March 11, 2007
ALERT-Tell Congress to Restore Access to Presidential Records
AHA Today
March 9, 2007
On March 8, 2007, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee unanimously approved H.R. 1255, the “Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007.” The bill is expected to go to the House floor the week of March 12.
The National Coalition for History is asking everyone in the historical and archival community to contact their House member as soon as possible and ask that they support H.R. 1255. A summary of the bill is available below.
Here is a link to the NCH’s CapWiz legislative grassroots site. This site allows you to either send a pre-written electronic letter to your Member of Congress or to edit the letter we have prepared to express your own personal views.
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Posted by HEM
March 11, 2007
Disclose library gifts
Toledo Blade
March 10, 2007
A BIPARTISAN group in Congress is on the mark with legislation to require full public disclosure of donations to presidential libraries, like the $200 million-plus Taj Mahal planned by George W. Bush at Southern Methodist University down in Dallas.
No requirement now exists for such disclosure, leaving open the potential for all sorts of influence peddling, including incipient bribery, involving sitting or retired presidents.
Although the bill has a better chance of passage now that Democrats control Congress, the concern over who may be giving big bucks to benefit current or ex-chief executives is not new and is shared by members of both parties.
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Posted by HEM
March 11, 2007
Rove Doing His Part to Help Shape a Positive Legacy for Bush
Michael Abramowitz
The Washington Post
March 9, 2007
LITTLE ROCK, Ark., March 8 — In an interview this week in his windowless West Wing office, Karl Rove said that there is “very little” discussion about President Bush’s legacy at the White House these days, only a focus on developing good policy that might have a long-term impact. “The president’s attitude is, ‘History is going to write the legacy long after we are all dead or in no position to affect it — so why worry about it?’ ” Rove said.
Yet history is never far from Rove’s mind. While he has kept a low profile in Washington since the midterm election losses took some of the edge off his reputation as a political genius, Rove, a Bush senior adviser and deputy chief of staff, has begun trying to put his own distinctive spin on current events and the longer historical view.
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Posted by HEM
March 11, 2007
Fallout over faculty senate vote
A. Neely Eisenstein
SMU Daily Campus
March 9, 2007
Some Faculty Senate members are calling for a revote after a resolution regarding the Bush Institute failed on Wednesday with a vote of 13-13 and three abstentions. Another resolution calling for concurrent appointments at the institute to be appointed by both SMU and the institute passed.
The resolution that failed called on the university to choose one of two options: the institutions could either be completely separate from SMU or else it would have to submit to SMU’s governance.
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In the first instance, the institute would not allowed to be associated with the SMU name without the university’s permission, nor would it be located on campus.
“The main point of connection between a possible Bush Institute and the university would be concurrent appointments of SMU faculty members with the Institute or of Institute Fellows with the university,” said Provost Thomas Tunks in an e-mail interview.
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