Exploring the Libraries of the U.S. PRESIDENTS

CHAPTER TEN
37th PRESIDENT
RICHARD MILHOUS NIXON
1969 – 1974

When we left the Reagan museum, we drove 85 miles south to Yorba Linda, California leaving behind some beautiful countryside and entered a busy urban area.

Yorba Linda was not the first choice for Nixon’s library. His alma mater, Whitter College, made the first bid but withdrew after the Watergate debacle. Then it was Nixon’s law school, Duke University, which also withdrew as did University of Irvine. In 1987 the Nixon Foundation agreed to restore his birth place and make it the Presidential Library. In the beginning it was not an official part of the presidential libraries under the control of the National Archives but a privately owned library. After resolving the controversy over how to exhibit Watergate, the library was opened in July 2010 as one of the official Presidential Libraries under the National Archives and Records Administration of the Federal Government.

After the enormous Reagan museum and its beautiful setting, I suspected this would be a let down. It was anything but. We parked in the spacious parking lot and walked toward the magnificent water fountain in front of the building. The campus consists of nine acres, although substantially smaller than Reagan’s, it houses the story of a controversial president. Directly behind the museum is the house where Nixon was born, a house built by his father using a home building kit. It has been restored as it appeared in 1910.

As we entered the lobby, the first thing we saw was a life-sized cardboard cutout of Nixon and Elvis Presley. It was a reminder of the White House meeting Elvis had with President Nixon on December 21, 1970. Elvis had written a six page letter to the president requesting a meeting with him. He wanted Nixon to make him a “Federal Agent at Large” in the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. This photo of Nixon and Elvis is requested of the National Archives more frequently than any other photo, even more frequently than a request for the Bill of Rights or the Constitution.

On a wall overlooking some of the exhibits is this quotation by Senator Bob Doyle: “I believe that the second half of the twentieth century will be known as the ‘age of Nixon.’” Indeed he did command the attention of the nation, involved himself in the affairs of the world, was the first president ever to visit China, and signed the first SALT (Strategic Arms Limitations Talks) along with the Soviet Leader Leonid Brezhnev. He was a comeback kid time and time again after personal and political defeats against overwhelming odds. He was a politician who ran for the presidency, was defeated but came back again. This is well illustrated in a display called “A Trip Back in Time” which shows that Nixon appeared on the cover of Time magazine more than any other person in history, a total of fifty four times, beginning in 1952 and ending with his death in 1994.

As I began to stroll through the museum, I viewed a timeline of Nixon’s life which I found fascinating, much of which I had not known or remembered about his early life, for example where he went to law school, his first job in Washington and other early events. From this exhibit I could look out into the courtyard with its beautiful garden and a reflecting pool. This is one of the largest gardens in Southern California with one thousand four hundred of forty-three varieties. There are hundreds of other assorted plants, many of which are rarely found elsewhere. The courtyard is surrounded on three sides by the museum buildings with the fourth side showing First Lady Pat Nixon’s Amphitheater.

As I made my way through the museum, I saw extensive displays of his political campaigns running for Senate, Vice President and three times for President. There is a special exhibit called “Road to the Presidency.” It includes his 1949 Mercury station wagon he used for his 1950 U.S. Senate campaign from which he gave speeches standing on its tail gate. Also in the museum is Nixon’s presidential limousine. There is a recreation of the Lincoln sitting room, Nixon’s favorite room in the White House.

During a White House dinner meeting for POWs, Irving Berlin sang “God Bless America.” After the dinner, he gave the original manuscript of “God Bless America” to Nixon which is on display in the Museum. The Structure of Peace Gallery emphasizes Nixon’s foreign policy. Noted for opening the door to China, there is a photo of President and Mrs. Nixon while on their diplomatic tour with a rather large group on the Great Wall. The display includes Nixon’s famous overcoat with its fur collar he wore on his overseas trips.

There is a gallery with sculptures of some of the World Leaders including that of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, Israel’s Golda Meir, France’s Charles de Gaulle, and Britain’s Winston Churchill. These are all leaders with whom Nixon had dealings either while Vice President under Eisenhower or while president. A section is devoted to Nixon’s early life and pictures of his family. As I recalled pictures of Nixon over the years, he was always dressed in a suit and tie, even while walking on the beach. So one picture really caught my eye -- a picture of Nixon and his wife along with their two young daughters lying on the beach with Nixon wearing a bathing suit!

After Eisenhower chose Nixon as his running mate, it became public knowledge that Nixon might have used campaign funds for private purposes. In order to clarify and clear his name, he went on TV and gave his famous “Checkers” speech. In it he suggested that people call the Republican National Committee and let them know if he should remain on the ticket but regardless of the decision, he said he intended to keep one gift which was a black-and-white dog named by his children as Checkers. It was this that gave the speech its name and it also allowed him to remain on the ticket. The public was won over by this speech, in part because Americans respected a man who would not give back his children’s pet no matter what they said about him.