2003 to the Hubbard Museum of the American West located in Lincoln County,
New Mexico.  The grant is to pay the Federal share (75% of the total) of the
cost of expanding the museum.  The bill was referred to the Senate Committee
on Energy and Natural Resources.

4.  NEWS BITS AND BYTES:
Item #1 - NCC Events at OAH Meeting:
NCC Board Meeting: During the upcoming meeting of the Organization of
American Historians (April 11- 14, 2002) in Washington, D.C., the NCC Policy
Board will meet on Friday, April 12, from 7:30-9:00 am (Policy Board Members
please note NEW TIME) in the Executive Director's "Presidential Suite" at the
Renaissance Washington (999 9th Street N.W., Washington, D.C. (202)
898-9000).  Board materials will be mailed out from the NCC Washington
offices next week to all members of the Policy Board. The "Hill Rat Open
Forum" is a session designed to engage NCC institutional supporters and other
interested parties in a lively discussion of current Congressional
initiatives of interest to the historical community.  The session takes place
Saturday, April 13, from 1:15-2:15 pm in Room 18 of the Renaissance Hotel.
The session includes updates on the court challenge to the Presidential
Records Act Executive Order 13233, the Eldred Case, various FOIA  issues and
other issues of importance to the profession. The "CRM Roundtable" is once
again scheduled to provide an informal session for cultural resource
practitioners from the governmental and the private sectors to meet and
exchange ideas and issues of concern. The Roundtable will be held Saturday
April 13, from 2:30-3:30 pm in Room 18 of the Renaissance Hotel.
Finally, the NCC is pleased to be participating in the OAH Workshop,
"Congressional Connection: Making Historians' Voices Heard on Capitol Hill"
scheduled for Thursday, April 11, from 9-1 pm.  This workshop is designed to
teach participants how to be effective history advocates and how to affect
the outcome of  legislation of importance to the profession on Capitol Hill.
For additional information about this workshop please consult page 19 of the
OAH annual meeting program.

Item # 2 -- House Committee Passes Spending Resolution: On March 13, 2002,
the House Budget Committee passed a $2.1 trillion spending resolution for FY
2003.  The measure passed on a strict 23 to 18 party-line vote.  The total
includes President Bush's proposed $46 billion deficit. Democrats attacked
the budget proposal arguing that the plan did not spend enough on education,
transportation, health care, or the environment.  In addressing this year's
various agency and bureau appropriations, Congress will attempt to stay
within this spending figure.

Item #3 -- Library Releases Lincoln Papers Online: The Library of Congress
National Digital Library Program and Manuscript Division have released some
20,000 documents comprising 61,000 digital images and annotated
transcriptions (prepared by the Lincoln Studies Center) of 11,000 documents
dating from 1833 through 1916. Most of the documents date from 1850 through
Lincoln's presidential years. The release completes the online presentation
of the Abraham Lincoln Papers. The papers can be accessed from the American
Memory website at http://www.loc.gov.

5.  ARTICLES OF INTEREST:  This week's pick article are two National Public
Radio (NPR) radio broadcasts over "Morning Edition" on March 12 and 13.  In
two segments, host Bob Edwards focused on "Challenges Museum Directors Face
When Attempting to Raise Money" (March 12) and "Museum Methods of Attracting
Visitors and Donors" (March 13). To access the broadcast tap into the NPR
"archives at: http://www.npr.org/archives/ and follow the instructions.

*************************************************************
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