Government-Transparency

Freedom of Information Act Signed After Decade of Executive Branch Opposition

1966-07-04 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 8/10

On July 4, 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson reluctantly signed the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), establishing for the first time a legal right for citizens to access federal agency records. The legislation overturned the presumption of government secrecy that had prevailed since the founding, …

President Lyndon B. Johnson Representative John Moss Senator Edward Long American Society of Newspaper Editors government-transparency press-freedom democratic-erosion regulatory-reform