FBI: William Goldman

Ben Welsh filed this request with the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States of America.
Tracking #

1425620-000, DOJ-AP-2019-002309

1425620-000

Est. Completion None
Status
No Responsive Documents
Tags

Communications

From: Ben Welsh


To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

A copy of FBI files on William Goldman, Oscar-winning screenwriter of ‘Butch Cassidy’ and ‘All the President's Men,’ whose death was widely reported in the media on Nov. 16, 2018

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Ben Welsh

From: Federal Bureau of Investigation

There are eFOIA files available for you to download.

  • Ed2cdf156eb88e20428770fddd87ced38de7b2038_Q48705_D2186540

From: Ben Welsh

I am appealing the response to this request. The search should be expanded to include the reference files.

  • Ed2cdf156eb88e20428770fddd87ced38de7b2038_Q48705_D2186540

From: Federal Bureau of Investigation

This message is to notify you of a new appeal submission to the FOIAonline application. Appeal information is as follows:
* Appeal Tracking Number: DOJ-AP-2019-002309
* Request Tracking Number: 1425620
* Requester Name: Ben Welsh
* Date Submitted: 01/28/2019
* Appeal Status: Submitted
* Description: FBI appeal

From: Muckrock Staff

To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following request, copied below. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

From: Federal Bureau of Investigation

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Respectfully,

Public Information Officer
Record/Information Dissemination Section (RIDS) FBI-Information Management Division
170 Marcel Drive, Winchester, VA 22602-4843
Direct: (540) 868-4593
Fax: (540) 868-4391
Questions E-mail: foipaquestions@fbi.gov<mailto:foipaquestions@fbi.gov>

Do you have further questions about the FOI/PA process? Visit us at http://www.fbi.gov/foia

Please check the status of your request online at https://vault.fbi.gov/fdps-1/@@search-fdps Status updates are performed on a weekly basis.

Note: This is a non-emergency email address. If this is an emergency, please call 911 directly. If you need to report a tip for immediate action, please contact FBI Tips at http://tips.fbi.gov/ or reach out to your local field office.

From: Federal Bureau of Investigation

DOJ-AP-2019-002309 has been processed with the following final disposition: Affirmed on Appeal.

  • Other-20190827114024-Welsh, Ben, DOJ-AP-2019-002309, appeal response, FBI, affirm search NR, CR

From: Ben Welsh

Thank you for this response. I do wish to keep my request open and ask that the FBI search its reference files for references to William Goldman. Here are the answers to the additional questions you raised.

Due to Mr. Goldman's role as the screenwriter of "All The Presidents Men," he played a prominent part in the dramatization of one of the most significant events in American history, the Watergate scandal. I do not know of any direct contacts Mr. Goldman had with the FBI, but his most famous creation as an artist was "Deep Throat," a fictionalization of FBI leader W. Mark Felt.

Therefore, if Mr. Goldman had contact with the FBI, I believe it was mostly to have been in the period surrounding the release of that 1976 movie. However, I believe searches of the references files should be conducted more broadly.

William Goldman was born on August 12, 1931 in Highland Park, Illinois.
He died on November 16, 2018 in Manhattan.

He was published mostly by his own name, but also wrote using the pen names of S. Morgenstern and Harry Longbaugh.

I do not know precisely of any associates of his that would for certain be in FBI reference files, but prominent names linked with his Watergate screenplay include Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman, W. Mark Felt, Alan J. Pakula, Richard Nixon, Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein, Ben Bradlee, Nora Ephron,

Goldman is widely cited as one of the most significant screenwriters in history. Innumerable articles and books reference him.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Goldman
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/12/30/william-goldman-obituary-writer-hollywood-watergate-222937
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001279/
https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Goldman
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/16/obituaries/william-goldman-dead.html

From: Federal Bureau of Investigation

The FBI has received your additional correspondence regarding your Freedom of Information/Privacy Act (FOIPA) request and it has been forwarded to the assigned analyst for review and determination.

Respectfully,

Public Information Officer
Record/Information Dissemination Section (RIDS) FBI-Information Management Division
170 Marcel Drive, Winchester, VA 22602-4843
Direct: (540) 868-4593
Fax: (540) 868-4391
Questions E-mail: foipaquestions@fbi.gov<mailto:foipaquestions@fbi.gov>

Do you have further questions about the FOI/PA process? Visit us at http://www.fbi.gov/foia

Please check the status of your request online at https://vault.fbi.gov/fdps-1/@@search-fdps Status updates are performed on a weekly basis.

Note: This is a non-emergency email address. If this is an emergency, please call 911 directly. If you need to report a tip for immediate action, please contact FBI Tips at http://tips.fbi.gov/ or reach out to your local field office.

From: Federal Bureau of Investigation

There are eFOIA files available for you to download.

You can download the files at:

* [Ed2cdf156eb88e20428770fddd87ced38de7b2038_Q48705_D2349325.pdf](https://efoia.fbi.gov/download-file/submission-d2cdf156eb88e20428770fddd87ced38de7b2038/YsAZzl7FmR10Bht/Ed2cdf156eb88e20428770fddd87ced38de7b2038_Q48705_D2349325.pdf)

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