My apologies for the messed up link to the Warters thesis on 
Presidential children.  Use this one:
http://shrinkster.com/ciw

And I apologize also to anyone who found it annoying to read my posting 
yesterday with the messed up characters (question marks inserted for 
apostrophes).  I had copied and pasted portions of the message from 
elsewhere (another message board).  The source document correctly 
showed apostrophes.  I don't notice when I pasted it that some of these 
changed to question marks.  If any of you with more technical knowledge 
than I have can explain why characters sometimes get messed up in a 
copy and paste, I'd be interested in hearing your answer!

For what it is worth, here is a corrected version of what I posted 
yesterday -- without the incorrectly inserted characters.
************************************************************************

Thanks for passing on the link, Tod. I checked out the Q&A but found 
the discussion quite superficial. The release of Presidential records 
is very complex and I rarely see it discussed at the level it deserves. 
In my view, Presidential records still are undergoing a rocky 
transition from personal, private control to public control. Some 
aspects of public access are quite clear cut but others are quite gray. 
And the human elements make disclosure especially tricky. All in all, 
Mr. Wertman did not sound as if he knows much about the issue.

For a more nuanced view of Presidential records, see Richard J. Cox's 
article, "America's Pyramids," at
www2.sis.pitt.edu/~rcox/AmericasPyramids.pdf

I have yet to write my own definitive (LOL) article on the topic. Much 
of the debate over the Bush executive order on the Presidential Records 
Act centers on the ability of Presidents, their children, and their 
grandchildren to halt release of records. How much power should they 
have? It's an issue with considerable room for disagreement.

For my part, I don't think the issue of President Bush's executive 
order has been framed particularly well in public forums. Part of the 
problem lies in the fact that records statutes are written as if all 
the players are operating in a sterile environment. The statutes don't 
sufficiently acknowledge how visceral is the human desire to avoid 
embarrassment, even for Presidents.

Most government employees, such as I, create records that are filed and 
retained or disposed of according to retention schedules. If we work in 
executive branch agencies and someone files a FOIA request to reach 
something we wrote, FOIA officers and lawyers vet the items. Objective 
reviewers decide whether to release our work products or not, depending 
on their interpretation of statutory exemptions, case law, etc. If the 
records we created have permanent status, they are transferred to NARA 
and archivists review them for disclosure. Either way, we don't have a 
right to use our "power" to halt release. Or to try to shield ourselves 
 from embarrassment. Basically, we live with what we did (wrote) during 
our careers.

Let's be realistic, if your papers fell under public control, and you 
had the potential to use power to halt their release, how many of you 
would use it? Or would you tell your children, don't interfere in 
public access to my records or attempt to shape discussion of my 
legacy, I did what I did during my professional career, let the chips 
fall where they may? I'll write my memoirs, tell my side of it, and let 
historians study my papers and draw their own conclusions.

I think it would take a very courageous and confident former President 
to say, protect the properly classified national security information 
in my records and go ahead and release the rest over time. Remember, 
the courts have held that the confidences of higher office are not 
immutable and that the privilege erodes over time. So you cannot claim 
confidentiality over unclassified information forever. See, for 
example, Nixon v. Administrator of General Services, 433 U.S. 425, 
450-51 (1977); Nixon v. Freeman, 670 F.2d 346, 356, D.C. Cir. (1983).

What about a President's family? I know Nixon's records the best, 
having worked for 14 years with them. Do Nixon's daughters have the 
best perspective on his legacy? Of course not. They're human and they 
undoubtedly view him through their memories of a very difficult, 
embattled presidency. But a family's perspective is worth remembering, 
especially in a framework where Presidential Libraries must operate 
alongside family foundations. Nixon's daughters have shown a lot of 
strength but they also have been through some incredibly difficult 
experiences, some of which were linked to critics of the Vietnam war.

How difficult are those memories? Well, consider this. Early in the 
Nixon administration, President and Mrs. Nixon decided not to attend 
their daughter's college graduation ceremony, lest they attract too 
many anti-Vietnam war demonstrators. Think about that, a family unable 
to share a moment of proud achievement with a daughter. Not something 
to take lightly or to forget easily.

Even more troubling was the targeting of Nixon's eldest daughter, 
Tricia Nixon Cox, by some anti-war protestors later during the Nixon 
presidency. Say what you will about the Vietnam War -- there's plenty 
of room for disagreement. But I believe it was inappropriate and 
cowardly for protestors to link Tricia's name with a well known 
obscenity in two-word slogans chanted and displayed on placards. Tricia 
was not a policymaker and did not deserve such abuse. Granted, that 
sort of attack was not widespread, but once was more than enough, as 
far as I'm concerned. It must have hurt the family greatly. During the 
Vietnam War and when Nixon resigned, my twin sister and I wrote letters 
of support to Nixon and his family.
(See 
http://nixon.archives.gov/find/textual/presidential/central/alphabetical.
html
  -- you'll see both our names in released records about and from us at 
NARA.)

Obviously, I have a lot of sympathy for what Nixon and his family went 
through. But knowing what they went through also makes me doubt their 
ability to be the best gatekeepers to his records. That role is best 
handled by objective, nonpartisan archivists backed up by lawyers with 
integrity.

The archivists at NARA's Presidential Libraries are no different from 
any of you. Would you want an outsider who has a personal stake in the 
outcome of your work to have the power to affect your work product? 
Probably not!

Something to think about, anyway!

Maarja

List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance