The Presidential Records Act (PRA), enacted in 1978 in response to the Watergate scandal, established that presidential records belong to the public, not the president. It requires the president and White House staff to preserve all records of official duties and transfer them to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) at the end of an administration. The law was a direct response to President Nixon's attempt to claim ownership of and destroy Oval Office recordings and documents. Before the PRA, courts had ruled Nixon owned his records. The PRA reversed that presumption: after its passage, all presidential records are federal property by law.