"Private Papers" of Public Officials

Abstract

the papers of public officials have been challenged by events of the last several years and particularly by activities closely associated with the administration of President Richard M. Nixon. Heretofore, politicians, archivists, and historians had accepted policies dictated by the belief that the President owned the papers and records of his office and of the officials most closely connected with the White House as his own personal property and had the constitutional right to set the terms of access. Faith in this concept, however well or poorly founded, has been shaken by events connected in large part with Watergate, the investigations of this and other activities of the Nixon administration, and the President's resignation. The opposition by officials of the Nixon administration to attempts by government investigators to examine the files of the Office of the President, the suits and counter suits which have been brought in attempts to quiet the title to these records, and the unsettled condition of the presidential libraries system have revealed the weak legal and constitutional foundation supporting the traditional concepts and policies regulating presidential records. Scholars must analyze the historical, legal, political, and archival development of the concept of the right of private ownership of the papers of public officials, particularly those of the Office of the President, if sound policy for the future is to be adopted. This paper argues that the papers of public officials belong to the people, and that any legislative acts, legal interpretations, administrative policies, or hoary traditions to the contrary are not, and have not been, in the public interest.