This study examines the Presidential Library System, an agency within the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), as an example of a policy subsystem. A policy subsystem may be defined as an informal political coalition of individuals from different parts of a formal policy structure who cooperate to influence policy-making. Actors in a policy subsystem are multifarious, they span both public and private sectors at various levels of government, and may include agency personnel, congressional committee members, interest group participants, citizens of localities affected by the subsystem, and others. A policy subsystem's strength lies in its ability to draw upon bureaucratic expertise, legislative leverage, and interest-group capacities to communicate with the government about the area of public policy it is vitally concerned with. Despite the 60 year existence of the Presidential Library System, its nationwide geographic distribution, and its approximately $30 million/year allocation from the federal budget, it is not widely recognized as a policy system and it has not been the subject of a detailed, scholarly description. The Presidential Libraries policy subsystem is described by tracing its development and mapping the richness of the administrative and political processes which support its continuing viability. The specific research questions addressed are:1) how do the administrative and political processes of this policy subsystem unfold, 2) how do these processes provide system maintenance, and 3) who are the players? Qualitative research techniques, via a case study methodology, were used to address these questions.. In-depth interviews were conducted with the directors of the ten Presidential Libraries, the staff of the Office of Presidential Libraries at NARA, and key stakeholders in the system. Questions addressed included: what do all of the presidential libraries share?, what is unique about each?, to what extent IS the Presidential Library System a policy subsystem?, and how is government organized to deal with presidential libraries and their mission of 1) preserving and providing researchers access to presidential papers and historical materials, and 2) providing museums and educational programming designed to give the general public a better understanding of the individual Presidents, the institution of the Presidency, and the American political system as a whole? / Ph. D.

In the last two decades of his life, Harry S. Truman formally established the office of the ex-presidency in the public eye. The goals he wanted to accomplish and the legislation passed to help Truman achieve these aims led the way for Truman and other former presidents to play a significant role in American public life. Men who had occupied the nation's highest office had a great deal to offer their country, and Truman saw to it that he and other former presidents had the financial and the institutional support to continue serving their nation in productive ways. Although out of the White House, Harry S. Truman wanted to continue to play an active role in the affairs of the nation and the Democratic party. In pursuing this goal, he found that he was limited by a lack of financial support and was forced to turn to the federal government for assistance. While Truman was active for more than a decade after he left Washington, his two most important legacies were helping push for federal legislation to provide financial support for ex-presidents and to organize and maintain presidential libraries. Truman believed that these endeavors were a small price for the nation to pay to support thee former occupants of the nation's highest office. Furthermore, Truman believed that presidential libraries were essential in preserving and disseminating the history of the nation's highest office. Truman's other activities including heavy involvement in partisan affairs. While he tried unsuccessfully to determine the party's presidential candidates, his involvement in the Democratic party and attendance at partisan events displayed his level of commitment to the party and his determination to play a role in its activities.

The diploma thesis is devoted to the topic of the presidential libraries and its aim is to analyze services of these libraries in Czech Republic. The theoretical part provides a comprehensive summary of presidential libraries, which have in the United States a long tradition. Gradually they are described from view of their character, history, law, administration, content, funding, criticism and future. The following is a presentation of two chosen foreign presidential libraries and Czech presidential Václav Havel Library. In the practical part there is made the comparison at first and its aim is to detect the principles of services of presidential libraries. The following is a presentation of the exploratory survey which discover, how are used the services of Václav Havel Library. The survey was focused on user evaluation of selected service, i.e. digital archive. This research helped map out the current situation and brought a lot of interesting information about attitudes from Czech and foreign users. Keywords digital archive - presidential libraries - presidential libraries in the United States - services of presidential libraries - Václav Havel Library

Thesis (M.A.)--Baylor University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 108-117).

