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U.S. open government history

Research by Dorothy Shea
in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

1801 -- Sedition Act expires. It is used to fine or imprison anyone who criticizes the government. The Sedition Act is one of a series of laws passed by Congress in 1798 in anticipation of a war with France that never occurred.

1822 -- James Madison writes W.T. Barry, lieutenant governor of Kentucky. "A popular Government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives."

1849 -- Wisconsin passes law requiring the "books, records, or papers or minutes" of county governments be open to public inspection.

1873 -- Congressional Record begins and continues today as a printed account of what is done and said in the U.S. Congress daily.

1936 -- The Federal Register becomes the official public record of new federal government regulations.

1966 -- Congress passes federal Freedom of the Information Act to discourage secrecy in government. FOIA authorizes anyone to review most of the executive branch agency records.

1971 -- Daniel Ellsberg, a Pentagon aide, is arrested for leaking information concerning a top-secret study of the Vietnam War to The New York Times, Washington Post and other newspapers. The government tries to stop the Times from publishing the papers. But the Supreme Court rules that publication would embarrass some government officials but would not interfere with national security.

1972 -- Public Citizen Litigation Group is co-founded by Ralph Nader and Alan Morrison. A major focus of this public-interest law firm is fighting government secrecy.

1973 -- Alexander Butterfield, former White House aide, reveals existence of tape-recording system in President Nixon's office to the Senate Watergate committee.

-- Federal District Judge John Sirica orders Nixon to give him the tape recordings subpoenaed by the Watergate special prosecutor in order to decide on the validity of executive privilege.

1974 -- Congress overrides President Ford's veto and passes a strengthened federal FOIA, requiring answers to requests within 10 days.

-- Ford signs bill giving the federal government custody of Nixon's White House tapes.

1976 -- Congress passes a federal Government in the Sunshine Act opening meetings of many federal agencies to the public.

1978 -- President Carter signs the Presidential Records Act, putting presidential papers into the public domain when a president leaves office.

1979 -- Cable television industry creates C-SPAN to provide public access to the political process. It begins with live coverage of U.S. House proceedings. The network is funded by cable television license fees.

1980 -- The Watergate tape recordings are opened to the public for the first time at the National Archives in Washington.

1986 -- C-SPAN2 is created to provide coverage of U.S. Senate debates.

-- Congress passes the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, which provides a public database of toxic emissions. This action followed the deadly chemical releases in Bhopal, India, in 1984.

1995 -- Library of Congress creates the THOMAS, thomas.loc.gov. This Web site makes congressional legislative information freely available on the Internet.

-- President Clinton signs an executive order establishing a mandatory declassification scheme of records more than 25 years old. Previously, documents could remain classified indefinitely if thought to harm diplomatic activities.

1996 -- President Clinton signs "Megan's Law, " which requires public notification by communities of convicted sex offenders living in the area. The law is based on a New Jersey law and named after Megan Kanka, who was slain in 1994.

-- Judicial Conference of the United States agrees to let individual federal courts decide whether to televise their proceedings.

2004 -- U.S. Supreme Court turns down an appeal by a coalition of Arab-American and civil rights groups. The lawsuit sought to force the Bush administration to disclose the names of the people arrested and detained in the weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

-- The Supreme Court refuses to make Vice President Dick Cheney reveal details of an energy policy task force he headed. They rule the lower court needs to consider whether federal open government laws can be used to get the documents.

Sources: Facts on File, Pocket Guide to Georgia Sunshine Laws, Press Freedoms by Louis Ingelbart, Respectfully Quoted, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, Freedom of Information Center Publication on Access Laws: Development by Judith Murrill Baldwin.