Efforts to open government records to the public and the media received a boost back in 1955, in hearings on government secrecy held by Sacramento, Calif., Congressman John Moss with the assistance of newspaper editors. Eleven years later, the Freedom of Information Act was signed by President Johnson and went into effect in 1967.
"The Freedom of Information Act is democracy's X-ray," said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU's Washington Legislative Office. "It shows us the inner workings of government so we can identify the waste, fraud, abuse and corruption."
