National Freedom of Information Day

National Freedom of Information Day in USA in 2025

About National Freedom of Information Day

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National Freedom of Information Day .
Dates of National Freedom of Information Day
2026 USA Monday, March 16thNational Freedom of Information Day
2025 USA Sunday, March 16thNational Freedom of Information Day
2024 USA Saturday, March 16thNational Freedom of Information Day
2023 USA Thursday, March 16thNational Freedom of Information Day
2022 USA Wednesday, March 16thNational Freedom of Information Day
Summary
Find out the dates, history and traditions of National Freedom of Information Day

Observed during Sunshine Week – so named for journalists in Florida, the Sunshine State, trying to prevent legislators from making public records more difficult to request – this is a day for the public and journalists to discuss their rights to public records.

Sunshine Week is in March to coincide with the birthday of President James Madison, an advocate for open government records.

From The American Presidency Project, Proclamation 5447—Freedom of Information Day, 1986, “March 16 is the anniversary of the birth of James Madison, our fourth President and one of the principal figures in the Constitutional Convention. Madison eloquently expressed the guarantees in the Bill of Rights, in particular in the freedoms of religion, speech, and of the press protected by the First Amendment. He understood the value of information in a democratic society, as well as the importance of its free and open dissemination. He believed that through the interaction of the Government and its citizens, facilitated by a free press and open access to information, the Government could be most responsive to the people it serves. Surely the American experience has proved him right.

“This year [1986] marks the twentieth anniversary of the enactment by the Federal government of the Freedom of Information Act [1966]. On President Madison's birthday, it is particularly fitting that we recognize the value of reasonable access to information in our political process.” - Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America

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