This was the first comprehensive doctoral dissertation on the George Bush Presidential Library Center at Texas A&M University. The Bush Presidential Library and Museum was the focal point. The purpose was to describe the global significance, work and educational contributions of the Bush Presidential Library while exploring its partnership with Texas A&M University. The primary data sources were: archival records, museum exhibits, interviews and my field work experiences. Beyond being a descriptive dissertation, this study offered unique hypotheses and conclusions. It examined the higher educational aspects of the Bush Presidential Library Center's operating context within Texas A&M University. These included the educational value of George Bush's career, the Bush Presidential Library's contents, and its benefits and technology use in educational programming. This study answered two unique hypotheses: how President Bush's liberation of Kuwait increased the Middle Eastern funding of presidential libraries and the Corps of Cadets' influence on President Bush's selection of Texas A&M University. George Bush's global presidency, distinguished international public service career and his world-changing, historical presidential achievements gave the Bush Presidential Library and Museum an extraordinary educational value. The data showed the educational value of, benefits of and technology's role in educational programming at the Bush Presidential Library and Museum. The global changes mirrored President Bush's career and his effort to combat terrorism. China's emergence as a world power was attributed to President Bush's career. The Bush Presidential Library and Museum is the core asset of the center. The data showed President Bush's liberation of Kuwait directly influenced the funding of his presidential library and the subsequent ones. The data showed the Texas A&M University Corps of Cadets' influence on President Bush's selection of Texas A&M University as the site for his presidential library. Texas A&M University is the best place for the George Bush Presidential Library Center. A university environment is the best place to host a presidential library.

Esta trabalho trata da construção histórica de Fernando Henrique Cardoso através de ações da instituição por ele criada, a Fundação iFHC. Destacam-se na dissertação duas das iniciativas da Fundação, o tratamento do arquivo pessoal de Fernando Henrique Cardoso e a exposição Um plano real, que trata da superação do processo inflacionário brasileiro através da implementação do plano econômico que instituiu o Real como moeda nacional. Também estão presentes no primeiro capítulo do trabalho um panorama da legislação brasileira sobre arquivos presidenciais e da situação desses arquivos no Brasil, a apresentação geral da Fundação iFHC, com destaque para ações que a inserem no jogo político-partidário atual, e uma breve incursão sobre a legislação norte-americana para arquivos presidenciais e sobre a literatura crítica das Presidential Libraries a título de comparação com o caso estudado / This paper deals with the historical construction of Fernando Henrique Cardoso through actions by the institution he founded, iFHC Foundation. Two initiatives of the Foundation are emphasized, the treatment of Cardosos personal archives and the exhibition Um plano real, about overcoming the Brazilian inflationary process through the implementation of the economic plan that established Real as national currency. The first chapter also presents an overview of the Brazilian legislation on Presidential Archives and the situation of those files in Brazil, an overall presentation of iFHC Foundation, highlighting actions that fall within the current partisan political game, and a brief incursion into the U.S. legislation for presidential Archives and also into the critical literature on Presidential Libraries, so it serves as comparison with the case studied

Esta trabalho trata da construção histórica de Fernando Henrique Cardoso através de ações da instituição por ele criada, a Fundação iFHC. Destacam-se na dissertação duas das iniciativas da Fundação, o tratamento do arquivo pessoal de Fernando Henrique Cardoso e a exposição Um plano real, que trata da superação do processo inflacionário brasileiro através da implementação do plano econômico que instituiu o Real como moeda nacional. Também estão presentes no primeiro capítulo do trabalho um panorama da legislação brasileira sobre arquivos presidenciais e da situação desses arquivos no Brasil, a apresentação geral da Fundação iFHC, com destaque para ações que a inserem no jogo político-partidário atual, e uma breve incursão sobre a legislação norte-americana para arquivos presidenciais e sobre a literatura crítica das Presidential Libraries a título de comparação com o caso estudado / This paper deals with the historical construction of Fernando Henrique Cardoso through actions by the institution he founded, iFHC Foundation. Two initiatives of the Foundation are emphasized, the treatment of Cardosos personal archives and the exhibition Um plano real, about overcoming the Brazilian inflationary process through the implementation of the economic plan that established Real as national currency. The first chapter also presents an overview of the Brazilian legislation on Presidential Archives and the situation of those files in Brazil, an overall presentation of iFHC Foundation, highlighting actions that fall within the current partisan political game, and a brief incursion into the U.S. legislation for presidential Archives and also into the critical literature on Presidential Libraries, so it serves as comparison with the case studied