People's Warrior is the best account to date of Representative Moss's legislative battles to win the public's right to obtain government information, consumer protections, federal safety standards for motor vehicles, and protections for securities in brokerage accounts. For FOIA advocates, Lemov's treatment of Moss's decades-long fight to pass the Freedom of Information Act - which was signed into law on July 4, 1966 - is especially riveting. Moss began battling excessive government secrecy in 1953, as a second-term congressman. In the midst of Cold War hysteria, the government's attitude toward its records was, "when in doubt, classify."
The movement against what Moss called "silly secrecy" was bolstered by a report funded by the American Society of Newspaper Editors, entitled "The People's Right to Know." It was authored by Harold Cross, a leading newspaper lawyer and counsel to the New York Tribune. Cross - who was supported primarily by the American press- declared " Public business is the public's business. The people have a right to know. Freedom of information is their just heritage. Without that, the citizens of a democracy have but changed their kings." Newspaper editors and writers were the first to publicly advocate for a mechanism to give the public access to the government's information. Moss took advantage of these cries for access to information. The junior congressman plead his case and was able to secure the support of House Majority Leader john MacCormack and Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn to establish a new, Special Subcommittee on Government Information. On June 9, 1955 Moss was named chairman of this subcommittee. Soon, it became known simply as the "Moss Subcommittee." It's primary task was passing a law to allow public access to government documents. The law would become the Freedom of Information Act.
Thanks to Michael Lemov's efforts, we have the definitive account of Moss's ten-year struggle to make the Freedom of Information Act Law.
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