Presidential Records Act (PRA)
The U.S. law establishing that the official records of the President and Vice President are public property, managed and preserved by NARA and ultimately released to the public.
The Presidential Records Act (PRA) of 1978 governs the official records of the President and Vice President. Its core principle is that these records are public property — belonging to the United States rather than to the officeholder personally — reversing the earlier tradition of presidents treating their records as private.
Under the PRA, at the end of an administration the Archivist of the United States (NARA) takes custody of the presidential records, preserves them, and makes them available to the public on a defined timeline (with certain restriction categories and FOIA access). The PRA is a parallel law to the Federal Records Act: the FRA covers executive-branch agency records, while the PRA covers presidential and vice-presidential records. It is the legal basis for presidential libraries and for preserving the documentary record of each administration.