Parents of the Freedom of Information Act

There are many parents of the Freedom of Information Act - and yes, Ralph Nader is one of them.

In the 1950’s, the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) formed a Freedom of Information (FOI) Committee to battle government secrecy....James Russell Wiggins, chairman of the FOI Committee forged a strategic relationship with Representative John E. Moss (D-Calif.), eventually leading to a legislative attempt to garner a more open government policy of information....

In March 1955, Secretary of Defense Charles E. Wilson directed that in order for information to be published, it must both meet security requirements and embody a “constructive contribution” to the DoD’s efforts. R. Karl Honaman, Wilson’s assistant replied to the FOI committee’s complaint of Wilson by stating that press requests were a waste of time and that newspapers should voluntarily refrain from writing stories that could aid the Russians....

In May 1955, Wallace Parks...proposed a committee on information, naming Moss as possible chairman. Moss suggested Parks approach House Majority Leader John McCormack, Democrat from Massachusetts, for support. McCormack, who had been looking for a way to challenge Eisenhower and was also upset over the administration’s lack of disclosure to Congress, fully supported the committee....

Several major figures in journalism wrote books promoting FOI including Harold Cross (1953), Kent Cooper (1956), Herbert Brucker (1949), and James Russell Wiggins (1956). Brucker coined the phrase “freedom of information” while Cooper first used the term “right to know”....

In 1961, President Kennedy asked the press to voluntarily censor themselves because “in time of ‘clear and present danger,’ the courts have held that even the privileged rights of the First Amendment must yield to the public’s need for national security”....Reporters agreed that the Kennedy administration represented a low point in history for the freedom of information and freedom of the press....Merely changing existing statutes, as the Moss Subcommittee accomplished in the 1950’s, would not suffice. In 1966, Moss led the way in legislating FOIA, but not without resistance from, among others, President Johnson....

Without strict limits on time, transgression, and fees, the strength of the 1966 FOIA was extremely limited for a requestor....[T]he amendments of 1974 and 1976 were motivated by Ralph Nader’s activism and public objections to government secrecy in light of the recent Watergate scandal....

FOIA was strengthened through amendments guaranteeing lower fees, in camera judicial review of contested documents, judicial sanctions against “arbitrary and capricious” withholding, partial segregation of exempted portions of documents, narrowed definitions of classified and law enforcement information, a greater number of agencies pertaining to the act, and specific periods of response time for requests, appeals, and lawsuits....

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