The closing scene of the 1981 movie “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark” depicts the newly discovered biblical ark of the covenant being put in a crate, stamped “top secret,” and then carted down the aisles of an endless government warehouse where it would presumably be forgotten and lost forever. Unfortunately, that scene from the first Indiana Jones movie exemplifies what happens to the papers of former U.S. presidents – despite Americans’ right to know how their rulers have wielded power.

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