Arguing with history?

Re “Nixon’s legacy haunts his library,” Oct. 1

Statues of world leaders in the Nixon library do not glorify them. They are simply a small part of U.S. history during the Nixon administration.

Why now, after 20 years and thousands of visitors, because of one person’s complaint, will the library be “haunted”?

What about the rest of us who enjoy history? The issue is being blown way out of proportion.

Nis Helmer

Brea

Denying the impact that President Nixon had on U.S.-Chinese diplomatic relations is denying history.

The statues of Mao Tse-tung and Chou En-lai at the Richard Nixon Library and Museum are symbolic of Nixon’s accomplishment in opening the cultural and political discourse between these two powerful countries.

The location is, after all, a museum -- a place to learn about and honor history. Leave the statues where they are.

Karen Beckman

Santa Ana

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I am not Chinese, but I understand Kai Chen’s outrage.

Statues of Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot or any mass murderer should not be in a U.S. museum. Communist governments can blind their own people but not Americans.

Son Tran

Diamond Bar

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Nixon’s legacy tarnished by including murderous Mao’s statue in his presidential library?

Mao and Nixon deserve each other -- two tyrants who undermined democracy and used state power to disguise their treachery whenever it suited them.

Al Senia

Aliso Viejo