The Fictional World of Archives Feature Film Release Date (USA): 1996
Ex-Presidents Russell P. Kramer (Jack Lemmon) and Matt Douglas (James Garner) discover evidence of a scandal in their successor's administration. One of the key scenes takes place in Kramer's President Library's "archival vault" in Ohio. Here he discovers that the conspirators have doctored his own official records, in particular a "Chef's Log" of meals served, to erase traces of a meeting.
In an earlier, shorter scene, President Kramer sends his executive assistant, Caldwell (Mark Lowenthal), to the National Archives. Caldwell phones Kramer to report that the Presidential appointment log does not reference a meeting between Kramer and a contractor. Kramer later accuses the contractor of tampering with documents at the National Archives.
The culprit behind these dastardly and improbable changes (in the real world the records would simply have disappeared, not been altered) is President William Haney (Dan Akroyd) who was Kramer's Vice President. At one point President Haney's chief of staff reveals he doctored the Archives log and the log in Kramer's library.
The Fictional World of Archives
Submitted by David Mattison, 1997.12.04. Updated 1999.04.14.