Nixon, Reagan Libraries Vivid Reminders
Today is George Washington’s birthday. Or it was, until somebody decided we could best honor him on Mondays with three-day store sales.
I wondered, if Washington had his own presidential library, which would it more closely resemble: the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, or the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda?
After a recent review of each, I realized he’d love them both. Washington was the consummate politician, and both libraries--actually museums, for public purposes--do a splendid job of accomplishing what they were meant to do: Help push that former president’s name toward the top of “A” list in American history.
But they have much to enlighten you too. Room after room of exhibits at these museums are vivid reminders of tumultuous periods many of us lived through. Just don’t let their political spin get in the way of your reminiscences.
In Simi Valley: The most dramatic exhibit room for me related to the 1981 attempt on Reagan’s life. You don’t have to be a doctor to see from the bullet’s location on the chest X-ray, clearly visible, that Reagan came close to being killed.
Its full-scale re-creation of the Oval Office was most impressive too. And visitors read intently the posted copy of Reagan’s handwritten statement to the nation that he was suffering from Alzheimer’s.
In Yorba Linda: Leaders at the Nixon library are constantly adding interest with guest speakers and changing exhibits. And the docents are as courteous, and as knowledgeable, as I’ve ever seen in a museum.
The most poignant feature for me is the restored birthplace, still in its original location. The other day I stood gazing at it through a heavy rain, with the graves of Richard and Pat Nixon in the foreground, and couldn’t help but think of Nixon’s own words at the library’s dedication: “It’s a long way from Yorba Linda to the White House.”
But no museum has everything for everybody. A few changes I’d suggest:
The Debates: Let Kennedy speak! The library plays for visitors a few minutes of the 1960 TV debates between Nixon and John F. Kennedy. But only Nixon’s voice is heard. I don’t think it would deprive any degree of the library’s glorification of Nixon to let visitors hear a little of Kennedy’s voice.
I’ve never bought into the Nixon argument over the years--and repeated by the narrator--that Nixon actually won the debates on substance, but lost on cosmetics. I wish the library devoted more time to them so visitors could judge for themselves.
La Casa Pacifica: I’d like to see an increase in space devoted to La Casa Pacifica, the Nixon home in San Clemente. It played a major role in Nixon’s life during, and after, his presidency--and was of great historical significance to Orange County.
The Watergate Room: Scrap it. Start over. To me this exhibit’s horrifying distortion of history hurts the library’s overall credibility.
It does have some nice touches: the darkened room to symbolize Watergate bringing down a bright presidency, the triangles of light leading along the chronology of Watergate events, right up to a blowup of Nixon’s farewell salute. And there’s the June 23, 1972 “smoking gun” tape, with six listening posts, and a transcript to follow as you listen to Nixon’s own voice.
But the room’s written chronology is a sad commentary on Nixon’s failure to understand what led to his own downfall: “He was fighting for his political life against those who fought to reverse the stunning mandate he had received.” “The media portrayed the very existence of the [taping] system as somehow evil.”
The most appalling deals with the smoking gun tape (where Nixon puts out the order that the CIA try to thwart the FBI’s Watergate investigation for trumped up “national security” reasons): “Nixon, a politician, in a political year, acted in a political way.”
The narrator on the tape says that “if [Nixon] had set in motion a plan to limit the investigation,” he reversed it soon after by telling the FBI to investigate fully. If? What’s this if business?
Kevin Cartwright, the library’s longtime eloquent spokesman, cautions me to remember that it’s Watergate “from Mr. Nixon’s point of view. And many people tell us that they’ve never really had a chance to see that viewpoint before.”
From the pro-Nixon comments I heard in the Watergate room, the sell is working well.
Wrap-up: Over the years I think I’ve read every Watergate-related book on the market. But none really impressed me more than Julie Nixon Eisenhower’s tribute to her mother, “Pat Nixon: The Untold Story.” It’s a moving tale of family love and private pain during Watergate.
I long thought that Julie Nixon Eisenhower was an asset the Nixon library ought to use more. Now I see it has.
My wife Vicky recently received a form letter from her, wondering, most politely, if Vicky would like to donate perhaps a few hundred dollars to the library. She’d get to be a “Friend of the Family” and get free admission for a year.
Vicky had put her name and address down for a drawing when we once took her parents on a Nixon library tour. I’ve promised not to tell how much she gave in response.
Jerry Hicks’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling the Times Orange County Edition at (714) 966-7823 or sending a fax to (714) 966-7711.