Historian Stanley I. Kutler, best known for winning a 1992 lawsuit to open Richard Nixon's audiotapes to the public, will discuss his fight to keep presidential papers accessible when he speaks at UMBC on October 15.

As part of the Fall 2002 Social Sciences Forum lecture series, Kutler will present his talk, "An Historian's Adventures with the Law: Liberating Tapes, Papers, and Sources," on October 15 at 4:30 p.m. on the seventh floor of the Albin O. Kuhn Library at UMBC.

Kutler is Emeritus Professor of Law and E. Gordon Fox Professor of American Institutions at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. A specialist in American constitutional history, he is the author of books such as Abuse of Power: The New Nixon Tapes and The Wars of Watergate: The Last Crisis of Richard Nixon.

Kutler has also joined a lawsuit to reinstate the Presidential Records Act of 1978, a law instituted in the wake of Watergate to ensure public access to presidential papers after twelve years. In November of 2001, President George W. Bush signed an Executive Order placing significant restrictions on the provisions of the Presidential Records Act.

This lecture is being given in honor of Hugh Davis Graham, former Professor of History and Policy Sciences, Dean of the Division of Social Sciences and Dean of Graduate Studies and Research at UMBC. It is co-sponsored by the Departments of History and Political Science and the Policy Sciences Graduate Program at UMBC.