Writing history has to do with access, and President Bush, with Executive Order (E.O.) 13233, issued in November 2001, gives not only current and former presidents, but also vice presidents and a former president's family, the authority to withhold presidential records or delay their release indefinitely.
Please join the American Historical Association, the National Coalition for History and others in calling on Congress to support H.R. 1255, the "Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007" to guarantee the release of presidential records to historians and the public.
Robert Dallek, historian and author of An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963 and Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1961-1973, among other works said:
President Bush's order carries the potential for incomplete and distorted understanding of past presidential decisions, especially about controversial actions with significant consequences...Access to the fullest possible record in the service of reconstructing the most substantial and honest history of presidencies is not some academic exercise confined to history departments. Rather, it can make a significant difference in shaping the national well-being.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and the National Archives Hearing
H.R. 1255 will, establish a deadline for review of records, limit the authority of former presidents to withhold presidential records, requiring the president to make privilege claims personally, and eliminate executive privilege claims for Vice Presidents (something we are all even more concerned about now than ever before).
For more details and to send a letter to your Congressman, follow the link.