The Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act (PRMPA) of 1974 (, codified at
note is an
act of Congress
An Act of Congress is a statute enacted by the United States Congress. Acts may apply only to individual entities (called Public and private bills, private laws), or to the general public (Public and private bills, public laws). For a Bill (law) ...
enacted in the wake of the August 1974 resignation of President
Richard M. Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was t ...
.
[''Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act (PRMPA) of 1974'']
at the U.S. National Archives It placed Nixon's presidential records into federal custody to prevent their destruction. The legislative action was intended to reduce secrecy, while allowing
historians to fulfill their responsibilities.
Application
The Act applies only to President Nixon's presidential materials. Under the statute, materials related to the Abuse of Governmental Power and the constitutional and statutory duties of the President and his White House staff are retained by the National Archives. The Act mandates that the National Archives preserve and process these materials, and prepare them for public access. The National Archives was required to segregate and return to Nixon's estate those materials identified as purely "personal-private" or "personal-political" and unrelated to the President's constitutional and statutory duties.
[ The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Act's constitutionality in '' Nixon v. Administrator of General Services''.
]
Legislative history
The Act was introduced as by Senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
Gaylord Nelson on September 18, 1974; passed by both houses with amendments on December 9, 1974; and was signed into law by President Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...
on December 19, 1974.All Actions
for S. 4016, via search for Pub. L. 93-526 i
93rd Congress Public laws
at Congress.gov
Congress.gov is the online database of United States Congress legislative information. Congress.gov is a joint project of the Library of Congress, the House, the Senate and the Government Publishing Office.
Congress.gov was in beta in 2012, and b ...
See also
*
Presidential Records Act
*
Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
*
Executive Order 13233
References
External links
''Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act (PRMPA) of 1974''at the U.S. National Archives
Nixon Presidential Materialsat the Nixon Library
1974 in law
United States federal government administration legislation
93rd United States Congress
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