7 historic July 4th events in US history

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Tuesday, July 04, 2023

Lyndon Johnson signs Freedom of Information Act – July 4, 1966

Lady Bird Johnson, left, and President Lyndon B. Johnson are shown during the signing ceremony for the Interior Department Appropriation Bill at the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., July 26, 1968. Lady Bird died Wednesday, July 11, 2007, at her home in Austin, Texas. | LBJ Library/File

The Fourth of July also marks the anniversary of when President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Freedom of Information Act into law, revising the Administrative Procedure Act and opening the door to a new era of government accountability.

“This legislation springs from one of our most essential principles: a democracy works best when the people have all the information that the security of the nation permits,” stated Johnson at the time.

“I have always believed that freedom of information is so vital that only the national security, not the desire of public officials or private citizens, should determine when it must be restricted.”

Johnson went on to declare that he held “a deep sense of pride that the United States is an open society in which the people’s right to know is cherished and guarded.”