Signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) enables members of the public to request access to government records from any federal agency. This legislation requires federal agencies to provide information requested under FOIA unless it is covered by one of the nine categories of materials that are exempt from disclosure. Those exemptions include national security, personal privacy, and law enforcement.

Changes to FOIA were enacted during the Ford administration. Congress passed amendments to the Act in October 1974. President Ford was in favor of the direction of the legislation, but he vetoed the bill due to his concerns about certain provisions. In his veto message he asked Congress to rework those parts of the legislation and send it to him again for signature. The House of Representatives and the Senate, however, both voted to override the veto instead to enact the amendments as written.

The Government in the Sunshine Act, signed into law by President Ford on September 13, 1976, made further amendments to FOIA by narrowing the authority of agencies to withhold information. It additionally required that multiheaded government agencies hold their meetings open to the public unless one of ten specific reasons called for a meeting to be closed. "In a democracy, the public has a right to know, not only what the Government decides, but why and by what process," President Ford said in his remarks at the bill signing. "The 'Government in the Sunshine Act' is in keeping with America's proud heritage that the Government serves and the people rule."

View digitized resources related to Freedom of Information legislation below.

President Gerald Ford and several members of Congress
at the signing ceremony for the Government in the Sunshine Act,
9/13/1976 (White House photograph B1485-10)